Serious Eats: Recipes
Dinner Tonight: Coriander-Orange-Scented Red Lentil Soup
[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger]
I've been kind of infatuated with The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper ever since I picked it up from the library a few weeks ago. Every recipe seems to be at once practical and whimsical in an appealing way. Case in point, at its heart this recipe is a simple lentil soup, the kind of humble French fare that can soothe and comfort. Yet it is also "Coriander-Orange-Scented" with more citric juice than seems possible—and includes the first instance of sautéed cilantro stems I've ever run across.
I'm not sure how it all works. But it's fragrant and enveloping, a soup that you want to sip slowly and just smell. I think it all works because it's backed up with some solid cooking techniques. The aromatics are sautéed and then set aside so that they don't lose their punch. The citric juice is kept bright by not being added until the very end. It's a dish that would taste equally good in summer as it does in the freezing middle of winter.
Coriander-Orange-Scented Red Lentil Soup
About the author: Nick Kindelsperger is a co-founder of The Paupered Chef, a blog dedicated to saving time and money while enjoying food in every way possible. He lives in Chicago.