Delia veggie moussaka

This was comfort food too. I made this a few times, a long time ago. You can't go wrong with Delia and this kind of thing. It was just as satisfying as I remembered.

10 fl oz / 275 ml veg stock
2 oz / 50 g puy lentils
2 oz / 50 g green lentils
4 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 large red pepper, chopped into ¼ inch (5 mm) dice
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 aubergines, each 8 oz / 225 g -> 1 lb / 450 g total, cut into 1/2 in / 1 cm dice
1 x 14 oz (400 g) tin chopped tomatoes, drained
7 fl oz / 200 ml red wine (subbed a bit of soy sauce and some water - wine is rarely open around here)
2 level tbsp tomato purée or sun-dried tomato paste
1 level tsp ground cinnamon
2 level tbsp chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper

For the topping:
10 fl oz / 275 ml whole milk
1 oz / 25 g plain flour
1 oz / 25 g butter
¼ whole nutmeg, grated
1 x 9 oz / 250 g tub ricotta 
1 large egg
1 oz / 25 g parmesan, grated
salt and pepper

Heat the oven to 350F / 180C. Pour the stock into a medium saucepan together with the puy lentils (but no salt), cover and simmer for 15 min before adding the green lentils. Cover and cook for 15 min, by which time most of the liquid will have been absorbed and the lentils will be soft.

While the lentils cook, heat 2 tbsp oil in a large frying pan and fry the onions until they're soft and tinged brown at the edges (about 5 min), then add the chopped pepper and soften and brown that too for about another 4 min. Add the garlic, cook for 1 min more, then transfer the whole lot to a plate.

Put the other 2 tbsp oil in the frying pan, turn the heat up to high and toss the aubergines in it so they get evenly cooked. When they're starting to brown a little, add the tinned tomatoes and the onion and pepper mixture to the pan. In a small bowl mix the wine, tomato purée and cinnamon together, then pour it over the vegetables. Add the lentils and the chopped parsley, season well and let everything simmer gently while you make the topping.

Put the milk, flour, butter and nutmeg in a saucepan and whisk until it comes to simmering point and becomes a smooth glossy sauce. Season with salt and pepper, remove it from the heat and let it cool a little before whisking in the ricotta followed by the beaten egg.

Finally, transfer the vegetable and lentil mixture to a large ovenproof dish and spoon the cheese sauce over the top, using the back of a spoon to take it right up to the edges. Sprinkle with the parmesan, put the dish in the oven and bake on the middle shelf for 1 hour. Rest for 15 min before serving.


It tasted good. I did not miss the wine.

Lentil and potato pasta (the best lentils in the world)

When we were at S's in Italy last winter, we bought a packet of 'the best lentils in the world' from Santo Stefano di Sessanio. I just remembered them around New Year, because apparently lentils (along with a big fat sausage) form part of the traditional Italian New Year's feast. We didn't eat ours at New Year, but we had some with Amy on Jan 2nd, and the rest I made into this. I found a bit of paper with a few recipes in Italian in the packet from the lentils - I attempted to translate it, and this is the result. It was deceptively simple-looking, and very tasty, like a lot of real Italian food.

200 g small green/brown lentils
2 cloves garlic, 1 whole / 1 peeled and chopped
1 bay leaf
salt
2 tbsp olive oil 
4 medium tomatoes, diced
4 medium potatoes, approx. 2 cm dice
pasta

Put the lentils in a saucepan with 1 clove garlic, bay leaf and a little salt, and boil for about 25 min. Drain, reserving the liquid.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan, add chopped garlic and tomatoes and cook for a few minutes. Add a little salt and the liquid from cooking the lentils (and more water if needed), and the diced potatoes. Halfway through cooking, add the lentils.

While the lentils are cooking, bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook enough pasta (your choice of shape) for 2 people. Stop cooking halfway through, drain, and pour pasta into the pot of lentils. Simmer until the pasta and the potatoes are well cooked.

