Lentil bolgonese and trying to be a better person

I was going through some old photos I made for the blog (or for the book, when I still considered writing one), and found today’s photo: a lentil Bolognese that I tested a few times and turned out quite tasty. I liked it a lot, but my husband not so much: he is not addicted to meat and does not mind at all eating without it most days, but he is not very much into lentils. I ended up forgetting about the recipe, and also because the name kind of bugged me a bit: it is a delicious and nutritious sauce, but it has nothing to with the once made with mince beef.

Since then, time flew, lots of things happened, I became lactose intolerant and started drinking plant based milks – they saved my beloved lattes in the morning – and I realized that I had to stop lecturing so much. If people want to call those plant based beverages “milk”, what is the issue? Same for calling this sauce “bolognese” – no worries anymore. I don’t want to be that person – if you have read my blog long enough you will probably have seen me being a dick a couple of times about something (excuse my French), so I apologize now. I want to be a better person.

I decided to post this recipe because I believe that it might come in handy for those quarantined like me, who don’t have mince beef in their fridge or freezer. I must confess that I wasn’t very fond of this sauce on pasta, but it was delicious over soft polenta.

Lentil bolgonese
own recipe, inspired by several recipes

For the lentils:
2 cups water
pinch of salt
½ cup dried green lentils
1 garlic clove, peeled and sliced in half

Sauce:
1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
½ medium onion, finely diced
2 small celery sticks, finely diced (1/4 cup after they are diced)
2 large garlic cloves, finely diced
2 tablespoons dry red wine
1 can (400g) peeled tomatoes, chopped
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
sal and freshly ground black pepper
handful fresh basil leaves

Start by cooking the lentils: place the water in a small saucepan and heat over high heat. When it starts to boil, add the lentils, garlic and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes or until lentils are al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process. Remove the garlic – you won’t need it anymore.

Now, the sauce: heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and the celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are tender. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute – do not let it burn or it will give the recipe a bitter taste. Add the wine and cook for 2 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes, the thyme, the bay leaf, the sugar, season with salt and pepper. When it starts to boil, turn down the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. Add the lentils and cook for another 5 minutes. Check the seasoning, remove the thyme sprigs and the bay leaf, add the basil and serve.

Serves 4 over soft polenta, 2 served with pasta

Lentil soup with crispy salami - waiting for fall to come

Summer here is over, however someone forgot to tell Mother Nature about it: the weather continues to be hot leading to uncomfortable nights for those who like me do not own an air conditioner at home.

While I look forward to cooler days and nights, I felt like sharing with you one of my favorite soups, sort of like Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams: maybe if I post soups on the blog, fall will actually come. :)

This lentil soup is comforting, delicious and freezes well if you keep the fresh oregano out. If you want to keep it vegan it is just a matter of omitting the salami – I love it because it adds a crunchy, salty touch to the soup.

Lentil soup with crispy salami
own recipe

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 leeks, sliced in half lenghtwise for easier washing, then sliced in half moons
½ onion, finely diced
1 small carrot, finely diced
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup (200g/7oz) dried green lentils, soaked in cold water for 20 minutes before cooking, then drained and rinsed
3 cups (720ml) vegetable stock, hot
2 cups (480ml) boiling water
2 bay leaves
handful of fresh oregano leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper
100g (3½ oz) salami slices – if they are too large, cut them in half

In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the leeks, onion and carrot and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute only. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the lentils, cook for 1 minute, then add the stock, water, bay leaves and oregano. When it starts to boil, cover partially, turn the heat down and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20-25 minutes or until lentils are soft, but not mushy. Season with salt and pepper, remove the bay leaves and remove from the heat.
Now the salami: heat a nonstick flying pan over high heat and grill the salami slices for a couple of minutes or until golden on both sides. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to remove excess fat. Cool completely.

Pour the soup into bowls and top with the salami slices. Serve immediately.

Serves 4-5

Lentil patties

If you read my last post you already know that when I really like something I tend to cook or bake it quite often, and that doesn’t happen with sweets, only: I have my savory favorites as well, certain dishes I go back to again and again.

Lentil salad is one of those dishes, especially on hot days because it tastes so great straight from the fridge and the flavor develops beautifully after a night spent in it. After a couple of days, however, I did not want to made another salad with the cooked lentils I had in the fridge – I felt like making something completely different with them. Martha came to my rescue, and the lentils were transformed into these delicious patties.

