Lentil Soup with Fresh Parsley & Garlic Biscuits

There's a little middle eastern restaurant near our house that has the finest and most fragrant lentil soup. My kids just adore it and so does my husband. This afternoon, as I was pondering what to make for supper, I decided to give lentil soup a try. The recipe that I used, torn from the Detroit Free Press, had been stuck on our refrigerator door with a magnet several months ago. I've probably glanced at that tattered piece of newsprint about a thousand times. Finally, who knows why, the spirit moved me to buy some orange lentils and cook up a big pot of the stuff. I'm pleased to report that the recipe is a keeper. It got a giant seal of approval from my guys. When my husband commented that he thought it tasted better than the restaurant's formula, I knew I'd be making it again.

The only liberties I took with this extremely simple recipe were to increase it, to be more generous with the spices (more cumin, salt, and black pepper), and to include a few squeezes of lemon juice. I also used an immersion blender instead of putting the soup into a regular blender (way, way easier--if you don't have one and you like to make soup, you need one!).

Of course, a soup like this, tasty though it is, does not an entire meal make. Okay then, what to serve with it? Well, I thought some savory biscuits might be just the ticket, and indeed they were. I used a recipe for a reliably fluffy, tender, buttermilk biscuit from the book Baking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America, but instead of leaving the biscuits plain I decided to add in some finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley along with a little fresh minced garlic. Perfect!

These were good biscuits, and they went along with the lentil soup like love and marriage. I placed a bowl of seedless red grapes on the table, alongside the biscuit basket, and we were good to go.

You'll like this combo!

Lentil Soup
(For a printable version of this recipe, along with the biscuit recipe below, click here!)

3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 x-large clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 medium yellow onion, coarsley chopped
3 cups orange lentils, rinsed
9 cups water or vegetable broth (I used water)
3 and 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
fresh lemon juice to taste

In a large stock pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Saute the garlic for 1 minute, then add in the chopped onion and and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the lentils and stir to coat them in the oil. Add in the water or stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, cover the pot and cook, removing any foam that rises to the top, until the lentils are tender, about 30 to 40 minutes (mine took barely 30 minutes). Remove the pot from the heat and set it aside to cool for 15 minutes.

Once slightly cooled, puree the soup until almost smooth using an immersion blender (if you have just a regular blender, use that, pouring the unpureed soup into it in batches, then pouring the pureed soup into its own separate pot). Add in the cumin, salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste. Bring the soup to a boil over medium high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer until ready to serve.

If you like, top each bowl of soup with a hefty pinch of chopped parsley and a wedge of lemon on the side.


Buttermilk Biscuits with Fresh Parsley & Garlic

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

3 cups of All Purpose flour, plus extra for dusting (I used bleached)
2 and 1/2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 and 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 medium garlic clove, peeled and finely minced
1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
8 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, diced
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup milk, plus more for brushing

Blend together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate small bowl, mix together the parsley and garlic, then add that into the combined dry ingredients. Cut in the butter (I used a pastry blender) until the mixture resembles pea-sized pieces.


Add in the buttermilk and milk, mixing just to combine.


On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1 inch. Fold the rolled dough in half, turn it, roll it, and repeat this 3 or 4 times for a final thickness of 1 inch.

Cut the dough with a biscuit cutter. (Reroll the extra dough scraps only once if you can help it; more than that may lead to toughened biscuits.)

Place the dough pieces onto the covered baking sheet. With a pastry brush, lightly brush milk on the top of each one.

Bake for approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Let the biscuits cool on wire racks, or serve them warm.



Recipe full disclosure! This soup recipe came from the food section of the Detroit Free Press. I believe it was published in 2009, but I have no idea which month or day. I could not find the exact recipe on their website in order to confirm the date. At the bottom of the recipe that I have it says, "Adapted from Lila Amen, Dearborn. Tested by Susan M. Selaskey for the Free Press Test Kitchen."

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Cream of Acorn-Squash Soup with Gruyere Biscuits . . .

It all starts innocently enough, with a dark, shiny acorn squash. It's there, on your kitchen counter. Mystified, you try to remember what you were considering making when you bought it. Well, no matter. You know what you're going to do with it now--soup. Cream soup, to be specific.

Last week, in my Monday cookery class, we prepared two nice soups, a creamy clam chowder and a beautiful Belgian chicken and vegetable number, along with one awe inspiring, and somewhat intimidating, crystal-clear beef consomme. The best tasting of the three in my opinion was the Boston clam chowder, which I'd never before made from scratch. It was heavenly good. We got to eat the soups for our lunch, at the end of our class. We get to do that each week, with whatever we've cooked, and it's great. Not great just because we're eager to sample what we've concocted, but also great because we're all somewhat exhausted, relieved that we've survived another day in cookery class, and we're simply all starving by that point in the day.

Anyway, the clam chowder was so good I couldn't resist making it at home a day or two later for our dinner, and again it was profoundly tasty. I followed, to the letter, the recipe we'd used at school and it didn't let me down. Now, I'm not traditionally much of a soup maker, but I think that's going to change (I suspect I feel the change happening already . . . maybe I'm actually morphing . . . ?).