Crunchy rice carpet with lentils, onions and pomegranate

I went to Cambridge to see Dad, S and B a couple weeks ago. I hadn't realised when I planned it, but it was so close to Christmas that it made a lovely Christmas warm-up. I got to have my first (probably only) mince pie of the year, and we ate well, played games and exchanged presents (still wrapped though!). I also got to buy a Saturday Guardian for the first time in years. This has been frustrating - it is available in Europe but they don't put the supplements in, so irritating. So anyway, I am still reading it on and off. And I came across a recipe for stuck-pot rice and thought why not just spend the afternoon making that because I can? I didn't really follow the recipe, but I liked my version.

rice:
180 g brown basmati rice, soaked for 1 hour
60 g butter
A few pinches saffron threads, soaked in 1 tbsp boiling water

lentils:
1 1/2 cups brown or green lentils
1 tsp allspice
1 bay leaf
2 1/2 cups water

onions:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
salt+pepper
1 tsp pomegranate molasses

to serve:
pomegranate seeds (optional but lovely)
yoghurt
chopped coriander (optional)

Bring a deep pan of salted water to a boil and cook the rice for about 15 min until al dente. Drain, then briefly rinse in water. Wipe out the pan, then melt the butter in it, and pour into a cup. Return the drained rice to the pan, stir in half the melted butter, then smooth the top of the rice. Pour over the remaining butter and saffron, cover with a clean tea towel, put on the lid and cook on the lowest heat for 30-40 min, until the rice is cooked, with a golden crust on the bottom.

While the rice is cooking, cook the lentils and onions. For the lentils, put them in a pan with allspice and bay, cover with water and bring to the boil, then simmer low until water is gone and they are done. For the onions, heat oil in a large frying pan, then add onions and cook medium-low for about 30 min, until they are brown and soft/crispy in places. Add pomegranate molasses and seasoning to taste.

To serve, put crunchy rice in a bowl and add lentils, onions, pomegranate seeds, yoghurt and coriander. Yum.

Berbere lentils

I've made berbere lentils before, but at the weekend was browsing my precious weeks-old Guardian Weekend (that Y shepherded carefully over from Beccles for me), and found someone professing this berbere lentils recipe (that I had noticed then forgotten about previously) to be the best thing. And I had exactly the 250 g of red lentils it called for, so off we went.

2 medium onions, chopped
sesame oil (untoasted) or peanut oil, for frying
2–3 garlic cloves, chopped
250g red lentils
2 tbsp berbere spice mix (recipe below)
400g tin chopped tomatoes
400ml water
salt and black pepper

For berbere spice mix:
2 cloves
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cayenne
2 tbsp paprika
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp each of ground allspice, black pepper, ground cardamom, and ground nutmeg

To make the berbere, toast the cloves with the fenugreek, cumin and coriander. Grind and then mix with the cayenne, paprika, salt, black pepper, cardamom, nutmeg, turmeric and allspice.

Fry the onions. When softened, add the garlic, lentils and berbere. Mix, then add the tomatoes and water. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, adding more water if necessary.


Pretty good. Was a bit salty - I've reduced the salt a little above (as well as tweaking spice levels to my taste).Very similar to the recipe I tried before (except a bit saltier).

Warm beluga lentil salad with tomato, parsley and feta

A bag of beluga lentils was an impulse buy at my current favourite shop in Copenhagen, a Turkish grocer's in the southerly part of Norrebro. They were the same price as the other lentils, that's why: I think I'd always thought of them as the fancy expensive kind of lentils so the level pricing clinched the deal...

When I cooked them I saw why they have a reputation. They hold their shape well, and like forbidden/black/purple rice they develop a wonderfully deep dark purplish black colour (hence beluga). Good solid earthy taste too.

My go-to for lentils of the brown-green-black varieties is to turn them into a quick salad, with some elements of spices (coriander, cumin, cinnamon, paprika, chilli, sumac are favourites), olive oil, acid (balsamic vinegar or lemon juice), herbs (coriander, chives, parsley, mint), powerful flavour pockets (sundried tomatoes, capers, caramelized onions+garlic, olives), crunch (toasted seeds or chopped nuts), and probably something a bit creamy (thick yoghurt, tahini, feta) and something fresh (chopped tomatoes, leaves, maybe cucumber). I thought I must have written out a million of these salads on here, but on checking found not that many. Endless variants possible!

The beluga lentils were so pretty and tasty I wanted to keep it relatively simple, so cut back on spices etc and made a salad with just some basic components.

