Lentil-Bulgar Salad

I've been a bit of a slacker lately in the blogging department. I have kept up with my one new recipe a week goal, I just haven't gotten around to sharing those recipes with my little group of readers. I'm very sorry. 

This salad came from Moosewood. It's perfect for a hot summer day. You can whip it up in the morning and let it chill all day. The flavors intensify the longer it chills. The leftovers were great the next day too. 

1 cup dry lentils

2 cups water

1 cup dry bulgar wheat

1 cup boiling water

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 large cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp. Kosher salt

1/2 tsp. oregano

2 Tbsp. freshly minced mint (or 2 tsp. dried)

2-3 Tbsp. freshly minced dill (or 2-3 tsp dried)

Fresh ground pepper, to taste

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1/3 cup chopped red onion

1 small bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup crumbled feta

1/2 cup kalamata olives, sliced

1 medium tomato, diced or 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

1. Place lentils in a medium saucepan, cover with 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and partially cover and allow to simmer for 20-25 minutes until tender, but not mushy. Drain well and transfer to a large bowl. 

2. While the lentils are cooking, place the bulgar in a bowl and add boiling water. Cover and let sit for 15 minutes.

3. Add everything to the lentils and mix thoroughly. Serve with pita chips and fresh fruit.

My little helper (or monkey)

Review - I really liked this salad. The fresh herbs added a lot of flavor. I think this would also be good stuffed inside a pita pocket. I honestly don't remember if the kids liked this or not. It's been a few weeks since I made it. I'm pretty sure they didn't hate it, didn't love it.

Honey Baked Lentils

I have my dear friend Julie to thank for this recipe. Thank you Julie! I never would have thought the flavor combination would work, but it does. It's really wonderful. Don't let the name fool you, this isn't a sweet dish. The honey just adds a hint of sweetness. The cooking time is a little long, but it goes together in a matter of minutes. Once it's in the oven you don't have to do anything to it so you can do like I did and set the timer and then go entertain the kids and attempt to fold a load of laundry.

I halved the original recipe, but kept the spices the same. I also decreased the cooking time and apparently I should have decreased it a little more because my lentils were a tad overcooked.

1 1/4 cups lentils

1 bay leaf

3 cups water or stock, warmed

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup honey

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. In a dutch oven or covered casserole, combine lentils through onion. Stir. Drizzle honey over the top. Cover and bake for an hour or until lentils are desired consistency (check around 45 minutes) Serve with brown rice. 

Review - Excellent! Jay and I both really liked this, even though I over cooked it. The kids ate their portions, but weren't super excited. This is partly my fault. I've gotten into the habit of giving them too many snacks before dinner to keep them out of the kitchen. Eli has also entered the I-want-to-eat-with-a-fork-all-by-myself phase and it's pretty much impossible for an almost 15-month old to eat lentils and rice with a fork. I gave him an 'A' for effort though. 

Update - I made these again and didn't overcook them. Yay! I updated the instructions above. 

Warm Dijon Lentils

This recipe was given to me from a friend, Erin, whose blog can be found here (It's About Birth is not a cooking blog, it's um, about birth). The original recipe is from Ina Garten's book "How Easy Is That?"

¼ cup olive oil, divided

1 leek, white and light green parts, thinly sliced

2 large or 3 medium carrots, peeled and diced

1 tsp. minced garlic (I used quite a bit more, around a tablespoon)

1 cup lentils

1 whole onion, peeled, halved

6 whole cloves (I skipped the cloves because I didn't have any)
1 white turnip, cut in half
4 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. kosher salt (I think this might be a typo and it should be 1 tsp. because this was way too salty)
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. unsalted butter
chopped parsley for garnish

Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the leek and carrots, cook 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 60 seconds. Turn off heat and set aside.

Carefully pierce the onion halves with the cloves (as you would with a large ham) and add to a large saucepan with lentils, turnip, and 4 cups water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and add leek-carrot mixture. Simmer uncovered 20-30 minutes or until lentils are tender (for some reason this took quite a bit longer than 30 minutes for me). 

While the lentils simmer, prepare the dressing. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 3 Tbsp. olive oil, Dijon, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper.

Once lentils are done, remove and discard turnip halves and onion. Drain lentils and toss with dressing plus 1 tsp. unsalted butter. Let cool about 15 minutes until warm (but not room temperature). 

My pictures of this dish didn't really turn out. They all just looked like piles of lentils on a plate. I should have taken a picture of Eli with lentils smushed all over his face because that would have been cute. Instead I give you this:

The aftermath of dinner. Why am I showing you this? I don't know. This is my life. I should have included the two grub-muffins in the picture, but they were on the run at this point burning off their after-dinner sillies.

Review - This recipe needs some tweaking. I think the tablespoon of Kosher salt was way too much. It was also pretty tangy, almost too tangy. I'm not sure how I would compensate for the tang factor, maybe adding some plain yogurt or cream to the dressing. I'm not going to put too much thought into it because I probably won't be making these again (sorry Erin and Ina). Josie took one bite and spit it out. Eli picked out the carrots. Jay said it was good, but I think he was being nice. He didn't have seconds. He always has seconds. My positive out of this is that I learned what leeks and turnips look like. I'd never cooked with either before tonight. The leeks were really pretty. I'm looking forward to trying another dish with leeks in it, probably sooner than later because I have another one sitting in my vegetable drawer.

Product Plug - After my knives, these are my two favorite (and most useful) gadgets. I've mentioned this garlic press before. It's the Kuhn Rikon Epicurean. I received it over a year ago and I love it (thanks Dad). I use it almost everyday. The other item is my garlic peeler. This one is from Pampered Chef, but you can find them almost anywhere. We are garlic fiends in this house and with the amount of garlic we go through each week these are necessities.