Conference turris::cooks

    The new issue of "Good Food" magazine has some lentil recipes this
    month - I think it is the October issue.  It is the magazine that
    is about the size of a Reader's Digest and is usually at the check-out
    counter.  I'll try to remember to bring it in and type in some recipes.
    

Saute green vegetables of choice (broccoli, green beans, etc.), some
carrot chunks (or slices if you want fancy), some onion chunks (same)
in olive oil until crisp tender.

Mix with 2 cups cooked lentils (any color) with juice, and 2 cups
rice (REAL rice, not that hideous minute stuff), chopped fresh
parsley to taste, pepper to taste, and a splash of hot sauce if
you like... and place in lightly oiled casserole dish.  Top with
grated low-fat swiss or jack or cheddar cheese.  

Bake until it smells good and looks bubbly.  Serve with salad
and warm bread.  They'll never miss the meat.  This is a very
good way to get vegetables into those individuals who look
VERY CAREFULLY at anything green (the "What IS this...broccoli?" crowd).

Baked Lentils With Honey

2 c lentils
5 c water
6 bacon slices, cut into small pieces
1 med onion, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
dash pepper
1/4 c finely chopped chutney
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 c honey

Put lentils in large saucepan.  Add 4 cups cold water; bring to boiling.
Reduce heat; simmer, covered, for 1 hour.  Drain off any excess liquid.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Into lentils, stir bacon, onion,
salt, pepper, chutney, mustard and 1 cup of water.  Turn into 2 qt shallow
baking dish;  pour honey over top; bake, covered, 45 min.  Remove cover,
bake 30 min more.  Serves 4.

    Rice and Lentils
    
    6 cups of water
    1 cup lentils
    1 cup rice
    1 large or 2 medium onions
    2/3 cup bacon drippings or vegetable oil
    
    Put water in Dutch oven or other large container.  Put in lentils
    and bring to boil.  Boil lentils 10-15 minutes, then add rice. 
    Stir and cover.  Reduce to simmer.
    
    While rice-lentil mixture is cooking, slice onions thinly and fry
    them in the bacon drippings or oil until they are lightly browned.
    
    When rice-lentil mixture has absorbed the water, pour onions and
    bacon drippings in and mix together.  Salt to taste.  Eat hot or
    cold.
    
    Enjoy!
    
    Judy

    Here are two from "Good Food" October, 1987; the first recipe serves
    8, and you cook enough lentils to have some leftover for the second
    recipe, which serves 6.  I haven't tried these, but their other
    recipes have always turned out well.  A friend ordered some in a
    restaurant, and they were bright orange!  No sauce, looked like
    maybe just some butter - is this a normal color??
    
    Sweet & Sour Lentil Soup
    
    4 Tbs vegetable oil
    2 medium onions chopped
    4 cups dried lentils, rinsed
    4 quarts water
    1 red bell pepper
    2 carrots, pared, sliced
    2 small ribs celery, chopped
    4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
    1/4 cup all purpose flour
    1 and 1/2 pounds smoked spareribs, cut up or 2 smoked pig's feet
    2 Tbs paprika
    1/4 tsp dried marjoram
    1/4 cup red wine vinegar
    3 Tbs sugar
    1/2 cup sour cream (optional)
    1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
    salt & pepper
    
    Cook half the onion in 1 Tbs of oil until softened but not browned.
    Add lentils and 1 and 1/2 qts water, heat to boiling, boil 10 minutes.
    Reduce heat and simmer covered until lentils aare soft but not mushy.
    Clean pepper, dice half of it, cut remaining half into thin slivers
    and reserve for garnish.
    Heat remaining 3 T oil in large heavy Dutch oven, add remaining
    onion, diced pepper, celery, carrots & garlic, cook till slightly
    softened.  Add flour & cook, stirring ocnstantly until flour is
    lightly colored.  Stir in remaining 2 and 1/2 qts water, meat, paprika
    and marjoram.  Cover pan, heat to boiling, skimming surface
    occasionally with slotted spoon.  Drain lentils and reserve 4 cups
    for the next recipe.  Add remaining lentils to soup and simmer covered,
    stirring and skimming occasionally, until meat is tender, about
    1 hour.  remove meat, let cool, remove from bones, cut into pieces
    and return to soup, bring to simmer, skimming as much fat as possible.
    Mix vinegar and sugar and stir into soup, season to taste, serve
    garnished if desired with sour cream, slivered pepper and parsley.
    
