Jess Elliot-Dennison's Green Lentil, Cavolo Nero + Tarragon Soup
Brilliant Jess Elliot-Dennison has shared this autumnal soup recipe with us, from her latest book 'Vegetable Recipes'. Celebrating seasonal vegetables and all shot in the beautiful glasshouses at The Hugo Burge Foundation on the Marchmont Estate in Duns, deep in the Scottish Borders, it's a special book.
From Jess: 'I always feel comforted knowing there’s a big pot of lentil soup to feed my family with, especially if it’s packed with hearty greens such as the cavolo nero I’ve included here. The dried tarragon is what elevates this soup, so please don’t skip it. I know you might need to buy a jar specially, but it lasts for ages.'
You can get Jess's book here.
Ingredients
- 4 leeks
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
- 45g salted butter
- sea salt flakes
- 550g carrots (approx 6)
- 2 fat garlic cloves
- 200ml white wine
- 2½ tsp dried tarragon
- 375g green lentils
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 5 stems cavolo nero or kale
- 20g Parmesan cheese
- ½ lemon
Method
- First, boil a full kettle. Next, give the leeks a really good wash to remove any soil or grit. Pat them dry, remove any tough outer layers, then finely slice. Add the leeks to a wide, deep soup pan along with the oil, butter and 1 tbsp salt (a whole tablespoon feels like a lot of salt, but we’re not adding any stock cubes later on so go with me). Fry the leeks on a high heat for 8 minutes until softened but not burning.
- Meanwhile, peel and finely dice the carrots then add these to the pan to sweat for 2–3 minutes. Peel, bash and roughly slice the garlic then add to the pan for a minute or two, ensuring it doesn’t burn. (It might feel weird not cooking the garlic for longer, but trust me.) Throw in the white wine, dried tarragon, lentils, white wine vinegar and approx 1.75 litres of water then simmer on a medium heat with the lid on for 35 minutes, by which time the lentils should be nicely tender. Remove from the heat.
- Using a hand blender, blitz approximately 30% of the pan contents to encourage a little bit of creaminess, then leave the rest of the soup as is, so that you’ve got lots of nice texture and it’s interesting to eat.
- Finely shred the cavolo nero then stir it into the soup – you should find that the residual heat alone wilts it and you don’t need to put the pot back onto heat. Have a taste for seasoning, you may want to add a touch more salt, or even some more dried tarragon, then ladle into bowls and top with plenty of oil. Using a microplane, finely grate over the Parmesan, then cut the lemon into small wedges for squeezing over at the table.
