FOOD
Lentils should be a staple in every kitchen pantry
R
ight about now, the weight of your New Year’s resolutions has fully sunk into your consciousness and you are having some excusatory thoughts. Or, perhaps your lack of resolve is weighing on you. Like millions of Americans, you are thinking you should go wheat-free. Or you are now the proud owner of a juicer and are in week two of a liquid diet cleanse. Vegan until 6p? Dairy only on days that start with a T? I know your kind. And I appreciate the effort. I love that you have made yourself a tidy set of rules to follow until, well, you don’t, and that most of those rules involve some sort of omission that will get you thinner, healthier, happier. Power to you. But in a few weeks, or perhaps already, you will find yourself in a food rut: There are so many foods you can’t or won’t eat, that you forget the sheer pleasure in the versatility and variety of the ones that you can. Enter the gentle lentil. Members of the fabaceae family (commonly known as legumes), lentils are grain legumes. All members of the legume family are recognized for their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen and are used in crop rotations to repair nitrogen-deficient soil. Grain legumes, also known as “pulses,” are cultivated in the form of seeds for consumption. Other common grain legumes are carob, peanuts, peas and tamarind. Readily available in the bulk section of your local market, lentils are a comparatively inexpensive source of protein that should be a staple in your pantry. They keep indefinitely and are an easyto-prepare foundation to super tasty meals. Of all the available varieties, French green lentils are my go-to pulse. Unlike some of the crimson lentils or yellow lentils or even the standard brown lentils, French green lentils don’t “mush out” when cooked. They retain their shape and stay firm, so part of their appeal is the textural element they add to dishes. Puy lentils are a specific type of green lentil native to Southwest France, prized for their peppery flavor and überfirmness. For our purposes here, French green lentils, probably grown somewhere in Canada, are just fine. No matter if I buy in package or in bulk, I always
sort my lentils upon purchase. It sounds like a mind-numbing exercise and it is a mindnumbing exercise. But it isn’t worth the truly mind-numbing experience of biting down onto a pebble. I use a sheet pan and, working in batches, spreading a single layer of lentils over half the pan. Methodically, working in a well-lit area, I pick over the lentils for foreign objects, moving the lentils to the other end of the pan as I sort out the stuff that shouldn’t be there. Usually it is pebbles of the same size, shape and color as the lentils themselves. Sometimes it’s just foreign material. Then I store the picked lentils in an airtight container until I am ready to cook them. To cook lentils, start by rinsing them in a colander under cold water until the water runs clear. Lentils grow in arid, dusty regions and are often coated in fine dust. Put your clean lentils in a pot at least eight times bigger by volume. Add twice as much cold water (i.e. one cup lentils = two quart pot = two cups water). I like to add a bay leaf and/or a few sprigs of fresh thyme. But no salt. Salt will keep the lentils from getting tender. Put a lid on the pot and bring the water to a rolling boil. Move the lid so it is slightly off the pot (so the lentils can breathe and the water won’t boil over) and turn down the heat to a gentle boil. They should be tender in about 45 minutes, but older lentils take longer to cook since they’ve lost moisture. Keep an eye on the pot every so often to make sure the water level stays above the lentils, and add more as necessary. When they are almost tender — they will look matte and soft, but still intact — add a generous pinch of salt, put the lid back on and turn off the heat. And wait. Let them finish
Readily available in the bulk section, lentils are a comparatively inexpensive source of protein that should be a staple in every cook’s pantry, as they keep indefinitely and are easy-to-prepare. Of all the varieties, French green lentils (pictured) are likely the most popular among gourmet chefs.
tenderizing for about 15 minutes and then taste and season your lentils. You will have four times the amount of cooked lentils as you had dry (i.e. one cup dry lentils = four cups cooked lentils). You can stash your big batch of cooked lentils until you need some (they reheat with a splash of water in a saucepot in a matter of minutes) or you can try a version of mujadarra, a Jordanian dish of lentils and rice: heap lentils and their cooking juices over steamed rice. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro, burnt onions (shallow-fried until dark brown and crispy), burnt onion oil, and a dollop of yogurt. Nelle Bauer is co-chef/co-owner of Jennifer James 101. She could eat mujadarra every day for lunch. In fact, she has been known to do just that.
LOCAL iQ | ALBUQUERQUE’S INTELLIGENT ALTERNATIVE | JANUARY 3-16, 2013
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