Keep Calm & Make Pasta

This post is dedicated to Tony A - cos my mommy made me and she scares me J

Oy. In my endeavours to brave the wonderful world of lentils, I thought I'd make an Argentinian dish called pastel de papa (literally potato pie). But then I remembered that it calls for eggs. I don't eat eggs. And red peppers, which I feel very strongly against. And green olives. Didn't have any...

However, I did have onion, lentils, carrots and peas - so I thought I'd make a shepherd's pie instead. Thing is, I've never made a shepherd's pie. As my lentils were already cooking away, I scrambled to find a recipe and started making it whilst simultaneously trying to figure out the vegan modifications. And that's when I misread 1tsp of tomato paste for 1 can of crushed tomatoes. After much multi-lingual cursing and a few threats of ordering thai take-away, I decided to make what I know. Pasta.

So I drained my lentils, threw in some courgettes, italian herbs and wine in with the tomatoes and carrots and that folks, is when the magic started. What resulted in the end was a sauce so rich and thick, so flavourful, so filling that it won the husband seal of approval in no time!

This just goes to show, sometimes a near-disaster can lead to an amazeballs new recipes. Yeah, that's right, I said amazeballs. That's how amazeballs the recipe is. BOOM.

Why yes, those are my stripy pink socks!

1 small yellow onion

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3-4 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp of each: oregano, basil and rosemary

Salt, to taste

Few splashes of red wine (or whatever is currently in your glass)

1 can organic diced tomatoes

1/4 can of water

2 carrots, roughly chopped

1 courgette, roughly chopped

1/2 cup lentils

Pinch of sugar

Dash of nutmeg

In a heated pot, add the oil and onions. Cook on medium heat for a few minutes, or until the onion is translucent. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute, being careful not to let it brown! Add the wine and cook for another minute. Now add the herbs, salt,  tomatoes and water. Stir and add lentils, carrots, courgette, sugar and nutmeg. Turn the heat down to medium-low and let simmer for 20-25 minutes. In the meantime, drink some wine, cook your pasta and serve when the lentils are tender but not mushy.

Bon appetit! x

Lentils

Ah lentils. The lentil. The beautiful and noble protein-fiber-vitamin-packed lentil. There they sit in your shopping trolly, making you feel all smug and healthy, superior to the non-lentil buying population. They seem so old-school, so organic, so cool, so daunting. What? Who said that? Ok, I'll admit it - as much as I love buying lentils, I'm completely clueless as to what to do with them. I have a favourite hearty lentil soup recipe from the Real Food Daily cookbook, but other than that? Bupkis. No freaking clue. Sigh.

The thing is, I really want to know what to do with them. And that my friends, in case you hadn't guessed, is precisely what we're about to do!

As it turns out, part of the beauty of lentils is how versatile they are! Once cooked, you can literally do anything (culinary) with them. You can toss them into your favourite salad, you can add a bit of garlic and spinach and have a side dish with a double-punch, you can add them to a stew, soup, mix them with some smashed potatoes and veg and make a shepherd's pie... the list goes on and on!

Now that I've whet your appetite with all of the things you can do with lentils, let's talk about preparation. Lentils are super easy to cook, and, unlike most other pulses, don't require any soaking (seriously, who has time for that?!). Different types of lentils have different cooking times and best uses. Here's a little list of the most common types of lentils and what they taste best in.

Red lentils (pictured above) are probably the most common type of lentil, and tend to cook in about 20 minutes. Red lentils are best used to thicken soups and casseroles as they tend to disintegrate into a thick puree, so maybe try throwing some red lentils into your favourite chilli recipe or add some to a soup to give it a bit more oomph for winter.

Green and Brown lentils take longer to cook (about 40 minutes or so), and are great in salads, as a meat replacer in taco/bolognese sauces or in dishes where you want to see their shape. Unlike their red counterparts, they like to show-off their lovely disc shape and will only become mushy if you overcook them.

Puy lentils are less common and considered superior in taste and texture (snobby little suckers!) so use these when you really want to show off your culinary skills. Again, they're great in warm salads or braised in wine and tossed with fresh herbs (told you they were snobby).

Whichever lentil you choose, put your them in a saucepan, cover with water, bring to a boil, simmer until cooked and drain. That's it. Done. They are now ready for whatever lovely meal you want to add them to.

I'm sorry to say that there's no recipe this time, but stay tuned for a new lentil-based recipe (will it be a bolognese sauce? lentil tacos? shepherd's pie?) in the next few days. Until then, why not try some lentil experiments?

Bon appetit! xx

Vegan crumble... two ways

I don't know about you, but here in London, summer is officially behind us. We had a lovely few days of really hot sunny weather as a final farewell, and now... it's oven-time again. I spent most of the summer outdoors - rambling around the countryside, lounging on green spaces or walking along the river. Which also means that I spent very little time getting creative in the kitchen or trying out any of the recipes that I came across online. Most of our dinners consisted of some sort of grain, veggie and bean combo and I am not ashamed to admit that it was repetitive and glorious. Now that summer is over though, I hope to blog a bit more regularly again. 

In the meantime, perhaps this lovely crumble recipe will make up for my severe lack of kitchen action...  

Nectarine & apricot crumble (adapted from this recipe from Maple Spice)

1 cup whole grain flour
1 cup rolled oats1 cup lightly packed brown sugar1 tbsp cinnamon1/2 cup vegan butter (100g)4 1/2 cups sliced fresh nectarines and apricots

Preheat the oven to 180F, "butter" a baking dish and set aside. In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients (flour, oats, brown sugar and cinnamon). Add the butter and crumble it all together with your hands. Take about 1/3 of this mixture and toss it with the apricot-nectarine mix then tip it into the baking dish. Cover with the remaining mixture, spreading it out and press down making  to make sure it is even. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the edges of the crisp are lightly golden and the fruit is nice and tender.

I also made this with granny smith apples today, Unfortunately, it went too quickly for me to have snapped a picture of the whole dish but I did get manage to steal a slice and tart it up for a shot!