Warm Lentils with Lemon Dressing

 

I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather, and it’s very frigid weather. I’d like to stick with the fresh flavors and healthy profiles of something like a salad, but I’ve been too cold. I did make some simple bean soup as well as a pot of Soup Beans lately, but I’ve also found that I can have my salad and my warmth all together. Sort of.

This is a very simple dish of warm lentils cooked with a bit of carrot, onion, celery and herbs (you could replace the fresh herbs with dried.) One then basically makes a salad out of them without waiting for them to cool. It’s not only warmer than a bean salad, but it’s faster as well. 

You might be able to use a different bean here, or add and subtract vegetables. I really liked the olives, parsley and green onions, but I think sun-dried tomatoes would be a good addition, or diced fresh tomatoes if they are in season.

You could also probably serve this dish as a salad, that is, cold. Since it’s January, however, these warm lentils are just right.

Warm Lentils with Lemon Dressing

Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

¼ cup finely chopped carrot

¼ cup finely chopped onion

¼ cup finely chopped celery

3 cloves garlic, divided

3 cups water

1 cup dried lentils

1 sprig fresh thyme

1 sprig fresh rosemary

½ teaspoon coarse salt

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

½ teaspoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ cup chopped pitted Kalamata olives

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

¼ cup finely chopped green onions

1. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Add the carrot, onion and celery. Cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are slightly softened and just beginning to brown, about 8-10 minutes. Meanwhile, finely chop 2 cloves garlic. Stir the chopped garlic into the vegetables and cook 30 seconds more.

2. Add the lentils, water, thyme and rosemary. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat and boil gently 20-30 minutes or until the lentils are tender.

3. While the lentils are cooking, prepare the dressing: Chop the remaining garlic clove. Sprinkle with the salt and continue chopping the salt into the garlic. Continue chopping and scraping the salt and garlic together into a paste as described in this post.

4. In a small bowl, combine the garlic-salt paste, lemon zest, lemon juice, oregano, black pepper and remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Whisk together until smooth. Set aside.

5. Drain the tender lentils and place in a medium-size bowl. Add the Kalamata olives, parsley and green onions. Pour over the dressing mixture and stir to coat. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Another recipe like this one: Lentil Soup with Winter Vegetables and Kale

One year ago: Bulgur Pilaf with Almonds and Apricots

Lentil Soup with Winter Vegetables

But it’s December, you say. Shouldn’t The Messy Apron be splashed with tempting photos of holiday treats featuring festively colored sprinkles and enough sugar and fat to induce regret in January? Shouldn’t you be baking up a blizzard? Sating your winter sugar zombie? Abusing your license to cookie?

I wish I were. And maybe soon I will be, but to tell you the truth, December has sneaked up on me once again. It’s shameful, really. It’s not like I don’t know it’s coming. It’s not like I don’t have several thousand seasonal recipes to try. It’s not like I don’t loooooove cookies. But until I can clean up the kitchen (again), get enough sleep, get over a head cold, make a space for the Christmas tree, bring up the decorations from their tomb in the basement, and figure out what to give everybody for Christmas I can’t seem to think straight about homemade holiday indulgences.

 

A while back, however, before December even finished its stealthy approach, I did make a comforting and flavorful lentil soup. I was surprised by how much beautiful flavor resulted from the addition of the sort of homely celeriac and rutabaga.  Chicken broth also gave this thick soup an additional richness, but you could use vegetable broth instead.

This soup is quite healthy but also filling and not at all boring. It might just be a good foil for those forthcoming indulgences. Assuming I ever get around to making any. Hey, at least I haven’t given up and loaded a shopping cart with boxed cookies…yet.

 

Lentil Soup with Winter Vegetables and Kale

Adapted from Bon Appetit magazine, March 2011

You could make this soup vegan by replacing the chicken broth with vegetable broth or water.

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped

2 large carrots, peeled and chopped into ¼” to ½” pieces
1 medium celeriac, peeled and chopped into ¼” to ½” pieces
1 medium rutabaga, peeled and chopped into ¼” to ½” pieces
1 ½ teaspoon salt plus more to taste
1 pound green lentils, rinsed
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon dried basil
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
¼ teaspoon black pepper
8 cups chicken broth, plus more as needed
1 small bunch kale, stems removed, chopped
 

1. Pour the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook just until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the carrots, celeriac, rutabaga, and salt. Cook, stirring often until the vegetables begin to soften, about 10 minutes.

2. Add the lentils, oregano, basil, thyme, bay leaf, pepper and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and boil gently until the vegetables and lentils are tender, about 20-30 minutes. Stir in the kale and cook about 10 minutes more. Add more broth or water if the soup is too thick. Taste for salt and other seasonings and adjust as needed.

