Silken Sunchoke Soup

• Sunchoke Soup With Apples and Lentils
• Total Time: 35 minutes Serves: 6
• Ingredients
• 1/4 cup black lentils
• Pinch salt, plus more, to taste
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large white onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 leek, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 4 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 5 cloves garlic
• 2 celery stalks, sliced 1/2-inch thick
• 2 pounds sunchokes, all but 2 pieces (about 3 inches each) peeled and cut into 1/2-inch coins
• 8 cups vegetable stock or water
• 1 whole star anise
• 5 cloves garlic, roughly sliced
• 10 coriander seeds
• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• 1 tablespoon peeled, minced ginger
• White pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup apples cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 1 tablespoon chopped chives

1. What To Do
2. 1. Set a small pot of water over high heat and bring to a boil. Add lentils and pinch salt and simmer until lentils are just tender, about 15 minutes. Drain.
3. 2. Meanwhile, make soup: Set a deep pot over medium heat and swirl in 2 tablespoons oil. Add onions, leeks, shallots, garlic and celery. Sweat until softened and translucent, 3-4 minutes. Add sunchokes and sweat until slightly softened, 1-2 minutes more.
4. 3. Add enough stock to just cover vegetables and raise heat to high. Wrap spices and ginger in cheesecloth, secure with kitchen twine and add sachet to pot. Once soup comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium-high and simmer steadily until sunchokes are fork-tender, 20-30 minutes.
5. 4. While vegetables simmer, assemble garnish: Peel and cut reserved sunchokes into 1/4-inch dice. Set a medium pan over medium heat and swirl in remaining oil. Once hot, saute diced sunchokes until tender and golden all over, about 5 minutes.
6. 5. Mix sauteed sunchokes with cooked lentils, apples and chives. Season with salt to taste. Set aside.
7. 6. Once vegetables have simmered, set a sieve over a large bowl and pour soup through to separate vegetables from stock. Discard sachet and reserve stock. In a food processor, puree vegetables until smooth.
8. 7. Return pureed vegetables to pot and stir in enough stock to create a loose yet creamy consistency. Bring mixture back to a simmer and season with salt and white pepper to taste.
9. 8. To serve, ladle soup into bowls and place a large spoonful of sunchoke-apple-lentil garnish in center of each bowl.

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Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/silken-sunchoke-soup-51716391 (may not work)