Pasta with Lentils and Herbs

I have a whole bag of arugula, which normally I might use as a salad green, but, well, I have plenty of salad greens.  Arugula has in the last year or two become one of my favorite pizza toppings - fresh arugula on top of a thin crust cheese pizza is incredibly delicious.  I was thinking of this as I biked home after my run and decided to use it as more of an herb rather than a salad green.  So I got home, started the pasta water and the lentils to cook separately, and then heated some olive oil and washed and chopped the herbs together.  The result was completely satisfying.

I do think a sundried tomato or something from the olive bar would compliment nicely here.  Or perhaps I could've used more arugula.  I just didn't want to overwhelm the flavor too much.   But now I have leftover arugula to use, with an already overwhelming mess of salad greens!

Ingredients:

4 T olive oil
6 cloves garlic
1/2 t pepper flakes
6 T fresh basil
4 T fresh oregano
2 c fresh arugula

1/2 c red lentils

4 oz whole wheat spaghetti

Directions:
Cook red lentils in 1 c of water until they're done, cook pasta according to package instructions.  Meanwhile, chop garlic, heat olive oil, wash and chop herbs.  When oil is hot, add garlic, then add herbs and pepper flakes.  Cook until it smells incredibly fragrant and the leaves are a little wilted, mix everything together, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Makes enough for dinner and the next day's lunch.

Tonight I will finally make the tofu and greens I've been imagining for the last few days (spinach, tatsoi, chard - you name it, I've got it... although I'll save some for the beet risotto that will come later this week.)  It was my intention to cook delicious greens last night, but after my run I was craving carbs.

Life Makes Sense Again! Subtitle: Spring Means Salads.

As I unpacked my first farmshare box of the season last night... well, let's just say I'm glad no one was there to see how excited I got about various vegetables.  And... I suddenly felt like life made sense again.  This box contains normalcy, and happiness, and hours of delightful cooking and thinking about cooking and eating.  It is a very exciting time for me.

Most people I know who have tried a CSA but haven't kept it up give the same reason: they like having fresh local produce, but they want a choice in what the produce is.  I respect this opinion, but I do not understand it.  All winter long, I've been going to the grocery store and just staring at the produce aisle blankly.  What do I want?  I have no idea!  I want variety!  I want to have interesting things thrust at me so that I am forced to creatively use them!  Also, the produce aisle just does not interest me anymore.  (This reflection actually makes me a bit sad, because just a couple of years ago I would've named the produce aisle of any grocery store a comforting sight - "What peaches and what penumbras!" - although I suppose now I get that feeling from looking at growing vegetables?)

In any case, as it is spring, and I received three heads of lettuce, a bag of arugula, and a lb of fresh spinach... the natural first step was to make salad.

Before I ate lunch, this container held less than half of the 3 heads of lettuce I acquired.  Salads with every meal!!

here's what's in it:
3 heads lettuce, double washed and torn
1 bunch radishes, sliced
1/2 c almonds, sliced
one head broccoli (I still can't spell this word!), broken up
5 carrots, sliced
1 bunch green onions, chopped

I would've added beans for protein, but I got home so late from picking it up (and holding a tiny baby!) that I didn't bother - I usually cook beans in my slow cooker, and the freezer was empty of cooked ones.  That's when the almonds came in.  The spiciness of the radishes as well as my general propensity to have green onions with Asian food - especially peanut noodles - as well as my desire to add a bit more protein to this mess, inspired the following dressing (amounts are approximate) which I'm head-over-heels in love with:

1/2 c natural peanut butter
1/4 c organic brown rice vinegar
2 T sesame oil
1 t cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1/4 t salt

Berbere Lentil Quinoa Soup

I do not know how to pronounce Berbere - I always say it exactly like I say "Burberry", and I then I imagine people think I'm talking about fashion instead of spices.  But that's ridiculous - spices are way more interesting than fashion.  Anyway, Berbere is an Ethiopian spice mixture heavily reliant on chiles, and it is what makes my favorite Ethiopian dish - Massir Wat - so delicious.  I tend to buy specialty spices either from Penzey's or the Savory Spice Shop, and one of those places makes a Berbere mix that is... well, not that great.  If I want Massir Wat, my own concoctions with this spice mixture are unsatisfying and I end up ordering take-out instead.  Not just because I refuse to make Injera, but because this spice mixture lacks complexity.  That being said, it is delicious... if you don't know what Berbere is supposed to taste like.

