Due to many unexpected life challenges this year I am way behind on my vintage Cuisine Magazine reports, unfortunately like seven months worth. But I will play catch-up from the April through October issues by the end of the year, so I’ll be all ready to start anew with the January 1981 issue.
The Cuisine September 1980 issue contains articles about the enjoyment of sweet wines, cheeses of Norway, preserving and canning with the help of food processors, history and recipes from Bangkok, a cooking lesson on stuffing chicken wings, making croustades from Paula Wolfert, Tex-Mex food history with recipes, quick meals, and making fall soups.
We have had cool days on and off lately, so on a recent cool day I decided to make the Lentil Soup from the fall soups article. Soups are a great way to greet the cool and cold weather coming which welcomes hearty and comforting meals. The Lentil Soup is chunky with sausage and bacon along with celery root (celeriac) and more.
The soup is just delicious. I added the chives for color and flavor, plus I wanted to use the last of my chives in the garden. Root vegetables are also a favorite and I was happy to see the celery root included. It’s a highly unattractive and under-used vegetable but adds such wonderful flavor. Celeriac is widely cultivated in the Mediterranean Basin and Northern Europe, but less cultivated in North America. It was even mentioned in the Illiad and Odyssey, and was once grown as a medicinal crop in some early civilizations.
- 8 strips smoked bacon, sliced into ¼-inch pieces
- 1 pound link sweet Italian sausage
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¼ pound celery root (celeriac) pared and minced
- 1 medium onion, minced (about ½ cup)
- 1 rib celery, minced (about ½ cup)
- 1 cup dried lentils, rinsed
- 5 cups chicken broth, homemade or canned
- Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- Garnish: sliced fresh chives or fresh dill, and reserved cooked bacon pieces
- Cook bacon pieces in large skillet or pot over medium-high heat stirring often; drain on a paper towel-lined plate, leaving one Tablespoon of drippings; turn heat to medium. Add sausage link to pan and brown lightly on both sides. Reduce heat to low, cover pan, and continue to cook until cooked through. Remove sausage and set aside, leaving one Tablespoon drippings. Turn heat back up to medium.
- Add butter to drippings in pan and melt. Stir in the celery root, onion, celery, and lentils. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes. Add chicken broth and heat to boiling. Turn heat to low, and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until lentils are very soft, about 50 minutes to an hour.
- Meanwhile, slice sausage into ½-inch rounds and set aside.
- When lentils are done, remove pan from heat and let cool with the lid off for about 10 minutes. Transfer about ⅔ of the soup to a blender or food processor and purée. Pour back into pan with remaining soup and stir. Add the sausage slices and all but ⅓ cup of the bacon, reserving the ⅓ cup to sprinkle on top of soup servings for garnish along with some chives for each serving.
- Heat soup over medium heat until hot, adding salt and pepper to taste. Ladle servings into soup bowls and garnish each with sprinklings of chives and reserved bacon pieces. Serves 6 to 8.
We enjoy a hearty bowl of lentil soup, which I have many different variations of recipes but not this one with bacon. Perfect for this time of year & it sounds simple & delicious. I look forward to making it soon. Blessings on this Fall time of year.
Kim, I love your lentil soup recipe that you sent to me a while ago- so good! I like experimenting with lentil soups and loved this one too.
Oh yum! Now I know what to do with the lentils in the pantry. Just when it is finally cooling off here.
Priscilla, even Bill loved this which shocked me as he doesn’t even like lentils!