Comments on: Pharmacy in a bowl – lentil soup

By: The French Wench

The French Wench — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:52:53 +0000

That sure is one good-looking soup!
Thank you Charlotte for the suggestion, will let you know how it went when I try to make it!

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:09:49 +0000

Oh my GOD Annie, what a dreadful shock. I can only express my deepest sympathy! What the hell is non-alcoholic beverage doing in the WINE shop anyway!
By the way we went to a fantastic restaurant in the city last night called Element Bistro, in King St. Really good French food, and very reasonable. Tiny place – I will be putting it on my favourite restaurants page very shortly. And we must tell Maggie not to scare people with fake booze like that.

By: annie

annie — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:55:34 +0000

Just have to share with you, Charlotte, that yesterday was the first day Maggie Beer disappointed me. I met a friend for lunch at a restaurant in Palm Beach to discover it was byo.
y friend didn’t want wine but at my insistence we drove to the the nearest bottleo and after deciding to have rose found in the frig amongst all the stock a Maggie Beer sparkling Cabernet in a nice fat bottle for $18.00. Returned to the restaurant where it was opened with an enormous bang and it was then I saw in small writing on the label ‘non-alcholic beverage’. It wasn’t a bad drop and if we hadn’t read the label maybe we wouldn’t have known but it wasn’t quite what I was looking for at the time.

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:49:50 +0000

Hurrah! Fab advice – the cheese rind thing at the BEGINNING of a soup (and risotto!) is quite enthralling, as are the mustard fruits at end and the piggy scraps etc so early in the piece. OK, you are now forgiven for your 20kg insanity on the onion post.

By: Hamish

Hamish — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:41:05 +0000

That’s a great sounding soup, and it is always fun to finish dishes with various condiments…one of my favourites, especially with lentils are mustard fruits, sweet with a bit of bite!!!

The other thing to think about is what can I start the soup base with…collecting parmesan husks is a fun hobby, and can always be thrown into the base of a soup or risotto when you are at the “fry off the onion stage,” just remember to fish them out before blending or serving. Another are prosciutto or pancetta skins or scraps, the same technique applies. Even a good table spoon of harissa thrown into a mirepoix that is frying off for the base of a stock or sauce, will make a great difference to the final result.
In my opinion, by getting these flavors into the dish early, you generally end up with deeper drawn out flavours at the end, creating more “layers” to the dish! It’s about looking for an extra “zing” at the start as well as the end!!

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:19:32 +0000

Loving that zing thing. Must check out Dana’s!

By: Jamie

Jamie — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:05:10 +0000

Serendipity. I was planning on making a lentil soup, but needed to do a recipe search first, and you’ve saved me the trouble. I’ve fallen in love with lentil soup in the last year or so, courtesy of the yummy one served in my local cafe here in Marrickville (Dana’s in Illawarra Road). Their ‘zing’ at the end is a little thimble full of red wine vinegar, always offered on the side.

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:04:13 +0000

Hi Lissa, that sounds a damn fine idea … garlic croutons. Reminds me of French onion soup, which reminds me that SBS Food Safari the other night was on French food, and there was an exceptionally good-looking bowl of FOS there. Must have another crack at that soon …

By: Liss

Liss — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:54:25 +0000

I know what you mean there is nothing like a good hearty soup to get your batteries recharged. I made a lentil stew/soup last week with chorizo. My tip is to use 2 sliced smoked chorizos in the cooking and add two sliced ones that have been grilled or fried on top when serving.

In fact I’m defrosting the 1/2 we didn’t eat last week tonight.
http://frillsinthehills.blogspot.com/2009/01/yum.html

You could do some home-made croutons with toasted soda bread rubbed with garlic too?

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:13:54 +0000

ooh, walnut oil!