Tea Leaves

Lentil Stew

Here is a quick recipe to pass the time. We found a version in a cookbook or magazine that starts with a nice set of ingredients. So we decided to make it one night.

You start with around a pound, or 2 cups, of French green lentils. Clean them as you need to.

You also collect the following:

1. 2 or 3 stalks of celery, cut up. The recipe said to "roughly chop" the celery. What they mean by this is to dice it small. You know. Slice the stalk in half lengthwise... twice if you need to. Then turn it and cut it into little cubes. Rough little cubes.

2. 1 large onion or two medium ones. Cut these the same as the celery.

3. 2 carrots, cut up the same way.

4. A few pieces of prosciutto. The recipe calls for 4 to 6oz. What they mean by this is 4oz of the ham and at least the same amount of sausage, in little pieces.

5. Salt, pepper, thyme, bay leaves, and so on.

At this point, the recipe says to put the lentils, meat, vegetables and herbs into a pot, add enough water to cover and then some, and then cook it for 45min or something.

What they mean is that you should sauté the vegetables in olive oil and salt and pepper until they get soft. Then add the meat and sauté some more. Then add the lentils and stir them around. Now add water, chicken stock and white wine to the pot until you have a bit of liquid above the solids. Then add the herbs and more salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for as long as you need to to get the lentils soft.

The recipe then babbles something about taking some of the lentils out and putting them in a blender, and then putting them back in. I would skip that part and just put the stew over rice or bread and eat it.

It's a good thing we have recipes to tell us how to make food. Otherwise we'd be lost.