1 cup beluga lentils cooked with a bay leaf and a couple of peeled cloves of garlic in 1 3/4 cups water
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt+pepper
2 tbsp chopped parsley
6 medium-small tomatoes, chopped (or sundried tomatoes)
2 cm lump of feta, crumbled
2 tbsp chopped hazelnuts (optional)

Cook the beluga lentils with bay leaf and garlic. They should take about 15-20 min. When done (slight bite remaining, no liquid left), mix the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in the bottom of a serving bowl, tip the lentils in and mix together. Taste to check seasoning. Once they have cooled a little, add parsley, tomatoes and feta and toss. Add hazelnuts if using, check seasoning, and serve.


Very pretty: purple lentils, white feta, red tomatoes, green parsley. And just as tasty as its more complicated relatives.

Beetroot, lentils and wheatberries

This is a meal in a bowl, with all sorts of depths and exciting tastes and textures and colours. You might call it a salad? It comes together really quickly if you have the beetroot, lentils and wheatberries (or you could sub chickpeas and brown rice) already cooked and in the fridge. I had baked the beetroot while I had the oven on to roast some other veg a couple of days ago, so when I wanted to eat this I just had to cook the lentils and wheatberries and prep the other stuff. If I'd done the lentils and wheatberries previously it would have been even faster; as it was the remaining food prep pretty much fitted into the time they were cooking, so still quite speedy.

Baked beetroot:
~5 medium beetroot, washed and trimmed
few sprigs thyme
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp water
salt+pepper

Boiled lentils and wheatberries:
1 cup wheatberries
1 cup brown or green lentils
1 bay leaf
stock powder

Seeds, herbs and spices:
1 tbsp coriander seed
1 tsp cumin seed
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1/2 tbsp sesame seeds
zest of 1/2 a lemon
1-2 tbsp chives, chopped
1-2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 tbsp mint, chopped

Dressing:
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp honey
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 tsp white miso
1-2 tbsp olive oil
salt+pepper

To prepare the beetroot, heat the oven to 400F. Wash the beetroot thoroughly and trim. Chop into large / even sized chunks (in half or quarters) and put in a lidded ovenproof dish. Add whole, peeled garlic cloves, thyme (fresh or dried), seasoning, olive oil and water. Put the lid on, put in the oven and bake for 30-40 min, until tender to the point of a knife. Remove from the oven, let cool, then cut into chunky dice.

Put the lentils in a small pan with enough water to cover them by 1cm. Add the bay leaf and a sprinkling of stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for ~30 min, until done. Put the wheatberries in a different pan with ~1 1/2 cups water and a sprinkling of stock. Bring to the boil and simmer 25-30 min, until tender.

Heat a frying pan and dry fry the coriander and cumin seed until fragrant. Let cool a little, then transfer to a spice mill and grind. In the same pan, dry toast the sunflower and sesame seeds until lightly golden and starting to pop. Chop the herbs and zest the lemon.

In a serving bowl, beat the dressing ingredients together with a fork. Add the cooked, still warm wheatberries and lentils and mix well together. Add the beetroot (and garlic and juices) and ground spices and toss some more. Check it is not too hot, then, immediately before serving, add the toasted seeds and fresh herbs. Toss once more, taste and add more salt, pepper and balsamic if needed, and eat.


This is really hearty and versatile - an excellent Autumn / Winter salad protocol. Versions of this have been seeing me right for weeks, as lunches and quick dinners. So long as I have some cooked lentils and wheatberries (or other grain) in the fridge, plus some kind of roasted veg - this week it is butternut squash roasted with za'atar - I can grab some herbs from my pots and mix this up in minutes.

Warm lentil and onion salad

My stepmother S makes a simple lentil salad that I love. I think it is Indian-influenced (she is half Indian). It is Puy lentils, with crispy fried onions and dollops of thick yoghurt on top.

This recipe reminded me of S's lentil salad. I didn't feel like making exactly either of those, but something closely related, simple, but with enough complication to be exciting.

