Black Garlic And Lentil Soup

• 1 tablespoon lard or grapeseed oil
• 1 white onion, cut into half-moons 1/4-in. thick
• 2 green bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/2-in. dice
• 1 serrano chile, stemmed, halved lengthwise, and cut into thin half-moons
• 8 dried arbol chiles or 1 tbsp. red pepper flakes
• 3 ripe medium-size tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped
• 12 ounces dry-cured paprika sausage, such as Hungarian gyulai* or Spanish chorizo, or pepperoni
• 12 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 12 ounces button mushrooms, sliced thin
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 to 2 tbsp. hot Hungarian paprika
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• Black pepper
• 1 cup roasted red peppers, cut into 1-in. chunks
• Sour cream, chopped green onions, and chopped fresh cilantro, for topping

1. Heat a large cast-iron frying pan over medium-high heat until a drop of water flicked on the surface sizzles. Melt lard in pan and add onion, bell peppers, and serrano. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are well charred on the edges but not blackened, about 15 minutes. Let cool, then chop coarsely.
2. In a blender, combine 2 cups broth, the black garlic, and arbol chiles. Puree until smooth.
3. Cut sausage into quarters lengthwise, then thickly crosswise. Put in a large pot and add black garlic puree, remaining 4 cups broth, tomatoes, lentils, garlic, mushrooms, and bay leaves. Bring almost to a simmer over medium heat, covered (do not let boil). Add paprika, peppers, and charred vegetables and simmer gently, covered, until lentils begin to fall apart and thicken the soup, about 20 minutes more. Discard bay leaves. Stir in vinegar and salt, and season to taste with black pepper.
4. Ladle soup into bowls and top each with sour cream, green onions, and cilantro.
5. *Buy black garlic at
6. . Or, roast garlic: slice off tops of whole heads, drizzle with olive oil, and wrap in foil Roast at 400u0b0 until soft, about 1 hour. To use, squeeze pulp out of cloves. Find Hungarian gyulai at bende.com.
7. Make ahead: Up to 4 days, chilled.

lard, white onion, green bell peppers, serrano chile, arbol chiles, tomatoes, sausage, garlic, button mushrooms, bay leaves, paprika, apple cider vinegar, kosher salt, black pepper, red peppers, sour cream

Taken from www.myrecipes.com/recipe/black-garlic-lentil-soup (may not work)