    21 grams protein, 14 fat, 35 carbo's, 623 mg sodium, 350 cals/serving.
    
    
    Lentils Vinaigrette
    
    4 cups leftover lentils, at room temperature
    red wine vinegar if needed
    1 red bell pepper, seeded, diced
    2 carrots, pared, diced
    1 rib celery, diced
    1 scallion, thinly sliced
    1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
    
    Taste lentils and adjust seasonings, adding vinegar if necessary.
    Add remaining ingredients and toss to combine.  Serve and enjoy!
    
    11 g's protein, 34 g fat, 30 g carbo's, 262 mg sodium, 470
    calories/srvg
    

    I believe that there are such things as red lentils, in addition
    to the more often seen tan ones.
    

    Well, actually they are sort of pink, but they turn yellow when
    you cook them.  There are black lentils too - they end up sort of
    brown.  They all taste like lentils, although I prefer the normal
    ones - I am very fond of lentil soup!

    Here is a very simple and fast recipe recipe:

    Lentil Soup
        
    1 lb of lentils
    4 Onions sliced
    5 Carrots chopped
    5 Stalks of Celery chopped
    6 Cp of Water
    Some oil 
    Pepper
    
    Saute the onions in the oil in a large sauce pan.  Then add the
    water, lentils chopped carrots and celery and pepper to taste.
    Bring to a boil and then let it simmer until the lentils and carrots
    are done (about 1 hr).   If it comes out to think add more water.
    
    Serve it in a bowl (or I like it cold on crackers).

    

    Hi!  I went to Martha's Vineyard this fall and ate dinner one night
    in the Black Dog Tavern in Vineyard Haven.  They had the BEST lentil
    soup I've ever had, it was Curried Lentil.
    
    Lentils are very big in Asian Indian cooking (they make thin soups
    called "dal" out of them that are ubiquitous, I guess).  This soup
    used the common tan lentils, some carrots, some barley, onions,
    garlic, and some absolutely heavenly combination of spices to make
    that warm curry taste and smell.  
    
    My favorite lentil recipe sounds terrible but really is great, it's
    one of those recipies in The Moosewood Cookbook someone else has
    to force you to try before you start making it yourself, it's 
    LENTIL WALNUT BURGERS.  
    
    You make this stiff glop out of cooked lentils, sauteed carrots,
    onions, and peppers, add a cup of chopped walnuts, salt, pepper,
    chili power, worcester sauce, a couple of tablespoons of tomato
    paste and a raw egg (just like meatloaf!), and chill it.  Then you
    shape them into patties and throw the patties under the broiler.
    
    I make cheese-burgers and serve them with the ketchup recipe in
    Laurel's Kitchen.  Sounds awful, I know, but they taste like good
    burgers and they don't drip cow grease when you eat them, either!~
    
    I've also shaped it into loaves and made cold lentil-loaf sandwiches
    out of it, too.  
    
    I'm not putting in the actual recipe because only hard-core vegetarians
    would eat it, and all of them have the Moosewood Cookbook anyway!
     
    ;-)
    
    Peigi ("Twenty-Five Ways to Cook Your Carrot") C.

    Talk about a note coming full circle - I grew up five minutes from
    The Black Dog on the Vineyard.  Next time I go home, I'll see if
    I can get the recipe.
                                                        
    Sarah
    
    p.s. Veggies and non-veggies alike should own the Moosewood Cookbook.
         I've never made anything out of there that I didn't like.

    RE: .3 <A family favorite>
    
    My wife made the 'Baked Lentils With Honey' last evening.  This
    is the BEST lentil dish I've ever had!
    