To cook the lentils:
1 cup green or brown lentils
1 large clove garlic, peeled and sliced into three
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp olive oil
water

To toast in a dry pan:
2 tsp coriander seed
1 tsp cumin seed
2-3 tbsp sesame or sunflower seeds

For the onions:
1-2 tbsp olive oil
2 small onions, peeled and finely sliced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

For the dressing:
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 tbsp tahini
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp water
2-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1-2 tsp salt

Also:
zest of 1/2 a lemon
2-3 tbsp mint leaves, chopped
1 cup cooked, defrosted chickpeas
fresh tomatoes, chopped

First, put the lentils on: put lentils, garlic, bay leaves and olive oil in a small pan with enough water to cover the lentils by about 1cm. Cover the pan and simmer until lentils are done (20-30 min / will vary depending what kind of lentils).

As soon as the lentils are on start the other preparations. Dry fry the cumin and coriander until fragrant, then tip them out into a bowl and set aside. Do the same with the sesame/sunflower seeds, transferring them to a different bowl. Then heat the olive oil in the same frying pan, add the onions and garlic, cover and cook gently until the onions first soften then start to go sweet, brown and crispy/melty.

To make the dressing, grind the toasted coriander and cumin and tip it into a serving bowl. Add the olive oil, lemon juice, tahini, salt, balsamic vinegar and water and mix to a good consistency. When the lentils and onions are done, add them to the serving bowl along with the chickpeas and lemon zest, and mix everything together thoroughly. Finally, add the mint and seeds, toss, and serve with fresh tomato and more balsamic to taste, on brown rice.


It is an ugly brown mess, but it is delicious. Good balance of fresh (lemon, mint) with deep and earthy (lentils, tahini), sweet (balsamic, onions), and toasty spices (coriander+cumin). Nice textures too - the crunch of seeds alongside the robust squish of cooked pulses. Best warm, fine cold the next day.

St. Patrick's Day: Mushroom-stout shepherd's pie

Really, this is an effort to use up various odds and ends of things laying around - the fridge, freezer and pantry have all been feeling rather full lately. So, leftover mash and the stout from this, plus some carrots, mushrooms and parsley that needed eating, the last of a jar of tomato puree, stock I couldn't fit in the freezer, a couple of odd ends of packets of pulses... It all came together surprisingly well to make a pie packed with powerful, punchy flavours: a very St. Patrick's Day kind of a thing. About as close as I'm ever going to get to green beer and leprechaun hats, despite living in Boston.

For the topping:
~ 2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 tbsp white miso
1 tbsp fake butter
2 tbsp olive oil
~1-2 tbsp fake milk
salt+pepper

For the insides:
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
~10 mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1-2 tbsp paprika
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes
3 tbsp mushroom powder (hedgehog+chanterelle)
1 cup crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 cup stout
1 1/2 cups veg stock
1 tsp dark mushroom soy sauce
1 tbsp vinegary red wine
3/4 cup chana dal
3/4 cup brown lentils
salt+pepper


To make the filling, heat the oil in a large, lidded saucepan, then add the onions and fry, covered, until starting to soften (a few minutes). Add the garlic and the carrots, cook a few minutes more, then uncover, add the mushrooms and cook until they turn dark and give up their liquid. Add the spices and dried herbs and saute until fragrant. Add the remaining ingredients, taste for seasoning, then cover and simmer until the pulses are tender (about 40 min).

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 400F. Make the topping: cover the potatoes with water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15-20 min, until tender. Drain and mash with a fork until smooth, then add the remaining topping ingredients and continue mashing until a good, smooth consistency. Taste for mustard and seasoning.

When the filling is cooked, pour it into an ovenproof dish and level out. Splodge the mashed potato mixture on top and level it out, patterning it with a fork if you like. Put into the oven for about half an hour, until the potato is starting to brown and the filling is bubbling up. Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 min before eating.

Colourful, robust winter salads

We ended up eating at / from Whole Foods quite a lot while we were out West. It was S's idea. We arrived in Vegas and had one very uninspired meal with awful service, and then he had the idea of looking for local Whole Foods (apparently his buddy who runs learning-to-play-poker courses there stocks up at Whole Foods before getting going on the poker). We found a huge one in Henderson, and that was us sorted for the next few days.

