25.01.2007 vonFranz
Rezept in Deutsch 
What makes this lentil soup so sensational? – Pretty nearly everything!

When you use those small green lentils from Puy your soup will be ready cooked in no time at all and it will be clear and light. Thanks to the vanilla bean and to the Pastis liquor the soup’s flavor will be wonderful and unique. And the chips on top of it made of Jerusalem artichokes are the icing on a cake – and that is: each one of them. Delicious!
I am sending the recipe Lentil soup with Jerusalem artichokes as my contribution to the HotM 10 “Quick and easy” – event.

Lentil soup with Jerusalem artichokes
Category: vegetarian
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
100 g leek
300 g Puy lentils
1,2 Ltr. light chicken stock
1 vanilla bean
2 tbsp. Pastis liquor (Pernod, Ricard etc.)
2-3 bay leaves
salt
ground black pepper
2 tbsp. parsley, chopped
200 g Jerusalem artichoke
oil for deep-frying
Preparation:
Cut the leek into small strips and wash them. Wash the lentils too and bring them to the boil in chicken stock. Slash the vanilla bean lenghtwise and add it to the soup. Also add the Pastis, bay leaves and leek. Let the soup simmer for approx. 20 min. until the lentils are done but will not mash.
Clean the Jerusalem artichokes by brushing them under water and cut them into thin slices of approx. 2 mm. Deep-fry them in oil for about 3 min., take them out of the oil, let them cool down a little and drip off on kitchen paper. Then deep-fry them again until they are golden and crunchy. Let them drip off again and slightly season with salt.
Now, take the vanilla bean and the bay leaves out of the soup, season and portion in soup plates and sprinkle some ground pepper and chopped parsley over it. Garnish with the Jerusalem artichoke chips.
You can replace the Pastis liquor with 1 tsp. of fennel seed. Some like chopped cilantro rather than parsley – a mere matter of taste.
When you deep-fry the Jerusalem artichokes twice and let it cool down in between they will be airy and crunchy, just like very well made french fries.

You could substitute potatoes for the Jerusalem artichokes but that would be only half the pleasure.
For me this soup is unique and so convincing as to be a separate course in a gala dinner. In that case, however, I would serve only a very small portion.

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