    Thank you for sharing the recipe.
    
    Joe
    

    Lentil Dahl (Accompaniment and Main Course)
    
    1 large onion, thinly sliced
    1 heaped tablespoon sliced fresh ginger
    1 (or more) cloves garlic, chopped
    1 heaped tablespoon cumin powder
    1 large cup lentils (soaked for 30 minutes, and rinsed in clean water)
    1 teaspoon chili powder (optional)
    1 heaped tablespoon tamarind paste (see footnote)
    
    Place all ingredients, except the tamarind, into a large saucepan and
    cover with water.  Bring to the boil and simmer for at least 1 hour. 
    Add extra water if necessary.  If simmered with a lid on, it becomes a
    soup; if simmered uncovered, it thickens to become a 'stew'.  Add
    tamarind paste during the last 10 minutes of cooking.  Serve as an
    accompaniment to curry (or anything).
    (Footnote: Tamarind - this is the seed pod of the tamarind tree, and is
    sold in most Asian markets.  Can sometimes be bought in jars as a
    seedless paste, which is easy to use, but is more often sold in slabs of
    compressed tamarind flesh, which includes seeds and fibrous pod
    material.  This latter needs to be prepared as follows:
    Take about twice as much compressed material as the recipe calls for. 
    Place in a small saucepan and cover with water.  Bring to the boil and
    stir/poke with a wooden spoon to loosen the fibres and seeds from the
    flesh.  When the paste has separated nicely (about 2 minutes), strain
    through a robust wire strainer, using the wooden spoon to push the flesh 
    through the mesh, leaving the seeds and fibre behind.  This sounds a
    bit messy, but the flavour is well worth the effort.  Note that you may
    see 'tamarind sauce' for sale, but this should be avoided, as it is a
    watery, insipid imitation of the real thing!)
    
    Alternative preparation method:
    Fry the onions in a little oil until beginning to yellow.  Add the
    ginger, garlic and chili and stir-fry for one minute.  Add the cumin
    powder and stir-fry for another minute.  Add the drained lentils and
    water and proceed as above.  (This is a more traditional Indian method,
    and yields a darker dahl, with a richer flavour, that can be a main
    meal in itself.)
    

    
    I cooked a chicken in my smoker over the weekend and had quite a bit
    left over so I decided to experiment and make some lentil soup with 
    it.  The result was extremely tasty and the smoky flavored chicken 
    imparted a luscious flavor to the soup.  You could use non-smoked
    chicken however and still end up with a tasty concoction.
    
    Ing:
    
    1 Chicken carcass
    1 TBSP Paul Prudhomme Poultry Magic
    1 TSP  Paul Prudhomme Vegetable Magic
    1 1/2 Cups red lentils
    2 stalks celery sliced thinly
    2 medium carrots sliced in 1/4 in slices
    pinch of thyme
    bay leaf
    2 small sliced onions
    1 large red onion sliced
    12 peppercorns
    
    Make a stock as follows -
    
    To 4 qts boiling water add -
    
    peppercorns, bayleaf, pinch of thyme, sliced red onion, and chicken
    carcass/left overs.  Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 2 1/2 - 3
    hours covered.
    
    Strain broth, then refridgerate to solidify fat - dispose of fat.
    Pull meat off of chicken and set aside to add to the soup.
    
    In two tbsp olive oil, saute the two small sliced onions along with the
    sliced celery until tender.  Add the stock and reheat to a slow boil.
    Add the chicken meat, carrots, red lentils, and Paul Prudhomme
    seasonings to the pot and cook for 1 hour.
    
    You can add more poultry magic if yopu like a bit more zip.
    
    - Larry

    I know I read somewhere in here a recipe for lentil-lamb stew, but I
    can't find it - any pointers?
    
    D!

    I have a recipe I'm going to try for lentil stew.  I would like to make
    it in the crockpot (checked note already) has anyone cooked it this way
    before that may give me some hints.
    
    Thank you