A recurring Whole Foods salad theme was mixed grains and pulses. Which put me in the mood for more on our return. Here are a couple of variants:


Giant couscous, lentils, rice, cranberries and pumpkin seeds

3/4 cup giant / Israeli couscous, cooked in 1 cup water with 1/4 tsp turmeric for colour
1/2 cup brown and/or wild rice, cooked in 1 cup water
3/4 cup brown lentils, cooked in 1 1/2 cups veg stock with a bay leaf
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
~8 salty black olives, chopped
~2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt+pepper
wholegrain mustard
maple syrup

Mix olive oil, vinegar, mustard, maple syrup and seasoning in a medium bowl to make the dressing. Add the cooked, cooled couscous, rice and lentils and toss. Add the cranberries, pumpkin seeds, olives and coriander and mix up again. Taste to check seasoning / that there is enough dressing.


Massive couscous (moghrabieh), chickpeas, beetroot and sesame

3/4 cup moghrabieh, cooked in 1 cup water with 1/2 tsp turmeric for colour
1 cup chickpeas, cooked and defrosted
2-3 medium beetroot, boiled until tender, cooled and diced into ~1 cm dice
~2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tsp white sesame seeds
1 tsp black sesame seeds
1/2 tsp nigella seeds
juice of 1/2 lime
olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt+pepper

Put the pre-cooked and cooled couscous, chickpeas and chopped beetroot in a bowl, add the seeds and coriander and toss. Then add the dressing ingredients: oil, vinegar, lime juice, salt+pepper, quantities to taste (use plenty), toss and eat.

Lentil curry with beetroot raita

This was what I felt like making when I got home through the rain.  I wasn't going to bother with the raita but then S wasn't home yet and I was waiting for things to cook and I thought yeah, why not.

250g large brown lentils
60g fresh ginger or galangal (used galangal), peeled and roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
3 tsp garam masala
2 small red chillies
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp veg oil
1 medium onion, finely sliced
400g can chopped tinned tomatoes

For the raita:
200g soft silken tofu
4 tbsp beetroot, coarsely grated
coriander, chopped
juice of 1/4 lime

Bring the lentils to the boil in a pan of deep, unsalted water, then let them simmer for 20-25 minutes, until they are quite soft.

Put the galangal into the blender with the garlic, cumin seeds, ground coriander, garam masala, red chillies, ground turmeric and enough water to make a soft, but not runny, paste.

Peel and finely slice the onion.  Warm a tbsp or two of oil in a medium saucepan over a moderate heat.  Add the onion and let it colour, stirring occasionally.  Then add the paste and stir / cook til fragrant.  Then add the tinned tomatoes and a can of water, salt, and the drained, cooked lentils and leave to simmer for half an hour or so. The lentils should be soft but still retaining a little of their texture; the sauce thick.

To make the raita, blend the tofu until smooth and put in a small bowl with the other ingredients and gently fold the beetroot through the smooth tofu with a fork (don't over mix).


We ate it with brown rice, and it was good.  Homely and comforting and exciting all at once.  Glad to use some galangal at last.  And the tofu-beetroot raita turned out way better than I expected.

Sweet and sour red lentils

 

It has been raining since Monday.  Now it's Thursday, and it's wetter than ever.  It felt like weather for comfort food.  I decided that = dal.  I was looking for a red lentil dal, with the thought at the back of my mind that I'd like to use some of the fenugreek I bought the other day.  I came across this recipe by Madhur Jaffrey on the BBC, and it caught my eye - it includes a few of my current favourite things (tamarind, fenugreek, nigella, fennel seed...).

250g/9oz/1¼ cups red lentils
¼tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp mustard or any other vegetable oil (used regular veg oil)
½ tsp brown mustard seeds
½ tsp panch phoran (= mixture of fennel seed, nigella, cumin seed, fenugreek and celery seed or black mustard seed - I didn't have celery seed so used a mixture of the first four)
4 hot dried red chillies (used 2 as thought they might be super hot)
1 bay leaf
1¼-1½ tsp salt
2 tbsp thick tamarind paste or to taste
1 tbsp sugar or to taste

Wash the lentils in several changes of water until the water runs clear. Put them in a medium-sized pan with the turmeric and mix. Cover with 1l/1¾pt/4½ cups water. Bring the lentils to the boil over a medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover partially and simmer for 40 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Stir now and then during the last 10 minutes. When the lentils are cooked, mash with a spoon to a pulp-like consistency.

