Friday Food - Warm Lentil Salad

Excuse the quality of the above photo. I'm still a novice when it comes to taking pictures with my phone. I was at work, and this was my lunch.

When I need some cozy comfort food I quite often turn to lentils. Lentil soup is a favourite. But sometimes I don't want to make a big batch of soup. Sometimes I just want something I can whip up in the evening to have at work the next day.

French green lentils are my favourite. I discovered them about 5 or 6 years ago. At the time the only place I could find them was in bulk at the organic food store miles away, or in tiny little bags at the high-end grocers even further away. Then the distributor my food co-op uses started carrying them. Now I am the proud owner of a 10-pound bag of Lentils du Puy.

Here's one of my favourite warm salad recipes with lentils. Easy peasy, filling, comforting, and make-ahead friendly.

Warm Lentil Salad (makes 4 filling side servings)

1 cup French green lentils
1 1/2 cups water
bouquet garni (I like thyme and bay leaf for this)
balsamic vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
nut oil of your choice
toasted nuts of your choice (preferably the same as the nut oil)
salt and pepper to taste
chevre
Put lentils, water, and bouquet garni into a pot and set over high heat. Once it's come to a boil, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until the lentils are al dente. Drain any remaining water and remove the bouquet.

Drizzle with vinegar and oils to taste, and toss with toasted nuts. Season to taste. Before eating, crumble with feta or chevre. Enjoy!

Like I said above, this is a great make-ahead for lunches (and cheap!). I just pack it up, and bring it to work. Warm it in the microwave and crumble the cheese on top.

This is a fantastic recipe for experimenting. Different nuts, different oils, different cheeses or herbs, you could even add a quarter onion or garlic to the pot will the lentils are simmering. So many different combinations for that background essence. My favourite right now is walnuts and chevre. Play around and come up with your own favourite.

Friday Food - Raspberries

If you grew up in the Canadian prairies, chances are someone in your family grew raspberries. My Mum didn't, but both of my grandmothers did. When we were first married, we lived in the house my grandparents had lived in for their retirement. Grandma's raspberry patch was still in the same place it had always been, the northeast corner of the lot, at the back of the garden.

When we moved, we planted raspberries in the northwest corner of our lot, again at the back, against the fence. For anyone who is not aware, raspberries, if not kept in check, will spread. You will find shoots coming up metres away, in the rest of the garden, and in the lawn.

Needless to say, I was excited when I saw the raspberries in the backyard of our new house. And they are prolific. More so than mine ever were. I can get 2 cups in a day, and that's just the easy pickings. A good thing too, since E can ingest at least a cup a day. That boy loves his raspberries. I would normally buy, at a minimum, a pint of raspberries a week. Since we've been in this house (about a month now) I have not had to buy them.

I feel like I should share a recipe or something for raspberries, but they're just so good fresh out of the bowl, or sprinkled over some ice cream. You don't need recipes when in-season raspberries are bursting with flavour. But, here's an idea for fresh raspberries on a lazy weekend morning:

Lazy Raspberry Cream Sauce

Raspberries
Heavy cream
Sugar to taste

Mash the raspberries slightly with a fork. Not too much. Pour over some cream to make a thick sauce, and stir in some sugar. Drizzle over pancakes, waffles, or crepes.

What are some of your favourite ways to eat raspberries?

Friday Food - Madeleines

I used to have an engineer on my team. She was a little slip of a thing, single, lived alone in a tiny apartment, and in her free time she would bake. She would bake all sorts of cookies and cakes, keeping our team and company well fed. Every now and then she would bake madeleines. I found myself walking past her office more often on those days. A couple years ago, my Mum brought me some madeleine pans from the Sur la Table store in San Diego.  I finally got around to using them the other afternoon, probably as I was procrastinating from packing. M, these are for you.

Lemon-Coconut Madeleines - makes approximately 24

1 ½ Tbsp melted butter (or more) – for greasing pans

3              large eggs

2/3 cup    sugar

1 tsp        lemon extract

¼ pound  unsalted butter, melt and cool

1 cup       all-purpose flour

¼ cup      cornstarch

½ tsp       baking powder

¼ tsp       kosher salt

1/3 cup    sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 375F. Thoroughly grease and flour the madeleine pans. I used a brush to help get the butter in all the grooves.

Madeleine pans pre-prep

Greased and floured

3 eggs

Beat the eggs, sugar, and lemon extract on medium speed for 3 minutes in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. The mixture should be light, yellow, and fluffy.

Add the butter and mix.

Melting butter - remember to let it cool before adding!

Sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.

Sifted dry ingredients

Stir into the egg and sugar batter with a spatula. Stir in the coconut.

Batter anyone?

With a table spoon, drop the batter into the pans, filling each shell almost full. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until they spring back when pressed. Flip the madeleines out onto a cooling rack lined with parchment paper and allow to cool.

The first batch

These are best served right out of the oven, as they can dry out fairly quickly. I put mine in a Tupperware as soon as they were cool, and while they did dry out a bit, I think it helped them last a day or two longer.

Up close and personal

 The lemon flavour was just a hint. For stronger flavour, add some lemon zest along with the extract.

Play around with flavours. I had a thought that lime zest and coconut would make an even better pairing. Even simple vanilla would be just as mouth-watering.


Enjoy!