French Lentil Salad

Well, its been a few weeks since my last lentil post, and given that they're pretty much a staple around here the next was was bound to show up soon! This, though, is totally different. I'm kind of bored with my usual rotation of Indian-ish or Mexican-ish spices, so it was the perfect way to shake things up. It is also one of those things where you take the first bite and stop a second and go, wait, did I really make that?


This is hacked together as a combo of this recipe from epicurious and this one from userealbutter, and my own little tweaks.

lentils:
1.5 cups lentils (I used regular green lentils. Red lentils are not recommended)
5 cups water
2 bay leaves

non-lentil warm stuff:
1/2-3/4c chopped carrot
1/2-3/4c chopped celery
one medium onion, chopped
1 Jenny-Oh low fat turkey kielbasa, cut in small pieces

dressing:
1/4c olive oil
1/3c balsamic
1/3c white wine vinegar
(basically a lot of vinegar of your choice- could be all red wine. don't use all balsamic, it'll over power)
2 tablespoons mustard (I used grainy dijon)
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1.5-2tsp dry thyme
1 chopped garlic clove

a very big bunch of parsley (don't leave this out)

what to do with it:
-Boil lentils with bay leaves until done, but not mushy. Drain extra water.
-In the meantime, cook the veggies and sausage in a little bit of olive oil until browned and soft (carrots and celery can be a little crunchy)
-While that cooks, mix up vinaigrette ingredients.
-Mix it all together!
-Chop parsley, and stir in at the end, after you are done heating (this does not have to be served super hot, it can just be warm).

This was delicious as is, I mean, really delicious. It also went really quickly for a weeknight, because you can basically cook everything during the time the lentils cook, which is about 20 minutes. I'm not usually a sausage person, but it really worked here, and if you get the lowfat turkey kind, its pretty low guilt. I think you could also sub in smoked tofu if you wanted to veggie-fy it.

The next day I wanted it a little more veggie heavy, so heated up a portion of the lentil mixture, and added 2 large handfuls of rinsed chopped raw spinach. This was much more salad like and would make a really perfect lunch.

Cupboard Soup

Today, I worked from home, which was luxurious. Partly, because it was rainy and grey and I didn't want to go anywhere anyways. But also because I could take a break in the middle of the day and make awesome soup for lunch (and, of course, for leftovers).

Here's the soup, it was basically made out of things that existed in my fridge and cupboard:

-1 onion, sliced, and slowly browned
-about 8oz sausage (left over)
-a whole mess of chopped celery and carrots (maybe a cup or so total? originally intended for dipping in hummus)
-2c beef broth (made of beef bouillon cubes because they're smaller than cans)
-a can of crushed tomatoes (originally intended for chana masala
-lentils (because I love lentils)
-some water
-a glug of leftover red wine
-garlic
-all the rest of my delicious rosemary
-red pepper flakes
-salt/pepper


Basically, brown the onion, toss in the celery and carrots and garlic, and then the sausage and red pepper flakes. Brown it all up together.

Dump in the tomatoes, broth, wine and about half a cup of lentils (or, whatever you have). Simmer for a while, to cook the lentils, adding water if you think it needs some. At the end, add some salt and pepper to taste (won't need much salt, with the sausage and broth).

Mmmmmmmmmm.... perfect rainy day food! (picture 5!)

Mujadarrah: Lentils, Rice, and Carmelized Onions

The other day, I was on the look out for something very very simple, made from ingredients I had on hand, that was also new and delicious: enter Mujadarrah (or, depending on your spelling preferences, Megadarra, Mjaddarah). It is a basic dish and seems to be common in a variety of places in the Middle East.

Here are the ingredients (get your pen, its a long list!):
lentils (I used green)
rice
onions (as many as you can get)
olive oil
salt and pepper
(some recipes called for cardamom, some didn't- I didn't have it so it isn't in mine)

this is hacked together from a variety of recipes on the internet:
heat some oil (I used a tablespoon or so, the recipes call for up to 1/4 cup), slice onions (I used 3 small onions) and cook in oil until soft. Cook on low/medium until really brown and caramelized- this is going to take a while!

In the meantime, put about 5 cups water in a pot, boil it, and put in 1 and 1/4 cup lentils. Cook about 20 minutes or so, then toss in the rice (I used brown rice, so tossed it in a little earlier and also added some more water) along with a bit of the onions and salt and pepper. Cook about 30 more minutes until rice and lentils are cooked. Serve with sauteed onions on top.

I might have thought that this would be overly bland, but the caramelized onions really were nice and flavorful, and it let you focus on the flavors of the lentils and rice. I like it! The only problem is, anything that involves caramelizing that many onions is not a quick dinner!

(In case you're wondering, the bread in the background was another attempt at flatbread, which went way better than the roti did, I actually liked it a lot. It is cumin/sesame flatbread from over at Kahakai Kitchen- check it out!)

Balsamic Lentils... Holy Smokes!

This recipe comes courtesy of The City Girl Cooks who picked it up over at Savory Spicy Sweet which is quickly becoming a favorite, as it was also the source of the very delicious butternut squash gnocchi from a few weeks ago.

Anyhow... I consider myself something of a lentil connoisseur (seeing as how they are both healthy and cheap, two criteria which top my list), and these lentils are, to say it briefly, completely awesome. My first thought upon tasting them (well, first of all after "woah!") was basically, "and, why don't I use balsamic vinegar on absolutely everything?". They have sausage, which I almost never cook with but I decided just to try the recipe as is and it was really good and hearty. It could be easily veggie-fied, either by just leaving it out (it would be really flavorful just by itself) or else substituting veggie sausage.

Here is my take on it...

What you need:
some olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves of minced garlic (probably 2-4 depending on taste)
red pepper flakes, to taste (I like a lot, probably used half a tsp- 1tsp)
3 links fully cooked chicken sausage, sliced- I got some garlicy sausage from TJs
2T balsamic vinegar
14oz can diced tomatoes
chopped fresh basil (could sub dried basil, in which case you should put it in at the same time as the pepper flakes)
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup dry lentils
1 1/4 cup water
5 oz fresh spinach or so, roughly chopped (I threw in almost a whole bag and did not chop it because I am lazy)

What you do...
Heat some olive oil in a pretty decent sized saucepan/pot (I just used my olive oil mister- all you need it for is browning the onions). Add the onions and cook until softened and a little brown.
Add ~1T balsamic vinegar, garlic, chicken sausage, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and sauté a couple minutes more.

Then, add the lentils, canned tomatoes, and water, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for around 25 minutes or until the lentils are just about done. Add spinach and chopped basil and cook 10 minutes more, until spinach is wilted and lentils are tender. Stir in remaining balsamic vinegar, garnish with extra basil, and serve.

This was seriously delicious. The balsamic vinegar really brought out a great flavor in the lentils, and it smelled absolutely fantastic. This recipe is definitely a keeper!