Makes about 8 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Black Bean Soup with Salsa; White Bean Soup with Bacon, Squash and Kale

One year ago: Pasta with Shredded Winter Vegetables

By Any Other Name: Lentil Barley Burgers

Is this really a burger? It isn’t made of animal protein. Should it be called a bean and grain patty? Or an oversized croquette? Does it have to hopelessly pretend to be beef or chicken, like the “meatless burgers” in the supermarket freezers, to earn the name of burger? After I made these Lentil Barley Burgers, I surreptitiously checked out those massed-produced posers. Luckily, I was armed with my Master’s degree in chemical engineering, or I may have been terrified. Does being filled with wheat and soybean derivatives pounded into submission along with some yeast extract and a handful of unpronouncables qualify something as a burger? In some of these cases, I’m not sure it qualifies it as food.

I actually quite like veggie burgers, including some of those boxed up in the supermarket, which is why I’ve been questing after good recipes for homemade meatless patties for years. I’m looking for a firm disk that might be easily served as a sandwich, like a meat burger, but that has plenty of flavor, a pleasant texture, positive nutritional value, and, what the heck, a high WFQ* as well. All too often, however, I’ve ended up with sloppy bean pastes that fell apart in frying pans.

At least by the time I tried these burgers, I had learned to take a cue from the Beet and Carrot Burger recipe and bake the patties rather than frying them. This worked well when I made Black Bean and Corn Croquettes, as did pureeing some of the grains and beans, then pulsing in the rest to make a coarse mixture. Ta da! The same method worked well in these Lentil Barley Burgers, too!

These patties may seem a bit ethnically challenged with their French green lentils, barley and southwestern seasoning, but they’re good that way. I’m betting some other spice combinations would work as well, and I think you could use another variety of lentil, although the cooking time of the lentils and the texture of the burgers may vary. Whatever I might do to vary these, they’re still going to be made with whole food ingredients and won’t need to pretend to be anything they aren’t. Even if you don’t want to call them real burgers, you at least have to admit that they’re real food.

Lentil Barley Burgers
Based on a recipe in Cooking Light magazine

½ cup uncooked pearled barley
water for cooking barley
½ cup finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
½ cup uncooked lentils (I used French green lentils)
1 dried bay leaf
1 ½ cups water
1/3 cup grated carrot
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
1 teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
¼ cup breadcrumbs, preferably whole wheat
¼ cup cilantro leaves and tender stems
2 eggs


1. To cook the barley, place it in a medium saucepan and cover with water by a few inches. Bring to a boil over high heat, cover, reduce heat and boil gently about 20 minutes, or until the barley is tender. Drain and set aside.

2. To cook the lentils, heat the canola oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté 30 seconds. Add the lentils and stir until coated with the oil. Add the 1 ½ cups water. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium low or low and boil gently 30 to 40 minutes, or until the lentils are tender and the water is mostly absorbed. The cooking time may vary depending on the type of lentil you use.

3. Remove the lentils from the heat and remove the bay leaf. Stir in the grated carrot, tomato paste, salt, cumin, coriander, chili powder and red pepper flakes. Set aside to cool slightly.

4. When the lentil mixture has cooled enough to handle, place half of it into the bowl of a food processor. Add the breadcrumbs, cilantro, eggs and ¼ cup of the cooked barley. Process until smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally if necessary.

5. Add the remaining lentil mixture and remaining barley. Pulse until just combined. The mixture should be homogeneous, but some whole lentils and barley should still be visible. Transfer to a bowl, cover and chill at least 1 hour.



6. Preheat oven to 425 F. Oil a baking sheet or line it with a silicone baking mat. (I would also lightly oil the baking mat, since these stuck a little when I baked them.) When the mixture has chilled, divide it into 6 equal patties (about a heaping 1/3 cup each). Place the patties on the baking sheet and bake at 425 F for 25 minutes. Serve with salsa and sour cream, or other accompaniments alone or as a sandwich on a bun.

Makes 6 servings.

Patties can be frozen and reheated another day. Simply place the cooked burgers in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with wax paper and freeze for a few hours, or until frozen solid. Remove them from the pans and wrap them in a freezer bag or other freezer-safe container, separated by wax paper. Defrost or reheat in the microwave.

*WFQ: Whole Food Quotient

Other recipes like this one: Black Bean and Corn Croquettes, Beet and Carrot Burgers

One year ago: Penne with Chicken Sausage, Olives and Walnut Sauce