Heat the oil in a large, wide, preferably non-stick pan or wok over a medium-high heat. When hot, add the mustard seeds. As soon as they pop, a matter of seconds, add the panch phoran, chillies and a bay leaf. Stir and fry for 5-6 seconds or until the chillies darken in colour. Add the cooked lentils, 150ml/5fl oz water and the salt. Stir to mix. Add the tamarind paste, a little at a time to get the sourness you desire. Add just enough sugar to balance the sourness. Bring to the boil. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 8-10 minutes. The finished dal should have the consistency of a thick purée.


This is sooo good.  The red lentils become this thick, lumpy, earthy paste, and the sweet and sour and spicy flavours mingle into that and just make it all incredible.  Didn't really mash / puree it that hard - quite liked it with still-discernible lentils in it, and red lentils turn to mush with little encouragement anyway.  Could have been more brave with the chilis.  Love how much tamarind it has in it.

Lentil and bulghur wheat cakes

I thought I should try more different things with red lentils, and spent an evening poring over books and websites trying to figure out what.  I found this recipe in my New Covent Garden Soup Company cookbook ('Soup and Beyond').  It's a wonderful book - it was a present from my eldest (step) sister years ago, and taught me how to make soup / inspired me to make interesting ones.  I have a few favourites in it - there are lots of exciting vegetarian / vegan soup and bean recipes I've made and more I haven't tried yet.  This is one I hadn't tried yet.

110g (4oz) red lentils
425ml (3/4 pint) water
1 tsp salt
110g (4oz) butter (used olive oil instead)
75g (3oz) bulghur wheat
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 orange pepper, finely chopped
4 spring onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
2 tbsp mint, chopped
1 tsp paprika
salt+pepper
oil for frying

Put the lentils, water and salt in a pan and simmer for 20 min until lentils are tender.  Add more hot water if needed.  Stir in some olive oil and the bulghur wheat.  Simmer for 2 more minutes, then turn off the heat, cover and set aside for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat some olive oil and fry the onion over a medium heat for about 10 min til golden.  In a large bowl, mix the onions and bulghur / lentil mixture.  Add the pepper, spring onion, parsley, mint and paprika and mix well.  Knead for ~2 min until well mixed, then season to taste.  Make the mixture into patties.

Heat some oil and fry the patties on both sides over a moderate heat til golden.


They tasted good, but rather falling-apart in the pan - they stuck together well enough until I started cooking them, but then went to pieces.  Was it because I skipped the butter?  I made a quick salad / fresh relish with chopped cherry tomatoes, coriander leaves, a few beansprouts, some salt+pepper and a dash of balsamic vinegar, which went very well.

Lentil flatbreads + tomato-lime sauce

Since I loved Dan Lepard's olive sesame bread so much I thought I'd have a look through some of his other bread recipes.  I found this one and thought I'd give it a go.  The two main things I like about these recipes are 1) that you make a bread that is different from anything you could buy and 2) the formula of do something quick and easy / wait a while / repeat...


Lentil flatbreads


350g strong white flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
50ml sunflower oil
250ml milk and water, half of each

For the dhal:
150g dry red lentils
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp ground coriander
3 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp salt

The night before, make the dough. In a bowl, mix the flour, soda and salt, add the oil and milk, stir, then cover and leave overnight at room temperature.
Next day, boil the lentils and garlic in water for eight to 10 minutes, then leave to drain in a sieve. Tip on to a sheet of muslin, and wring out excess water. Tip into a bowl, stir in the spices and salt, and remove the garlic. Set aside until cold.
Using lots of flour to dust both hands and worksurface, cut the dough into 50g pieces. Pat each piece flat in the palm of your hand. Take a spoonful of lentils (15g-30g, depending on how brave you feel) and squeeze into a ball, then wrap one piece of dough around it. Dab the edges with water and pinch it together to seal. Tap the dough out firmly, again using lots of flour, then roll very thin. Get a large frying pan quite hot, lay in a patty and cook for a minute each side. Set aside in a warm place, covered with foil, and repeat with the remaining dough.

