My Everyday Lentils

I love lentils! What more can I say, they are cheap, delicious, nutritious (fibre & protein) and easy to cook!

Its all about the base – A ‘soffritto’

It starts with extra-virgin olive oil, a good salt, pepper and chopped organic veggies – this combination is called in Italian a ‘soffritto’ or in French, mirepoix. The soffritto, usually celery, carrots and onions, are slowly cooked till soft in extra virgin olive oil.

It’s this soffritto that is the base to many of my recipes. You can use any veggies for the base, fennel, courgettes, aubergines, turnips, kohlrabi, aubergines and parsnips all works well.  The KEY is that the veggies are all cut the same size, it does not matter what size just as long as it’s similar (see pic below).

From a cooked soffritto you can make a STEW, SOUP, CURRY or SAUCE 

 

More Soffritto based recipes

The perfect foundation recipe

The perfect base (or foundation) to have with:

  1. Chargrilled Courgettes with Whipped Feta 
  2. Pumpkin/Butternut with Coriander 
  3. Aubergine & Pepper Caponata 
  4. Aubergine Baba Ganoush 

It’s impossible for me to have plain food, rather, I like to build layer upon layer of flavour ensuring that the end result is delicious.

How to build flavour 101

Its difficult for me to sum flavour up in one paragraph but if I have to

  1. start with a good extra virgin olive oil
  2. add something to the warmed oil in the beginning, like I did here with chilli flakes and fennel seeds
  3. add great tasting in season organic veggies
  4. season throughout the recipe with a good salt, there should be at least 2 teaspoons of salt in your dish (serving 4) at the end
  5. added flavour boosts after the veggies are soft, in the middle of the cooking process, garlic, ginger, tomato paste, sun-dried tomato pesto, ground toasted spices and/or miso are great flavour hacks.

Everyday Lentils

Cook Time 40 minutes
Diet Fibre Rich Starter, Gluten-free, High-fibre, Vegan
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

  • extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
  • pinch smoked chilli flakes , optional
  • 3 garlic cloves sliced
  • 1 1/2 cups brown lentils
  • 3 celery sticks cubed
  • 3 carrots scrubbed, unpeeled, cubed
  • 1 red onion sliced
  • 1 fennel bulb chopped
  • 3 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 bunch curly kale chopped, 3 handfuls
  • 1 tbsp Worcester or Soy sauce
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tbsp brown miso , optional

Instructions
 

  • Heat the oil in a saucepan to a medium heat, add the fennel seeds (pinch of chilli flakes) and cook until fragrant, 3 minutes.
  • Add the celery, carrots, onions, fennel, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt and cook, covered, stirring occasionally until the veggies are soft.
  • Meanwhile, add the lentils to cold water and bring the water up to a gentle simmer, skim the water if white bubbles appear, and cook the lentils to "al dente" - which is soft but still with a bite to it. Please please please don't overcook the lentils, drain.
  • Once the veggies are soft, add the tomato paste (miso if using) and one more teaspoon salt, cook until fragrant, 3 minutes. Add the drained lentils to the veggies and the chopped kale, stir well, take the pot off the heat, add the lid back and let the kale soften in the heat - about 5 minutes.
  • Season with 1 tablespoon Worchester or soy sauce and a good pinch or two of freshly cracked pepper. Have a taste and season to perfection. Enjoy!
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