Yesterday I sort of knew what I was planning to do - some vegetables, some canned tomatoes, red lentils and quinoa, and spices.  I thought I'd choose a bunch of cumin and chile peppers with a little oregano, which always comes out delicious, but while rummaging for these spices, I found the Berbere jar, and thought - hey, why not?  It's not like I'm going to use it to make Massir Wat.  

So this recipe emerged.  I must say the cilantro compliments the spice nicely, and adjusts the flavor so that it is not trying to be Ethiopian food, it is just something delicious.  As for the texture - I love a thick, chunky soup.  Although sometimes a thin broth is appealing, there is something satisfying about a thick coated spoonful.  Red lentils are a great addition to soups because of their thickening effect.  I've tried Chili recipes that call for TVP, but TVP is unsatisfying in both texture and flavor.  The Quinoa/Lentil combination here is perfect.

Now, for a final word on Berbere:  You probably could get by with some garam masala or curry powder and chile powder...  Or you could google a recipe for Berbere and make it from scratch.  It will probably be more satisfying than this mixture I have.  The key, though, is to add a lot of spice.  It is much more difficult to overspice than underspice this food.

olive oil

1/2 red onion

green bell pepper

1/2 head garlic

1/4-1/3 c Berbere spice mixture, or similar

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

4 c water (or more)

1 c quinoa, rinsed

1 c red lentils, rinsed

2 zucchini

salt to taste

1 bunch cilantro, chopped fine

Heat olive oil, cook onions, peppers and garlic until soft and browning.  Add spice, cook a bit, then add tomatoes and sauce and water.  Stir, bring to a boil, then add lentils and quinoa, cook about ten minutes, then add chopped zucchini.  Cook five more minutes, or until soup is thick, lentils have largely disappeared into mush, and quinoa is soft.  Turn off heat, stir in cilantro, and salt to taste.

Vegetarian Meatballs

This recipe actually defies most of my general eating habits - on my own, I don't eat that many eggs.  Or any cottage cheese.  And although I do love a nice sharp cheddar, it is what the Cookie Monster would call 'A Sometimes Food'.  (You should actually google "Cookies are a Sometimes Food" right now, it is hilarious.)

However, my nursing sister loves these things, because they are delicious, and she probably needs to consume 3000 calories a day, so I made a double batch for her.  (You can see the picture of me making them on her blog.)  Actually, she did most of the work, throwing bread and nuts and cheese in the food processor.  I just had to crack the eggs and get my hands dirty.  Most of them went into the freezer, but we had some for dinner with barbecue sauce, so I can attest to their deliciousness.

For a single batch:

4 eggs
1 c shredded cheddar
1/2 c cottage cheese
1/2 c finely chopped onion (food processor)
1 c finely chopped pecans
1 t dried basil (we omitted, I think I added parsley instead, as I couldn't find basil, because I didn't know where the garden was)
1 1/2 t salt
1/4 t sage
2 c bread crumbs

Mix, shape into balls (about a dozen), bake at 350 for about a half hour.  I would grease the pan with some olive oil or bake on parchment paper because they stuck to the pan.  The original recipe calls for a sauce to be made that is poured over the meatballs and a longer baking time.  We have never used the sauce, so I reduced the baking time so they don't get too crispy.  But they are good crispy.

Lentils and Quinoa and vegetables

Yesterday my cousins presented me a fairly easy challenge - gluten-free vegan dish that serves 8 people.  This is what came out.  It was delicious and well-received, but still, I have enough leftovers for the rest of the week.  Which is fine by me (and possibly also my co-workers).

Susan had asked me if I wanted to make dinner togethe

I do think that over the last year or two, my palate has been refined for a mostly-fresh-vegetable fairly vegan diet.  I enjoy the vegetables that flavor this dish, not the seasoning thaf flavors in this dish.  I can taste the cauliflower and lentils and cabbage and parsley.  There is no overwhelming cumin or vinegar or sesame flavor, just quiet, subtle hints that build upon the flavor of the whole ingredients.

