Category: Recipes

Spicy Lentils and Noodles

This is what happens when you screw up the Soba Noodle & Lentils Salad. I started knowing that I didn’t have all of the ingredients for that recipe, which shouldn’t have been a problem. But then I overcooked the lentils, which was starting to look less appetizing. So, I shifted gears to make a soup, but ended up with a spicy sauce  instead. I stand by it even though Brian didn’t appear to be a huge fan.

Spicy Lentils & Noodles
Author: Rebekah Smith
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 3/4 Cup Lentils – I used red.
  • Olive Oil
  • Onion
  • Carrots
  • Garlic
  • 1 TBS Flour
  • Red Pepper Flakes
  • Black Pepper
  • Salt
  • Plain Yogurt
  • Milk
  • Egg Noodles
Instructions
  1. Cook the lentils. Normally, you would boil them for 5-7 minutes. I overdid it, so mine were mushy, hence the adaptation. Set aside.
  2. Sauté chopped onions, carrots and garlic in light olive oil.
  3. Add lentils and continue to cook. Stir in flour. Once a brown crusty goodness has formed on the bottom of the pan (not to be confused with burning), turn up the heat and cool down with water. Scrape the pan and blend. Add spices. I should have measured this, as my dish turned out too spicy. It wasn’t ruined, but it took away from an otherwise flavorful dish. Let bubble.
  4. Blend in a dollop of yogurt.
  5. Stir in milk. Cook down to the consistency that you want.
  6. At the end you could add some frozen peas. I didn’t.
  7. Serve over egg noodles or whatever you like.

Thanksgiving Leftovers – A Soup

 

Thanksgiving Leftovers
Author: Rebekah Smith
This is proof that knowing a few basic tricks makes winging it in the kitchen a little less of a gamble. Using tips I’ve collected from cooking shows, recipes and friends, I came up with a soup made from Thanksgiving leftovers. Below is listed what I used. Use whatever leftovers you have.
Ingredients
  • Turkey Carcass – From the turkey, of course!
  • Rice – I used a short brown rice. I thought about using potatoes instead. Noodles would also work.
  • Carrots – some end-of-the bag scraggly carrots
  • Celery – 2 stocks
  • Leeks – left over from a Lentils and Soba recipe that called for just the white part of the leek
  • Onion –
  • Mushroom stems – left over from The World’s Best Green Bean Caserole that called for removing the stems
  • Flour
  • Vegetable stock – left over from when I made potato soup.
  • Olive Oil – Extra Virgin
  • Heavy Whipping Cream – the portition that wasn’t used for whipped topping for the chocolate pie
  • Red Wine
  • Milk
Instructions
Prep
  1. Clean meat from turkey bones and set aside.
  2. Chop carrots, celery, leeks, onion or whatever vegetables you have. A consistent shape – whatever you choose – works nicely. Set aside.
Turkey Broth
  1. Sauté bones with a little olive oil. You can add an onion or other vegetables if you like. Stir occasionally. Don’t burn but brown enough that some sticks to the bottom of the pan. When this happens turn up the heat and add enough water to cover the bottom before it burns. Be careful of the steam. Stir while scraping the browned crusty goodness from the bottom of the pan. At this point, you can add enough water to cover the bones and simmer for 20-30 minutes. For my experiment, I did this after letting the water cook down (not to a dry point), added more water and back and forth. Use a colander to separate the bones from the broth or save a dish and just carefully pour the broth into a bowl, leaving the bones behind in the pan.
Rice
  1. In a large pot, add a little olive oil. Cover the bottom with rice. I probably should have measured the rice, as I used more than I needed, but the soup is still quite good. Toast the rice until it smells good. Be careful to stir as not to burn it. Turn up the heat. Add enough turkey broth to cover the rice. Be careful of the initial steam this will create. As the broth cooks down, add more broth. Repeat until you’ve used up all of the broth and the rice has doubled in volume. For a final product, you’re aiming for rice that is cooked or mostly cooked and slightly covered with liquid.
Vegetable Mixture
  1. In a separate pan, sauté vegetables in olive oil until it smells good.
  2. Stir in a big TBS of flour.
  3. Add vegetable stock, stirring to make it smooth, blending in a little at a time.
  4. Add a splash of wine.
  5. Drink a splash of wine.
  6. Add cream.
  7. The end product should be vegetables in a creamy sauce.
The Soup
  1. Add vegetable mixture to rice.
  2. Add milk.
  3. Season to taste.
Spices
  1. What no spices? I considered putting a curry twist on this to mimic a turkey soup recipe that my friend Nancy gave to me. I also have some Bouquet Garni that pairs nicely with poultry. In the end, I didn’t season it at all. I tasted the soup and liked it just fine the way it was. However, at the table, I did find myself adding salt and pepper.

Lentils and Soba Noodles

This dish that can be served warm or cold could be your answer to “What do I bring to the potluck?” It also worked well as a Thanksgiving side dish.

Lentils and Soba Noodles
Author: Lucie Paynick as shared with Rebekah Smith
Ingredients
  • Olive Oil
  • 2-3 cloves Garlic – Chopped
  • Red Pepper Flakes
  • 3/4 to 1 C. Lentils (Lucy says that French ones are the nicest)
  • 1-2 Leeks – Cut in squares, white part only
  • 1-2 Carrots – Cut in squares
  • 1 bunch of Chard – Remove stems and chop leaves
  • 8 oz package of Soba Noodles
  • Parmesan Cheese
  • Salt to taste
Instructions
  1. Boil lentils 15-20 minutes – Do not overcook and make them too soft.
  2. Warm olive oil, garlic – Do not burn.
  3. Add Pepper Flakes – Cook 1 minute.
  4. Add Leeks, Carrots and sauté for a bit
  5. Add cooked lentils and chard
  6. You will need to add liquid, like the lentil water, chicken or veggie stock, white or red wine – whatever. Just make sure there is a brothiness to the end product.
MEANWHILE:
  1. Boil Soba Noodles. When they are done, blend with sauté
SERVE:
  1. Drizzle olive oil & grated parmesan cheese
Notes
This is a solid recipe as is and worked perfectly the first time I tried it. It’s also easy to imagine variations. For example, I think lima beans could be used in place of lentils.