Though this lentil soup recipe is attributed to Adam Roberts, he’d be the first to give credit where it’s due. You see, this hearty soup actually came from Gina DePalma, pastry chef at the acclaimed Babbo in New York and Italian cookbook author. The recipe is one of dozens Roberts collected from some of the country’s greatest chefs – from Alice Waters to Jonathan Waxman to Roy Choi – along with their wit and wisdom cultivated from decades in the kitchen.
Roberts’ book Secrets of the Best Chefs: Recipes, Techniques and Tricks is a sort of greatest hits compilation from a year spent traveling to chefs’ homes and professional kitchens. Roberts, a lawyer by training and blogger by trade, succeeds in getting each chef to share recipes, the stories behind the dishes and even tips and tricks of the trade: “Good mushrooms are like jewelry and should be treated as such,” or “When separating eggs, don’t obsess about getting every bit of white off … Leave the snot on.”
I’ve had a bag of lentils languishing in my pantry for weeks. The legumes were destined for yet another pot of winter stew that I just couldn’t bear the thought of making again. But when temps dropped back down to the 20s Sunday, I took comfort in a bowl of DePalma’s lentil soup.
The recipe itself is fairly simple: one pound-ish of sausage, garlic, a can of crushed tomatoes, a generous few handfuls of lentils and some aromatic vegetables to bring it all together. And olive oil – lots of it. The recipe calls for a half cup, plus more for drizzling. Add that to all the fat rendered from the pork sausage (none of it drained, mind you) and this thick tomato soup, billed as “nourishing and healing” was not quite as healthful as I anticipated.
As Roberts repeatedly points out, the best cooks go with their gut. So I improvised a bit, adding just two tablespoons or so of oil to the bottom of the pot and proceeded to brown the sausage. Once it was nicely browned, I poured off a quarter cup of the rendered fat and oil and reserved it to finish the dish. The end result had plenty of delicious meaty flavor without bogging me down.
Roberts suggested using salciccia or another spicy Italian sausage for this dish, and I agree. There isn’t much seasoning in the actual recipe (salt, pepper, bay leaves, optional red pepper flakes), so the flavor-packed sausage added a good kick of fennel seed and oregano. Stirring in the sauteed garlic and infused oil at the end balances that thick, acidic tomato sauce.
A note: this makes a lot of soup, nearly six pints of the stuff. I was quite full after just one bowl plus a wedge of foccacia, and now I have a several pints in my freezer waiting to be thawed – just in case winter has one more trick up her sleeve.
Lentil Soup with Sausage, Chard, and Garlic 6 Servings
½ cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling, divided
4 large links of sweet Italian sausage*, removed from the casing
1 medium onion, diced
2 celery stalks, cut into crescents
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into crescents
4 cloves garlic, sliced (reserve half for later in the recipe)
Kosher salt to taste
A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup brown lentils, sorted
2 bay leaves
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
6 cups water
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 to 4 cups shredded red Swiss chard leaves or kale
Grated Pecorino Romano cheese
• Heat ¼ cup of the olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of the pot) in a large pot on medium heat and, when it’s hot, add the sausage. Break up the sausage with a wooden spoon until it starts to brown, about 5 minutes.
• Add the onion, celery, carrots, the first two garlic cloves, a pinch of salt, and, if you like your soup spicy, a pinch of red pepper flakes. Stir, then add the lentils, bay leaves, tomatoes, water, and salt and black pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer and allow to cook until the lentils are tender, about 40 minutes. (It may be necessary to add more water if the soup gets too thick.)
• When the lentils are cooked, add the Swiss chard and cook until the leaves are tender, just a few minutes more. Discard the bay leaves.
• To finish (and don’t skip this step!), add the remaining ¼ cup of olive oil to a small pan along with the remaining garlic; cook on medium heat just until the garlic turns soft (1 to 2 minutes) and then stir that, oil and all, into the soup. Drizzle the soup with more fresh olive oil and Pecorino Romano cheese and pass more cheese at the table. Serve the soup hot. Leftovers will keep for several days in the refrigerator.
* You can also make this with an equal amount of pancetta or use hot Italian sausage, if you like a hint of spice. Reprinted with permission from Artisan Publishing What’s your cooking secret, the little tip or trick you’ve learned that makes your dishes so much better? Tell us about it in the comments section below for a chance to win a copy of Secrets of the Best Chefs. We’ll announce the winner in next week’s By the Book column.
This article appears in Guide to Beer 2014.