I loved these, for I love lentils in just about anything, but the surprise of the day was my husband’s comment about the patties: he was never a fan of lentils and he told me that these could perfectly replace the beef patties in a burger. I was shocked – and really happy. :)

Lentil patties
slightly adapted from Martha

280g cooked lentils, drained and cooled
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
½ onion, finely diced
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs or Panko
handful fresh parsley leaves, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil, for frying

Combine lentils, cumin, olive oil and vinegar in a large bowl and toss to combine. Add the onion, eggs, breadcrumbs, and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Transfer half of mixture to a food processor; pulse until smooth. Fold into remaining lentil mixture until well combined. Shape into patties, using 3 tablespoons of the mixture per patty - I used this cookie scoop to portion the mixture.

Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon olive oil and swirl to coat bottom. Add patties in a single layer, working in batches if necessary. Cook, turning once, until crisp and brown, about 4 minutes each side.
Serve with a salad.

Makes about 10

Beef kofta curry with fluffy rice and peas and going crazy over cookbooks

September is a lovely month: spring comes our way, bringing flowers to make the city prettier and, in Sao Paulo’s case, it also brings the much needed rain. But it is also the time of the year when a bunch of cookbooks are released, which makes me tense for as much as I keep telling myself that “I have too many cookbooks” or “I don’t need new cookbooks” I know I don’t sound very convincing. :)

I’ve had my eye on several new releases for a long time and I was already in trouble because I couldn’t make up my mind about which ones to buy, and now to make things worse for me Jamie Oliver has a new cookbook, too. Oh, crap. :S

While I decide whether or not to buy Comfort Food, I’ll use the Jamie’s cookbooks I already own, because they’re really good. This beef kofta comes from the delicious Jamie's 15-Minute Meals, a book I should definitely use more often for it’s packed with tasty recipes.

I adapted the recipe ever so slightly to use curry powder for I did not have any curry paste at hand and also to use brown lentils instead of the super expensive (at least here) puy lentils called for in the original recipe. These “adaptations” saved me some money, I used ingredients I already had at home, and at the end the food turned out delicious – and I even got the husband to eat lentils, which was the real victory here. :D

Beef kofta curry with fluffy rice and peas
slightly adapted from the wonderful Jamie's 15-Minute Meals

100g cooked lentils
300g quality lean beef mince
1 fat garlic clove, minced
1 heaped teaspoon garam masala
generous ½ teaspoon table salt
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
2 ripe tomatoes
2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
2 spring onions, white part only
½ fresh red chilli
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon runny honey
2 teaspoons curry powder
100ml coconut milk
handful parsley

For the rice:
1 teaspoon olive oil
½ onion, finely diced
1 mug basmati rice
2 cardamom pods
salt
150g frozen peas

In a bowl, combine the lentils, mince, garlic, garam masala, salt and pepper then mix and scrunch together with clean hands. Divide the mixture in half, then with wet hands quickly squeeze and mold each half into 8 fat fingers. Put them into a nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat, drizzle with ½ tablespoon of oil, and cook, turning occasionally until golden all around.

Squash the tomatoes into the liquidizer, add the peeled ginger, spring onions, chilli, turmeric, honey, curry and coconut milk, then blitz until combined. Pour into the kofta pan, bring to the boil, then simmer and season to taste.

Rice: heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent. Add the rice and stir to combine. Add the salt and the cardamom, followed by 2 mugs of boiling water. Cover, lower the heat and cook until rice is cooked and fluffy. Take the lid off the rice, add the peas, mix it all up with a fork, cover and give it just 2-3 more minutes so the peas are cooked. Remove from the heat.

Sprinkle the koftas with the parsley and serve with the rice.

Serves 4

Spicy lentil and chorizo soup and inexplicable cravings

I’ve told you lots of times already about how blogging has changed my life in several different ways and that I no longer suffer from “The Hairy Ape” syndrome... But after all these years of blogging one thing is completely new to me: after 16 years without red meat – because I never liked it and was forced to eat it as a kid – lately I’ve been drooling over some red meat recipes... How crazy is that? I blame it on Nigella and her black and blue beef wraps... :)

I’m so out of my mind that I HAD to make this soup as soon as I saw it – I wonder if there is a solution to my case... :)

Spicy lentil and chorizo soup
from Donna Hay magazine

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 x 150g chorizo sausages, sliced
½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 cup (210g) lentils
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes*
1 liter chicken stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper
crusty bread, to serve

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the oil, onion, garlic, chorizo and chilli flakes and cook for 8–10 minutes or until the onion is tender and the chorizo is golden. Add the lentils, tomato, stock, salt and pepper, bring to the boil and cook for 15 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Serve with crusty bread.

* I had some leftover tomato sauce and used it instead (I did not add any salt to the soup)

Serves 4.