Red Lentil Soup with Lemon

Ever since I had my first bowl of lentil soup at Jerusalem Garden in Ann Arbor, I've been wanting to make it myself. After a lot of trial and error (producing still very edible soups, it's a forgiving recipe), I've come to something that, while not exactly the same as the Jerusalem Garden version, I'm quite happy with none the less.

20 minutes of preparation, 2 hours cooking

• 1 medium onion
  
• 1 quart of water
  
• 10 oz of red lentils (They look orange when raw and turn yellow when cooked. Go figure.)
  
• 1 bouillon tablet
  
• 1 lemon
• 1.5 teaspoons of cumin
  
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric
  
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
  
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  
• fresh cilantro
  
• salt

1. Rinse the lentils well, until the water runs clear.
   
2. Chop the onion in small pieces and cook it in the bottom of a large pot with the olive oil and a bit of salt.
   
3. When the onion has browned a bit, add the water, lentils, and spices.
   
4. Let the soup simmer for about an hour, then dissolve the bouillon tablet in a bit of boiling water and add it to the soup.
   
5. Let the soup simmer some more, maybe about an hour, until the lentils break down and the soup gets a creamy texture.
   
6. Squeeze the lemon juice into the soup.
   
7. Taste the soup and adjust the level of salt and lemon juice to your tastes.
   
8. Serve and garnish with the chopped cilantro.

Super simple and really, really cheap. Feel free to add more spices, lemon zest, or bits of grilled pita. It's all excellent!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've been making chocolate chip cookies recently that have been a bit of a hit in these parts (I was pleased to know that they led to a fight between Esther's brother and sister). Now, that may be a simple result of the fact that the cookie market here is pretty dry.

What's my secret, you ask? The New York Times. They did a report looking for the best chocolate chip cookies and I've simply adapted that recipe to the ingredients that you can find in France. If you're in the US, simply follow the recipe as written in the times. Here's how I've adapted it to France:

• 480g flour
• 7g levure chimique (comes in little packets in the little baking installation in most supermarkets)
  
• 7g bicarbonate de sodium (comes in a blue and white box, often near the flour and starch)
  
• 10g salt
• 250g beurre doux
• 230g white sugar
  
• 270g cassonade (what we would call raw sugar, as close as it gets to brown sugar over here, is usually found next to the regular sugar in the supermarket)
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 10ml natural vanilla extract
  
• 500g chocolat pâtissier, at least 60% cocoa, cut into pieces (I use a mix of the darker and the lighter Nestle Dessert bars)
• sel de mer

Using those ingredients, follow the instructions as listed in the recipe. I typically make the cookies smaller, forming dough balls about the size of a ping-pong ball. I bake them at 170 degrees Celsius for about 13 minutes, without the convection fan.

There it is, that simple. And very delicious