I made the dough and the lentils in the morning and then assembled, rolled and cooked in the evening after work.  The recipe made about 12 (I think) - half quantity would have been sufficient for us.  Amazingly the lentil mix and dough ended up being perfectly in proportion.  They were well nice and S loved them.  Bit faffy but the assembling and rolling was actually quite a pleasing process and not too hard.

I made a quick spicy lime-tomato sauce to dip them in as I fancied something limey to go with them:

juice of a lime
1 tbsp tomato puree
pinch cayenne pepper
pinch salt
2 tsp olive oil

Mix all together and serve.  Quite runny and lime is the dominant flavour.  S said it was like a cocktail and I guess it did have a lot of elements of a Virgin Mary.  Went well though.

Chickpea lentil couscous salad and sauteed spinach

A worknight when both of us got home around 7.30, early and lucky.

Sauteed Spinach

Seb wanted to saute spinach 'like you did it, because it was better' - what I did was really simple but I told him anyway and he did it.  We had a huge bag of baby spinach from the Haymarket which was actually in great nick, but spinach doesn't last forever (unless it is in those weird alien bags).

large bag of baby spinach, washed
6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
~2 tbsp olive oil
salt+pepper
nutmeg

Heat the oil in a large frying pan.  Add garlic and fry gently until softened and just starting to colour.  Add the (washed) spinach.  Move around gently until it is almost done (cover if you like), then add salt, pepper and some grated nutmeg to taste.  Cook until the spinach is completely wilted.


Chickpea, lentil and saffron couscous salad

Fancied some fibrous pulses.

From this recipe.

225g couscous / 112g wholewheat couscous
½ tsp saffron strands / 1/4 tsp saffron
Salt and black pepper
260ml boiling water / 130ml boiling water (+maybe 20ml more as it looked like v little)
150g cooked chickpeas (tinned are OK) / ~75g but really just a bag of frozen cooked ones defrosted
150g cooked Puy lentils / ~75g
80g dried cranberries / handful - end of a packet
1 red endive, cut into 1cm-thick slices / none- didn't have any
2 spring onions, thinly sliced / 1 spring onion
4 tbsp chopped mint  / 2 tbsp mint
3 tbsp chopped coriander / 1.5 tbsp
3 tbsp chopped parsley / 1.5 tbsp
Grated zest of 2 lemons / zest of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove, crushed / 1/2 garlic clove
1 tsp nigella seeds
4 tbsp olive oil / 2 tbsp
Put the lentils on to cook (should take ~20-30min).  Put the couscous in a shallow bowl. Add the saffron and a pinch of salt to the boiling water, and pour this over the couscous to cover. Wrap the bowl in clingfilm and set aside for 15 minutes, so the couscous soaks up the liquid. Remove the clingfilm, fluff up the couscous with a fork, then set aside to cool down.  When ready, drain cooked lentils.
Transfer the cold couscous to a mixing bowl, add the chickpeas, lentils and cranberries, and toss. Add the (endive), spring onion, herbs, lemon zest, garlic and nigella seeds, stir gently to combine, then stir in olive oil and season to taste.
Serve this salad straight away, or chill it for up to 24 hours; the flavours actually improve over time. Before serving, bring back to room temperature and add more olive oil or seasoning as necessary.


Both were pretty simple and tasty.  The salad was good - perhaps a little dry?  Might add some lemon juice another time.   Am enjoying using a lot of fresh herbs - at the moment we have mint, basil, parsley, dill and coriander in the fridge, and I am getting better at adding them to a variety of things.

Red lentil dip and skordalia

We bought flower bread from Clear Flour and fancied some stuff to eat with it.  So I roasted some tomatoes (with onions, garlic and thyme, as here), and made some dips...


Red lentil dip

For a while back in Norwich this was a regular feature.  Hadn't made it for a while, but bought a bag of red lentils the other day (after a meal at Red Lentil - so easily suggestible), and remembered about it.

1 cup red lentils
1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp ground cumin
1 clove garlic
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
salt

Put the lentils in a small saucepan with the water.  Boil for 2 min, then turn off heat, cover and leave for ~15min.  Add other ingredients and blend to a paste.


Skordalia

We ate this in a Greek place in Queens the other week and it was tastebud-crushingly garlicky, but also very good.  It reminded me I'd made it once before, with wild garlic in Norwich (where foraging was a more realistic option than here).  Thought it could be good with the bread too.  This time I made it with regular garlic, although tried to downregulate the garlickiness to save our tastebuds a bit.

