Lentil Consommé with Butter Dumplings

Ingredients

• 1 kg beef bones
• Salt
• 1 onion
• 1 bundle vegetable stock mix
• a pinch nutmeg blossom
• 500 g split lentils
• 5 peppercorns
• 500 g ox shank
• 1 Carrot
• 50 g celery
• 50 g parsley root
• 3 egg whites
• 160 g mountain lentils
• 1 Carrot
• 100 g knoll celery
• 1 tbsp chives curls
• 1-2 day‑old rolls (from yesterday)
• 80 g Butter
• 2 eggs (medium size)
• salt, pepper
• nutmeg blossom

Instructions

1. 1.

   Wash the bones, place them in a large pot and fill with 2 liters of cold water. Add a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam carefully with a ladle. Halve the onion with its skin, dark‑roast it in a dry pan until browned on the cut edges, then add it to the bones. Clean, wash, and chop the vegetable stock mix. After 30 minutes, add the stock mix, nutmeg blossom, lentils, and peppercorns. Simmer gently for about an hour in an open pot; do not let it boil vigorously.

2. 2.

   Afterward strain the broth and allow it to cool. It should yield about one liter of liquid. Remove the bone from the ox shank. Turn the meat through a fine mesh of a meat grinder. Clean, dice finely the carrot, celery, and parsley root. Mix the ground meat with the vegetables and egg whites. Combine this mixture into the cooled meat broth. Whip vigorously so that the broth is fully blended with the meat mass. Then return everything to the stove, stir constantly, and bring the cloudy broth to a boil. Once it starts boiling, the egg whites coagulate and clarify the broth. Let it simmer gently on low heat for an hour, then carefully strain through a cloth.

3. 3.

   Soak mountain lentils in cold water for several hours and cook them unseasoned for 20 minutes until tender. Meanwhile peel and dice carrot and celery finely. Add the lentils to the pot during the last 8–10 minutes of cooking and simmer together. Drain the lentils into a sieve and set aside as a garnish for the consommé.

4. 4.

   For the dumplings, grate the day‑old rolls on a coarse grater to make crumbs. Melt the butter. In a tall jar, whisk the eggs with an immersion blender. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg blossom. Gradually fold in enough bread crumbs with the mixer until a pliable paste forms. Taste again and let it rest for 10 minutes.

5. 5.

   Heat the consommé. Scoop dumplings from the paste and drop them into the hot consommé; cook for about 6–8 minutes until they float. Arrange the dumplings and lentils on soup plates, pour the hot consommé over them, and sprinkle with chives before serving.