Lentil soup with potatoes, fennel bulbs, and curly cabbage

Catalans like lentils. In the warm months, they cook them for use as a base for cold salads. In the winter, there's soup, often with potatoes. In our Weekly Pannier this week we found a head of curly cabbage (chou frisé), so Juliette added half of the head shredded, along with a couple of fennel bulbs. The bulb fennel is called a winter vegetable by many, but around here they are available much of the year, which is fortunate for us. Bulb fennel is rich in iron (among other minerals), so it highly prized by those who have given up red meat, but that's not the only reason why we like it. There's the delicate anise flavor and arome, of course, which does not dominate fresh salads and cooked dishes but, rather, gives delightful grace notes on the fringes of larger tastes.

(more to come)