500g / 4 medium, floury potatoes
~3 cloves garlic
1 tsp white wine vinegar
juice of 1/2 a lemon
~ 3 tbsp olive oil
salt

Boil the potatoes until done (~20-25min).  Drain, and mash until smooth. Crush the garlic to a paste. Add the other ingredients to the potato and mash til smooth. Add more olive oil / salt to taste.

The red lentil dip is an instant classic - so quick to prepare, and open to endless variations. My current fave is with cumin, paprika, cinnamon, a little chilli and ginger, and some pomegranate molasses.

The skordalia recipe makes quite a lot. We ate a lot of asparagus (pan-fried and steamed) in the following few days and discovered that skordalia makes an excellent creamy / garlicky sauce to eat with it - just as I was thinking 'hmmm this needs something' skordalia appeared before me and was a perfect match.

Lentils with herbs and garlic

Stumbled across this, fancied something simple with lentils and mint.

1 cup green lentils, rinsed
6 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
12 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1 tbsp. minced flat-leaf parsley
1 tbsp. minced fresh mint
salt and pepper

1. Bring lentils and 3 cups water to a boil in a 2-qt. saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until lentils are tender, about 35 minutes. Drain lentils and set aside.

2. Heat 2 tbsp. oil in an 8'' skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until soft, 7–8 minutes. Remove pan from heat and whisk in remaining oil, lemon juice, cumin, and allspice. Pour the garlic mixture over lentils. Add parsley and mint and season the lentils with salt and pepper; toss to combine. Serve lentils at room temperature.

Pretty much followed the recipe, though I didn't use that much olive oil I think.

Mushroom, tomato and lentil barley 'risotto'

Inspired by a grey and rainy day, general wintry malaise, and Nigel Slater's adventures with alternative grains, this is my kind of comfort food - a quick(ish) Monday evening dinner.

1 cup pearl barley
1/2 cup green lentils
olive oil
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3/4 tsp cumin seed
3/4 tsp mustard seed
1/2 tsp chili flakes
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
~10 mixed mushrooms, sliced
1 tbsp tomato puree
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp plain flour
2 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce

toasted sunflower seeds and chopped parsley to garnish

Put 1 cup barley and 2 cups water and a little salt in a small saucepan and boil for 15 min, adding the lentils after 5 min.  Drain when ready (should be about half cooked), leaving a little of the cooking water in the pan with them, and leave in pan with lid on til needed.

Heat olive oil in a saute pan and then add the onion,cumin seed, mustard seed and chili flakes.  Fry for about 10 min til slightly browned.  Add chopped garlic and fry another 2 min.  Add the mushrooms and tomato and fry for about 5 min.  Addthe tomato puree and stir / cook 2 min.  Add the flour and stir in.  Add the stock, soy sauce, vinegar, thyme, lentils and pearl barley, taste and season with salt and pepper and more chili flakes if wanted and simmer covered for about 15 min / until the liquid has pretty much all been absorbed.  Serve as a risotto, with toasted sunflower seeds and chopped fresh parsley scattered on top / on the side to taste.

Turned out really tasty.  Very open to variations / using stuff up too - different grain, different pulse, different vegetables added...

Tofu Scramble

Seb was out so I cooked simple food for myself.

Tofu scramble sounds gross, is much nicer than that.

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp coriander seed
1/2 tsp cumin seed
1/2 tsp mustard seed
1/2 tsp nigella seed
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1/2 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
1/2 large block firm tofu
1 plum tomato, chopped
1/2 cup cooked defrosted chickpeas
1 cup fresh spinach, roughly chopped
salt+pepper

Heat oil, add coriander seed, cumin seed, mustard seed, nigella seed and toasted til popped. Add some turmeric and pepper flakes then a chopped onion and fried a bit. Then add chopped red pepper and fry til nearly done. Add half a block of crumbled firm tofu and the plum tomato. Stirfry til liquid gone. Add cooked defrosted chickpeas and chopped spinach, stir til spinach wilted. Season to taste


The tofu scramble was OK. Ate with allspice rice and with lentils cooked in stock with a bayleaf - the lentils were really good.