Lenten Lentil Soup  with Piment d’Espelette and Grilled Avocado and Mango

(Vegan, Gluten-free)

Cooking becomes a challenge when you give up indoor plumbing for Lent. I don’t imagine this sacrifice will win me any points when I get to the other side, either. After all, you know the earnestness with which that phrase about cleanliness is uttered.  It’s been plain unholy in my house this week.

88- year-old homes have their problems. More than most, I reckon. The issue du jour in our old house has to do with sewer lines, and, well, we’ve been borrowing a cup of water from the neighbors.  I finally got tired of it though so I hiked three miles to the village well and carried 5 gallons up the hill on my back, just so that you could see how lentil soup is made.

Am I being dramatic? Okay, maybe I am.  By the weekend, when the plumber has left us with his invoice, this little experiment in abstinence will be over and we’ll fully re-embrace all the amenities of 21^st century life. Still you better make this soup!

Jokes aside, I do alter the way I live during Lent. I go vegan. For the last seven years, I’ve given up all animal products – milk, cheese, fish, eggs, sushi – during the 40 days before Easter. I am not a practitioner of any faith these days, not with any regularity anyway, but I find this ritual to be deeply grounding, both spiritually and physically.

Most of you have figured out by now that during ordinary time I’m pescetarian. That is to say, I get my protein from fish, dairy and plant sources, but not animals with legs. During Lent I rely exclusively on plant sources. Why? Not because I subscribe to fire-and-brimstone preachery, nor self-inflicted penance, suffering and shame. Quite the opposite.

In its origins, I suspect that the notion of deprivation during Lent was not so much an imperative from God as it was a reality of life. During the Lenten season, which comes at the very end of winter, there must have been little left to eat and certainly nothing growing in the garden. Centuries ago, refrigeration and preservation via plastic packaging wasn’t an option, and strawberries didn’t get shipped in from California year-round. The season before Spring, then, was a time of natural hardship and deprivation, an exercise in patience and ingenuity during the season of looking-forward. While the people waited for the frozen earth to crack open like an Easter egg and bubble over with fertility once again, they probably did give up their candy bars and their cookies, not to mention their fresh eggs and pork (since most of the animals would have been slaughtered before the onset of winter, during the Autumn harvest celebrations) and anything else that couldn’t be naturally preserved in some way.

No doubt then, you’ll note some inconsistencies here. Like the tropical fruit topping my Lenten lentil soup, and the Piment d’Espelette from the Basque region. It’s not a perfect practice, I admit, but it does get me into the spirit of this natural time, with full anticipation of the growing season. Going vegan during Lent lets me experience this leanness in my own way. I eat as seasonally as I can, and the absence of animal products reconnects me with a basic kindness toward the world that I’d like to embed in all aspects of my life.It allows me a lighter carbon footprint (if I choose smartly).  Besides, the other half of the reason I do it is selfish – my sinuses thank me for the month-plus long reprieve from the assaults of dairy. (Anybody else reading this have sinus problems from cheese and milk? It’s tragic).

So what do you say we all trek down to the well to fetch the family’s water, and then put the kettle on for a pot of lentil soup?

The Recipe

Piment d’Espelette is my current food obsession.  Claudia from Cook Eat Fret was the first to put it on my radar and then, just like a new car, I started seeing it everywhere. My obsession has gotten out of hand — I’m so taken that when Simon and I run off to Europe to get married later this year, I’ve talked him into a trip through the Basque region. (And would it not be beyond cool to tie the knot in the Church of Espelette? They could throw chiles at us instead of rice…)  Piment d’Espelette is a chile powder, named for the village in the Pyrenees where it’s grown, and in Basque cooking it is so beloved and widely used that it has replaced black pepper at the table. And why? Oh, how to describe this sublime little chile?

Now, I know foodies are strange birds, preferential to the point of comedy, but honest, this stuff is special. Shaded a red that is both deep and bright at once, the heady aroma is the first clue that you’re dealing with something out of the ordinary. Sweet, smokey (even though the pepper hasn’t been smoked), and bearing a slight tickle, it’s a smell that naturally inspires you to open your mouth in anticipation. The flavor is sort of like paprika but sharper, stronger and a tad spicier;  still, reaching just 4,000 on the Scoville heat scale (which climbs all the way to a devastating 200,000), this is a mild pepper, which means that its subtle qualities aren’t overrun by heat. This is full-frontal flavor — fruity, lively, a bit dusty, rich, with a long, warm finish.

The other thing of note in this recipe is the grilled fruit. I think avocado is just about perfect already, but grilling it elevates it to inspirational. I don’t know what happens, technically speaking, but adding heat makes the avocado nuttier, creamier, and, if left to the flames long enough, a tad crunchy on the outside. Try it if you haven’t — you’ll thank me. The mango stays a mango when put over heat, but the flavor intensifies and the flesh becomes softer. And it leaves me looking ahead not just to Easter, but to outdoor cooking time…

Lenten Lentil Soup with Piment d’Espelette and Grilled Avocado and Mango

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1poblano, diced and seeded (or, use as many seeds as you want heat – it’s also mild, about 1,500 on the scale)

1/2 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon coriander
1 tablespoon Piment d’Espelette (you can also use a combination of ancho and paprika but it won’t be the same!)

½ teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon (or so) of ground cloves

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups dry red lentils
7 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons red wine
Zest and juice of one lime

1 mango, sliced into thin strips
1 avocado, sliced into thin rounds

In a stock pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil on medium heat. Add diced onion, garlic and poblano. Stir to coat with oil and cook for 5 minutes. If garlic starts to brown and crisp reduce heat to medium-low. Add the cumin seeds and powder, the coriander, the Espelette, allspice, cinnamon and cloves. Stir to coat the vegetables and sauté for about 2 minutes, till the heat has permeated the spices and brought forward their flavors.

Add the salt, dry lentils, broth, red wine and lime zest and juice and turn heat to medium high. Allow liquid to heat and then reduce flame to medium low. Simmer for about 15 minutes, until the lentils are soft. Taste and adjust salt as needed. You also might sprinkle in a bit more Espelette.

Heat a good, nonstick skillet on medium high heat. If the finish is at all damaged, you’ll want to add just a touch of oil to the pan. Gently place avocado and mango slices on the skillet and grill them until they are lightly browned on the outside. If you have a skillet with grilling ribs, even better.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 5th, 2009 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.