I discovered this soup a few years ago, and I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s one of my favorite things to eat. I wouldn’t say I’m the biggest fan of soup in general (with some notable exceptions like a tomato soup to accompany a grilled cheese), but this one is different. I crave it, especially in crisp weather just like we’re having right now. As soon as the autumn squashes start taking over the produce section, I pull out the recipe.
I almost did not get this recipe out to you in time, because it is decidedly a winter dish (what with the lentils and root vegetables), but then yet another nor-easter came roaring into town on the first day of spring and suddenly there were no rules anymore and nothing made sense, and that’s how we got here, looking at root vegetables on March 21.
Lately I’ve been kind of obsessed with the idea of putting together a vacation to Alsace, a region that’s today located in France but is right along the western border of Germany, and for a time back in the 19th century was actually German. The houses are traditional and picturesque, the wine world renowned (hello, Riesling!) and the food hearty, rich and delicious. Peasant food, for lack of a better categorization- which I think is the best kind.
If you’d told me when I started this blog that at eventually I’d have not one but two lentil salad recipes on offer I’d have had a good laugh. Lentils, as I’ve said before, have not always been and still often are not, my cup of tea. But this is the second lentil salad recipe I’ve come across that really won me over. The first was this fantastic French-style salad from the venerable David Lebivitz. This one is a more eclectic recipe from April Bloomfield, whose restaurants The Spotted Pig and Salvation Taco I love, and whose cookbook A Girl and Her Pig is a delicious and trustworthy ode to meat. The irony that I picked a lentil salad from that book is not lost on me.
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