Lentil cappuccino soup
The ultimate show-off cooking, what could be flashier than a foam?
Difficulty and servings
Serves 6
Preparation and cooking times
Ready in 1 hour 30 mins
- The secret to these kinds of soups is to get the consistency absolutely right. The base of the soup, and what gives it body and flavour, will be the lentil purée so you want to get this stage spot on. Lentils can be transformed into something quite sexy by just cooking them with a good set of flavourings. First wash the dust off the lentils by rinsing them well, then put them in a pan with enough water to cover with the shallot, carrot, celery, garlic, pancetta and thyme. Leave each of these in big enough pieces to be able to fish them out once the lentils are cooked. Bring to a boil then simmer for 20 minutes or until the lentils are tender.
- Once cooked, fish out the vegetables and pancetta (you can eat these) and tip the warm lentils into a blender. Don't let them cool down or you won't be able to get them as smooth when you whizz them. Add just enough liquid to make the mixture purée and give it enough time to get as smooth as possible. If you don't have a blender and use a food processor, you may have to sieve the mixture to get it really smooth.
- You can't just serve a bowl of froth so I like to add some solid nuggets of flavour to the soup, in this case mushrooms and langoustine tails. I'm using ceps for flavour but chestnut mushrooms would also be good. Add a little olive oil to a frying pan and cook the mushrooms over a high heat, you want them to brown and lose all their moisture. Tip out and then quickly brown the langoustines, don't take too long about it, you don't want to cook them completely as the heat of the soup will finish the job. Tip out and leave to one side. The first 3 steps can all be done ahead, which makes this nice and easy to finish when you need it.
- Spoon the purée into a deep frying pan or wide saucepan over a gentle heat. It's important that you use the right size as your liquid is going to grow in volume and you'll end up splashing it everywhere with the Bamix if it's too small. Add 3 smallish ladles of stock to start and whisk it into the purée to get rid of any lumps. You want a nice liquid consistency, aim for something like gravy; it should coat the back of a metal spoon very lightly, add more stock if you need to - too thick and it won't froth. Whisk in the cream, to get a colour like caffè latte. Now add a dash of truffle oil and cook the flavour out, whisking all the time. It is very important to cook the truffle oil; it's too strong and harsh-tasting otherwise.
- Bring the soup to the boil, take it off the heat and whisk in a couple of pieces of cold butter. (If the butter isn't cold it will go oily.) Now use a Bamix to froth it. You need to spend a bit of time on this bit as what you want is a foam that won't collapse immediately. Lift the Bamix gently up and down in the pan - as the blade comes into contact with the top layer of liquid it will aerate it. Keep going until you have a good moussey froth, this will take a good few minutes. If the foam starts to collapse, go back to it and give it another buzz.
- You can serve this in bowls or cups. Now, even though you have gone to the trouble of making all this foam, you don't want to serve pure foam. First, put some mushroom and langoustines at the bottom of each bowl or cup. Then dig your ladle below the top layer of froth and scoop up some of the more soupy liquid, add this till the bowl is 3/4 full and then top with the really moussey foam. Add slices of truffle or mushroom and serve.
Making shellfish stock
To make a well-flavoured stock from shellfish you need their shells. Roast the shells in a hot oven with some chopped carrot, celery and onion until they are well browned. Tip into a large pot, cover with plenty of water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 3 hours without skimming. The stock should be a rich, dark brown colour. Strain and then freeze until you need it. You'll need about 500ml for this recipe.
295 kcalories, protein 15.5g, carbohydrate 2.6g, fat 18.7 g, saturated fat 9.0g, fibre 3.6g, salt 0.85 g
Recipe from olive magazine, February 2007.
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http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/12598/
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/12598/
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Ingredients
- 200.0g Umbrian or Puy lentils
- 1 shallot
- ½ carrot
- 1 stick celery , halved
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 slices pancetta
- a couple of sprigs of thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- olive oil
- 100.0g mushrooms (use ceps if they are in season or chestnut mushrooms if not), sliced or chopped
- 12 raw langoustines or large prawns
- 300ml - 500ml shellfish stock (see tip, below)
- 142.0ml carton double cream
- truffle oil
- a few cubes of butter straight from the fridge
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Difficulty and servings
Serves 6
Preparation and cooking times
Ready in 1 hour 30 mins
Ingredients
- 200.0g Umbrian or Puy lentils
- 1 shallot
- ½ carrot
- 1 stick celery , halved
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 slices pancetta
- a couple of sprigs of thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- olive oil
- 100.0g mushrooms (use ceps if they are in season or chestnut mushrooms if not), sliced or chopped
- 12 raw langoustines or large prawns
- 300ml - 500ml shellfish stock (see tip, below)
- 142.0ml carton double cream
- truffle oil
- a few cubes of butter straight from the fridge
295 kcalories, protein 15.5g, carbohydrate 2.6g, fat 18.7 g, saturated fat 9.0g, fibre 3.6g, salt 0.85 g
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