French le puy lentils + wild rice from Minnesota = French-Minnesotan Soup
I'm sure this soup has authentic roots. I mean, surely some French trapper in Minnesota pulled a bag of lentils from his pack and decided to cook it with the wild rice that grew among the lakes of Minnesota. He probably used some wild tarragon, too, to remind him of home, and some of the precious olive oil he'd traded some Spanish conquistadors for.
Then he probably shared it with the Native Americans, who told him it would be better with some root vegetables and spinach, and showed him where the best wild mushrooms grew.
Pretty soon he was the most popular fur trapper in Minnesota, making delicious French Lentil and Wild Rice soup for all his buddies during the cold winters. But he never bothered to write down the recipe. And sadly, an entire cuisine was lost. And that's why today you never go to French-Minnesotan restaurants or watch cooking shows that specialize in French-Minnesotan cuisine.
Oh well, I have a suspicion that would include Beaver Bourguignon, and the world is definitely better off without that.
Fortunately, my daughter's friend sent me some wild rice from Minnesota, and with another drizzly August day prompting me to make soup, this recipe was born (again?).
Here's how:
French Lentil and Wild Rice Soup
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 carrot, chopped
3/4 cup wild rice
3/4 cup green lentils
6 cups vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped, or 2 teaspoons dried
4 cups spinach, chopped
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Heat the oil in a large soup pot. Add onion and mushrooms and cook until golden brown, about 7 minutes. Add carrots and stir to cover with the olive oil. Pour in the wild rice, the lentils and the stock. Add the bay leaf and bring the stock to a boil.
Lower the heat and cover the pan. Let simmer for 45 minutes. Add the tarragon and the spinach toward the end of the cooking time. Taste and adjust seasonings. (If the stock contains salt, you may not need any additional salt.)
This makes about 6 bowls of soup.
Note: Do try to find French green le Puy lentils for this. They hold their shape better than brown lentils, and are slicker and just generally more appealing. (If you're in the U.K., they're just called "lentils" but are greyish green in colour.) I used prepared vegetable stock, but you can certainly make your own. I used white mushrooms, but wild mushrooms would be even more dramatic.
