Lentil-A-Roni

Another recipe from Isa Does It: Amazingly Easy, Wildly Delicious Vegan Recipes for Every Day of the Week. This is Lentil-A-Roni (p. 134), Isa's vegan version of her childhood favourite, Beefaroni, which was also a favourite of mine! I wasn't expecting it to really taste like Chef Boyardee, it just looked like a filling vegetarian pasta dish made with lentils - which I usually have in the cupboard and only cook in one or two different ways. I also wanted to try the vegan version of adding cream - cashews. She uses it a lot her cookbook so I wanted to see how it worked.

First of all: this recipe makes a lot! The first step is cooking 1 lb of pasta (I used tri-coloured fusilli), which was pretty much an entire box. Get ready for leftovers. Set the pasta aside. In a large pan, heat some oil. I used a flavoured oil I got for Christmas - sundried tomato, parmesan and garlic. It smelled good but I'm not sure how much flavour it imparted to the dish. Anyway, cook 1 diced onion for about 3 minutes, then add 3 minced garlic cloves, 2 tsp dried thyme and some salt and pepper. After about 30 seconds, add 1 1/2 cups cooked brown lentils (I used green, which I assume are similar) then spend a minute mashing roughly with a fork, keeping some chunks.

Add 1 can crushed tomatoes, cover and cook 5 minutes. At this point you mix in the cashew cream. How do you make cashew cream? First you need to soak cashews in water - I soaked 1/2 cup cashews for about 3 hours, but you can definitely leave them overnight. Then I blended them with 1 cup vegetable stock for about 1 minute - it made a foamy, thin, white liquid that mostly tasted like stock still. I added it to the pan and it was like adding milk - it made a nice rose colour. Let it thicken for about 3 minutes, watching out for splatters.

Mix the pasta with the sauce and voila - a filling, rich pasta dish. I mixed in baby spinach to add some veggies and topped with pepper. Did it taste like beefaroni? Well, not really. But it was still good. I'm not sure if the cashew cream was needed - I suppose it helped it to thicken, which it did quite a bit once it had sat out for awhile. My next post will cover a recipe that tasted so much like Chef Boyardee it was a little creepy - but it included sausage so that may be why. Stay tuned!

Thai Sloppy Joes

So this dinner pretty much put two of my favourite things together. 1) lentil sloppy joes - I've already written about those here, and 2) thai flavours. I took the recipe from the LCBO Food and Drink magazine, substituting the beef with lentils. Note on the link: I couldn't direct link to the recipe, so you'll have to look up the Summer 2012 issue and scroll through. Don't ask me why.

For the lentils, I boiled 1.5 cups in 4 cups of water for about 20 min. Then in a large pan, I got started on the sauce. I threw in one chopped onion, 3 minced garlic cloves, 1/2 jalapeno, and 1-2 Tbsp Thai green curry paste and let them cook for a few minutes. Then I added in a can of diced tomatoes, 1/4 cup ketchup and 1/4 cup cilantro, and cooked about 5 more minutes. Time to add 1 Tbsp lime juice to finish it up.

I was a bit worried because it wasn't very saucy - I used green lentils so it didn't really have the same mushy consistency as when I use red lentils. It also wasn't very spicy, so I added in red pepper flakes and grated in lots of ginger for more flavour. I was also looking forward to making an Asian slaw to put on top, unlike my other sloppy joes. The dressing consisted of 3 Tbsp oil, 1/2 tsp lime zest, 1 Tbsp each lime juice and sesame oil, 1/2 tsp each soy sauce and sugar, 3 sliced green onions and some cilantro, mixed with coleslaw mix from a bag - normally I avoid these bagged salads but the coleslaw one is cheap and with a tangy Asian-inspired dressing like this one, I went through the bag in a few days.

Finish by putting big spoonfuls of delicious, thai-flavoured lentil mixture onto toasted buns and top with the zippy Asian slaw. I didn't even attempt to eat this as an actual sandwich. It was really tasty but I wanted even more flavour from the lentil mix - more spiciness, more ginger or thai paste. I'll double everything next time and see where that takes me. If anything it's a good way to get lentils and cabbage in your diet!

Lentil Sloppy Joes

This has got to be one of my favourite recipes. I think I've made it more times over the past couple years than anything else. Who could resist lentil-based sloppy joes, cleverly named Snobby Joes? Thank you Post Punk Kitchen. They are tasty, healthy and easy to make. I really hate the "Meat eaters will love them too!" slogans but it fits here.

There are two steps. First is to cook the lentils. This involves putting green lentils in a pot with a bay leaf or two, adding water, and boiling for about 20 minutes. I usually use red lentils for this recipe, they work well because they get mushy and sort of disappear with all the other ingredients. The green ones keep their shape.

Once the lentils are cooked, it's all about the one pan meal. Fry up some onion and some mixture of red/green bell peppers, add in some garlic and spices. The recipe calls for chili powder and oregano, but I usually throw in some extra spice for more heat. I used harissa this time.

Then I throw in the lentils, some tomato paste and some tomato sauce. This time I had Classico vodka sauce in the fridge, which is slightly cheesy. Yum. After everything simmers away into an awesome tomato-lentil mix, it's time for the secret ingredients. Maple syrup and mustard!

You do have to be patient and let it sit for a few minutes before serving - the flavours really do meld together. It's a great recipe for leftovers, because a day or two in the fridge = more tastiness. I can pretty much eat it with a spoon, but of course it's better thrown on top of a bun with some grated cheese on top. This recipe is a great and easy way to use up lentils - they're so cheap at the bulk store but I never know what to do with them. So... sloppy joes for everyone!