Anyway.  Here's how it went:

-at about 11 am I called Peter in response to his text message about dinner, stating that Quinoa as a gluten-free main dish was probably adequate, and that I would put some beans in the slow-cooker so that we could add them for additional/complete proteins.  Then, at 2 pm, I realized I had never put beans in the slow-cooker and was out of time to cook them properly.  So I went to look for some nice French green lentils I thought I had - which are perfect for pilafs like this because they are very firm, and don't mush up into dal quickly (like a red lentil) or eventually (like a brown lentil.)  I proceeded to only find brown and red lentils, and settled on brown.  I put them in the slow cooker, turned it on, and forgot about it until the smell reached me on the couch about an hour later.  This actually proved my theory: the moment something smells done, it is done.  I immediately worried I'd over cook the lentils, removed them the heat, rinsed them in cold water to stop the cooking, and then stored them in the freezer for good measure.  They were cooked perfectly.

The rest of the meal was cooked at my cousins' house.  We chopped up a whole cabbage (Mariann used the Vitamix for this), a whole head of cauliflower, two leeks, and rainbow chard.  I meant to use garlic but forgot.  In the end, there were so many vegetables that I couldn't saute them as planned, I simply put them in the huge cast iron frying pan and added some water and steamed them - they all cooked perfectly.  I also cooked an entire bag of quinoa, and stemmed a bunch of parsley.  Then it was time to mix.  And Season.  This was the challenging part.  It ended up being about a teaspoon of cumin, a few tablespoons of Ume Plum Vinegar (which isn't very acidic and is very salty), a few tablespoons of sesame oil, and a little salt.  I was adding the salt probably too slowly for that side of the family.

There will be pictures after I run off to swim - I left my phone in the car.

The leftovers are prettier because the red chard bled into the rest of the dish, providing a little more color.

Red Chile Sauce

Hello, mom.  Please replace the freezer's enchilada supply while in California.

SAUCE:

olive oil

2 large onions

a head of garlic

1 can chipotle chile in adobo sauce - i would just use the hand mixer to blend it all up, but they don't have one, so maybe use the food processor.

a few teaspoons shiitake mushroom powder (it's in the cabinet but might not be labled)

1/4 c chili powder

2 T cumin

1 T + 1 t coriander

2 t oregano

4 c tomato sauce (or diced tomatoes)

3 c water

1/4 c lime juice

Cook the onions, add the garlic, until everything is very soft.  Add the spices and the can of chipotles, stir for about two minutes, then add tomato sauce and water and cook to let the flavors develop.  Remove from heat and stir in lime juice, to taste.  It might need a little soy sauce.

TO MAKE ENCHILADAS:

Each corn tortilla should be dipped in sauce (both sides covered).  I did lasagna style - a tortilla layer then a filling layer then a tortilla layer, and if there were more fillings, then more layers.  

Sometimes I pre-cooked the vegetables, sometimes I didn't, sometimes I added a bit of seasoning, but usually not much - just a bit of cumin or oregano.

I meant to sprinkle some shredded cheddar on the tops, but I think I mostly forgot.

Baby Prep

Over the Presidents' Day long weekend, I took some extra days and traveled to California to fill my sister's freezer with goodies before the baby arrived.  (In between me departing her house and writing this post, Brock arrived, which means they can attest to the deliciousness of this food, because they're finally allowed to start eating it.)

I'm not going to log everything made, but it is past time I provide some pictures of food.

First up was the enchilada sauce - this picture tries to convey the general height of the spices added to the sauce.

That's a lot of spice.

The various enchilada/lasagna fillings were prepared before assembly - carrots, onions, tofu/cottage cheese 'ricotta', spinach, kale, leeks, beans, zucchini -- there were a lot of options, and almost all of them made it into one dish or another.    I don't even know how many pans of enchiladas were made, I just know that the freezer was full, and a couple of leftover ingredients made a delicious soup.

Millet 'polenta', with sun-dried tomato pesto 'frosting'.  I cut them into bars and froze them on this pan before moving them to smaller bags (so there was more space for other deliciousness in the freezer.)

Vegetarian Meatballs - sorry the pic is crooked.  I guess they look delicious either way.  I had never before encountered such a delicious recipe for vegetarian meatballs.  I didn't know such a thing existed.  They're fantastic.

Raw Vegan Snickers Bars - this is actually the pan that I made in Chicago the weekend before I traveled, but I also made some for her.