dicky & debbie.com

This soup came from the Vegetarian Times Vegetarian Starter Kit.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium-size yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 to 3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 cm dice
1 parsnip, peeled and cut into 1 cm dice
1 small celery root, peeled and cut into 1 cm dice
1 1/4 cups dried brown lentils, sorted and rinsed
6 cups vegetable broth or water
1 tablespoon tamari
minced fresh parsley for garnish

Method
Heat the oil in a 6 liter saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onion and garlic.  Cover, and cook 5 minutes to soften.

Add the carrots, parsnip, celery root, lentils, broth and tamari and season with salt and pepper.

Reduce the heat to low.  Cover and cook stirring from time to time until lentils and vegetables are tender, 1 -1 1/4 hours.  Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.  Garnish with parsley and serve.

There is no photo of these little gems as we ate them and then remembered that we had failed to take the photo.  D’oh!

Anyway, the secret to these darlings is to drain off the bacon fat and to ring out the potato.   Otherwise it just holds the fat and it is a bit much.  The orginal recipe came from the Edmonds Cookbook 1976, we jsut tarted it up a little bit.

Ingredients

100 grams streaky bacon, diced
1/2 medium onion finely diced
1 medium large potato,  coarsely grated and the moisture squeezed out
1 tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper or to your liking
3-4 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
1 beaten egg
2 1/2 tablespoons plain flour
2 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons of grated cheese

Method

In a large saucepan over a medium heat, gently render the bacon until crispy and the fat has run out.  Drain all the bacon on a paper towel. Drain all the fat bar 1 teaspoon.  Return to the heat and fry the onion until translucent. Add the bacon.

increase the heat and add the grated potato and fry until cooked but only just starting to brown. Remove from the heat, reserve, and clean the pan

Ina bowl, mix the egg with the flour and add the milk.  Mix to a thick batter add more milk or flour as necessary.  Add the slightly cooled potato mix and stir to combine.  Add the baking powder just before cooking and stir to combine.

Fry small amounts formed into fritters in some shallow oil until golden and crispy.  Serve with Worcestershire sauce and a salad.