lentil ideas?

[jestie]

anyone know of some easy lentil dishes? i have bag of lentils that has been sitting in my cubbard for ages just cuz im not sure how to cook them. well i can figure out how to boil them just not sure about seasonings.

thanks!
jessica

[amykw33]

This is something I make a lot with lentils. Also lentil soup (my recipe for that is downstairs, I'll post it later when I get a sec.)

This is kind of a hearty, peasant kind of dish, yummy with good bread and a salad. The broth is important - if you use plain water instead of broth, it's too bland. Bouillon will work if you don't have broth.


PASTA WITH LENTILS

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup lentils
1 1/3 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
1 carrot, chopped fine
1/4 pound rotelle or other small pasta
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
freshly grated Parmesan as an accompaniment

In a large heavy skillet cook the onion with the thyme in the oil in moderate heat, stirring, until the onion is golden. While the onion is cooking, combine the lentils with
1 1/3 cups broth, bring the water to a boil, and simmer the lentils, covered, for 12 minutes. Add the carrot and simmer the mixture, covered for 3 minutes, or until the lentils and carrot are just tender. Transfer the lentil mixture with the liquid to the skillet, season it with salt and pepper, and keep it at a bare simmer while cooking the pasta.

In a large saucepan of salted boiling water boil the pasta until it is al dente. Ladle out and reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta liquid, drain the pasta, and add it to the lentil mixture. Simmer the pasta mixture, tossing it to combine it and adding some of the reserved pasta liquid to moisten the mixture if necessary, for 1 minute. Stir in the parsley and transfer the mixture to a heated serving bowl. Serve the pasta with the Parmesan.

Serves 2.

[Birdy]

I tried the Pasta and Lentil recipe in the previous post when it was posted a few weeks back and I loved it! I squeezed a lemon over it -- I have a lemon tree in yard and basically find a reason to put lemons into everything.