You know, there's something about having a real chef--an expert, really-- right there close at hand as you cook a new dish for the first time. It's not like watching an expert on TV, it's really not. Can a TV chef actually grab your hand, and in doing so sternly direct the utensil you're holding as you strain the all-important consomme, while the whole class looks on in rapt attention? No. Can a TV chef detect just by the look on your face that you're wondering when the heck you're supposed to pour in that roux, or add the leeks into your mirepoix? I don't think so. Can a TV chef peer appraisingly into the pot holding your completed clam chowder, as he dips a tiny plastic spoon in to taste it, and then proclaims with gustatory satisfaction, "Ahh, it's a beautiful day" . . . can he?? No, he cannot.

There are practical advantages to having a cooking teacher, I can see it plainly. I am hopeful that this class will benefit me, not only as a culinary student, but also--and more immediately--as a home cook. I'd just like to have the know-how to make food for my family's dinners that's more flavorful, more various, and more adventurous than what I usually prepare (and I'm primarily referring here to foods other than baked goods . . . I'm pretty good at bombarding them with new baked goods . . . they're not the problem). I'm gonna try, anyway. I feel like I'm not a very good cook in general. Have I ever revealed that in this blog before? Probably not. But now that we're getting to know each other so well . . . I figure it's time I shared that sensitive info. (Can we still be friends?)

And so with that confession, we come to today's recipes. The acorn-squash soup's formula is adapted from one I saw on AllRecipes.com. I changed a few aspects (I left out the wine--didn't have any to put in!--decreased the amount of lime juice, omitted the lime zest, used shallots instead of onion, used a little more cream, and used different spices) but I sort of kept the basic proportions of the key ingredients. Sort of. And, of course I rewrote the instructions.

The Gruyere biscuits are another Nick Malgieri recipe. I've talked about my appreciation for Nick Malgieri's cookbooks before, so I won't get carried away with flowery verbiage this time (uh, yeah . . . you're welcome). The recipe is listed in his latest book, The Modern Baker. It's a simple little biscuit recipe that's more tasty than the norm, but it doesn't push the comfort-zone envelope. Rest assured, your youngest kid's not gonna start crying at the dinner table when he/she bites into one of these.


Cream of Acorn-Squash Soup

(For a printable version of this recipe, and the biscuit recipe below, click here!)

Makes at least 1 quart.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

1 large Acorn squash, cut in half vertically, seeds removed
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. finely minced shallots
4 cups chicken broth
3/4 to 1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. lime juice
white pepper, to taste
freshly ground nutmeg, to taste
1 scant pinch of cinnamon, or to taste
pinch kosher salt, to taste

Place the two squash halves cut-side down in a glass baking dish. Fill it with about 1/2" of water. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the pulp is softened. Remove from the oven, drain the water, and set aside to cool slightly. Scoop out the pulp and mash or chop it. Discard the shells.

In a medium-large pot, heat the butter; add in the shallots and saute them until just softened. Add in the chicken broth and the mashed/chopped squash pulp. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until all visible lumps have disappeared and the mixture looks quite smooth. (Or use a regular upright blender, pureeing the soup in a couple of batches, then pour the pureed soup back in to the pot.)

Before adding in the cream, temper it with a little bit of the hot soup. The cream needs to be warmed before it can be added to the hot soup or it may curdle. Pour the tempered cream into the pot of soup and stir well to completely combine. Cook for a few minutes over low heat, being careful not to let the soup boil, until thoroughly heated through.

Add in the lime juice and the seasonings to suit your taste until the flavor is to your liking. Taste the soup after every little addition of seasoning. Remember, you can always add more in, but once it's in there, you can't take it out.

Serve the soup immediately. If it's not going to be served right away, let it cool in the pan and then refrigerate it promptly.

* * * * *
Gruyere Biscuits
This recipe makes at least 12 - 2" biscuits.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2 and 3/4 cups All Purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 and 1/3 cups grated Gruyere cheese
8 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into 12 chunks
3/4 to 1 cup milk or buttermilk

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.

Combine the grated cheese and the butter in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse several times for just a few seconds to mix the butter and cheese together. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl once or twice and pulse again. Do this very quickly; you don't want the butter to get too soft or warm.

Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and pulse 6 or 8 times to combine. Add in most, but not all, of the milk/buttermilk, just until the dough is thoroughly combined but does not form a ball.

Dump the dough out onto a floured surface. If there are dry spots in the dough, sprinkle them with drops of milk. Fold the dough over onto itself once or twice just to bring it together. Press the dough out into a rectangle or a circular shape until it's 1/2" thick all over. Use a round or square biscuit/cookie cutter to cut out the biscuits. Place the pieces an inch or 2 apart on your lined cookie sheet.

Bake the biscuits until they're well risen and golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Peek in at them early in case they're over-browning. They're best served warm, with or without butter, and please feel free to dip them in your soup! Extra biscuits can be frozen once they're cool.



Recipe full disclosure! As noted above, the soup recipe came from one I found in AllRecipes.com. They credit it to Southern Living Magazine. The biscuits are from Nick Malgieri's book, The Modern Baker, on page 51; they're listed as a variation of his Pecorino & Pepper Biscuits.

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