Stewed Lentils

I am lucky enough to be in the most awesome book club in the world. The image above, created by my sister, Allison, was to help the transition from our previous book (and a general crowd favorite), Lonesome Dove, to our next, Moby Dick (which has everyone a bit worried).

We meet at each other’s house every six weeks, potluck style. Typically, we will pick a theme for our food based on the book. For the first Lonesome Dove meeting (we spread this book out over two meetings) everyone brought beans, cornbread, and more beans. We thought we would expand the guidelines for our meeting last night and include basically anything that tastes good. Easy!

After someone read my cassoulet recipe, I had a request for that dish. But, after the 8th serving I had of it this week, I couldn’t take making it again.

I took a trip to New Seasons, my favorite grocery store ever, and walked down the bean/grain aisle looking for something local. (The store puts tags next to all products that are local – lucky for me, huh?) I learned some things about grains I didn’t know. For example, I found at least five different producers of quinoa – all grown in Bolivia! Forgive me, but I don’t think I could even point Bolivia out on a map (well, I can now, thanks Google! Land-locked, central South America).

What I did find were green lentils grown in Washington.

And I remembered a recipe I have made a few times from Ina Garten. It combines lentils, veggies, canned tomatoes, and curry and stews until the lentils have softened and the flavors are integrated.

One of the reasons I love cooking from recipes is because I can take someone else’s research into making a wonderful dish and find ways to tweak it.

This time, after I stewed the lentils I tasted the broth and realized that it would make an amazing soup. The curry powder, vegetables, and tomatoes create an incredible flavor combo. Maybe with barley? Or egg noodles? I’ll let you know when I work it out…

Another change I added was to add some chopped parsley, just to include a fresh taste to the stew.

Overall, it got a thumbs up from my book club ladies. We haven’t talked food for the Moby Dick meeting, but we did decide at least part of it should take place in a hot tub.

With plastic whales. 

I’ll let you know how that works out.

Recipe -
Curried Lentils and Tomatoes