Posted by Blake Royer, July 23, 2008 at 4:45 PM
I've become rather enamored of lentils lately. They're cheap, versatile, and more nutritious than carbohydrates like rice and pasta (lentils are a legume, like beans). They're a go-to ingredient when you want to stretch a meal a bit further.
Lentils and sausage are a classic combination, often as a stew, probably because it's such an affordable way to serve a lot of people. The sausage becomes a seasoning, rather than the main event.
This recipe, from Stéphane Reynaud's Pork & Sons (previously a "Cook the Book" on Serious Eats), simmers the sausages in the same pot as the lentils so the flavors and fats infuse. The earthy lentils are then tossed with a balsamic-based vinaigrette that's fortified with a little bacon (which is never a bad thing), then topped with the sausage. The original recipe was more complicated and called for walnut oil, but I simplified, replacing it with olive oil, and was happy with the results.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, July 1, 2008 at 1:45 PM
I’ve always been a little smug about avoiding anemia and iron deficiency. In my mid-twenties my primary care doctor would always explain that it was not uncommon in women my age, but that I was doing just fine. Chalking this up to my weekly hamburger and generally robust constitution, I patted myself on the back and felt a little sorry for wan girls who subsisted on undressed salad greens, thought of Tasti D-Lite as a treat, and had to pop vitamins to maintain enough strength to spend an hour on the elliptical trainer or to hoist their enormous designer bags.
Alas, My Iron Levels Are Sub-Optimal
Fast forward half a decade or so to today, when things are a little different. Now that I know more about meat production, hamburgers are a rare treat. My twenty-seventh birthday seemed to be accompanied by a flurry of articles about my decreasing bone density and fertility, and so I braved the baffling vitamin aisles of the health food store to pick up calcium supplements. Today, pregnant, I’m slightly embarrassed by the little club of pill bottles in my kitchen: prenatal multivitamin, calcium, folic acid, and DHA. Yesterday after I had some bloodwork done my doctor told me I need to add 50 milligrams of iron a day to the lineup, destroying my silly old self-satisfaction with my vibrant red blood cells.
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, May 19, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Chefs often say that diners choose entrées based on sides: for instance, anything paired with mashed potatoes moves faster than it otherwise would. At my house, though, I don’t pay much attention to the side dishes, maybe because there’s only one thing on the menu every night. Usually I’m rushing to steam broccoli or make a pot of rice to round out a meal.
Side dishes were not an afterthought, however, last week when I made Suzanne Goin’s brisket from Sunday Suppers at Lucques. As always this book reminded me that you can make truly amazing food in a home kitchen with the right inspiration and instructions. The brisket’s companions, beluga lentils and sautéed broccoli rabe, made an excellent lunch for the rest of the week: a fancified version of my sack-lunch standby beans and greens. With a slice of crusty bread and a piece of cheese, these leftovers, which are good either heated or at room temperature, would make one of the nicest lunches I can imagine.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, October 5, 2007 at 1:15 PM
And so we've come to the end of the road with this week's installment of Cook the Book, the late James Beard's Beard on Food
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"Lentils," Beard wrote, "might have been devised for winter meals. They are a marvelously nutritious, satisfying, and economical food, and to me, their flavor is more interesting and distinctive than any of the beans, except perhaps the fava."
And while it's a probably a little early to start thinking about winter, I don't see why you couldn't make this soup on a chilly fall day.
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Posted by Ed Levine, April 17, 2007 at 2:00 PM
The recipe that follows has been adapted from Nancy Silverton's A Twist of the Wrist. This is a recipe so easy and so elegant it was a huge hit at a recent dinner party my wife and I threw. And it looks good enough to be served at a fancy-pants restaurant.
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