Zucchini with Lentils and Roasted Garlic

Ok so first things first.  I know exactly what this looks like.  And it doesn't look appetizing.  When we first mixed the dish together I had some interesting thoughts - and few of them were good.  The one exception was that the smell of the spices (particularly the cumin and the coriander) was very nice.  But once you get over the texture, which is similar to baby food, it's not bad.  I would love to say that it's amazing, but it wasn't there for me.  Maybe it was the texture or maybe it was something else.  I just don't know.  I wish our dish had looked anything like the original on Steamy Kitchen, but clearly we messed something up there.  But let's be honest, even if the texture had been perfect it still would not have made it to my list of dishes that I love and can't wait to make again.  Oh well.  At least we tried!

Recipe after the jump!

Moroccan-Spiced Scallops with Lentils

Some meals are more exciting than others.  This one, just didn't excite me.  It smelled good.  It sounded good.  And I am a big fan of the flavor combination of cumin, coriander and cinnamon.  But once we got everything on the plate it was just kinda... meh.  The flavors were decent, but I was hoping for one of those dishes where the whole is more than the sum of its parts.  And all I got was parts, none of which were bad but nothing that blew me away either.  My biggest complaint was that the lentils were verging on starchy mush (I would probably use green lentils in the future because I feel like they have a better texture better).  If I had read the reviews before making the dish I would have thrown in a little more spice and added some garlic for an additional flavor hit, but I'm still not sure that it would have saved the dish.  Actually, I have no idea what would have saved the dish.  Oh well - I guess this dish won't make it into our repertoire.

Recipe after the jump!

Pasta with Lentils and Kale

I know this meal sounds totally lame.  Pasta with Lentils and Kale?  I mean really?  But I promise it's good.  Yes, I did pick it because I wanted a simple vegetarian meal and the recipe was both vegetarian and only included 9 ingredients (10 if you include the water).  And most of the ingredients, with the exception of the kale, are ingredients we always keep in our pantry or fridge.  We always have dried pasta of various shapes, Parmigiano-Reggiano, evoo, whole-grain bread to make into homemade bread crumbs...  Anyway, yes I know the dish sounds lame and too healthy for its own good.  But the pasta is actually really good.  I loved the caramelized onions - they are deliciously tender and savory-sweet.  And I actually quite enjoyed the lentils because they added a different texture and some earthiness.  I also think that without the lentils the pasta wouldn't have been quite as satisfying.  The homemade toasted bread crumbs are key for some buttery flavor and some texture.  They are really easy to make, and they really do make a world of difference in a dish as simple as this one.  I think that the Parm-Reg added less, although if you have it on hand I would recommend freshly grating a little onto the dish for another level of flavor. 

Recipe after the jump!

Lentil Salad with Hot Italian Sausages

So this dish was one of those dishes that came together somewhat randomly.  I had hot Italian sausages defrosted in the fridge, but I didn't want pasta.  And I couldn't decide what I wanted to serve with hot Italian sausages.  If had merguez defrosted I would have made couscous.  But I didn't.  I briefly considered making spaetzle with my Italian sausage, but quickly decided that even if I had spaetzle (which I wasn't certain that I did), it skewed a little too close to pasta.  Since our last few meals have been so heavy I wanted something, anything to lighten up the Italian sausages a little.  And then while I was headed home on the train it occurred to me that I could make lentils to go with my sausages.  Actually, the recipe that gave me the idea was one that I have made in the past - Salmon with Lentils and Mustard-Herb Butter, which involves salmon served over a bed of lentils.  But given that we were serving Italian sausage, rather than salmon, I wanted to give the lentils a little more acidity to cut through the richness of the sausages and make the flavors a little bolder.  So I decided to throw in a little red wine vinegar, an onion, some garlic, and a lonely parsnip we had hanging out in our fridge.  Lentils are healthy, right?  I mean, a salad would have been lighter and potentially healthier, but lentils are packed full of protein and fiber.  

I thought the dinner was nice.  It was filling and hearty, without making me feel gross and full afterward.  It was a good meal for a cold, snowy winter night.  Was it something new and groundbreaking?  No.  But it was a really nice use of some of the items in our fridge and cupboard.  The fresh parsley was a really nice touch because the brightness and freshness of the parsley cut through what otherwise could have been a rather heavy dish.  Actually, I think that the combination of mustard, red wine vinegar, and fresh parsley was a wonderful counterpoint to the spicy sausages and the starchy lentils.  In the sake of full disclosure, we also ate the leftover braised red cabbage with our meal.  It was a really nice combination.

Recipe after the jump!

Lemony Lentil Soup with Cilantro

After a delightful (but exhausting) visit from some of our family and friends for Christmas and then for New Years Eve, Alex and I are looking forward to eating our first meal at home in some time.  When we were trying to figure out what to make, we both knew that whatever we made had to be simple and super easy.  Alex requested a one pot meal, so we decided to go with soup.  Granted, some soups can be super complicated and can require multiple pots and pans.  But we decided to go with a lentil soup that looked pretty quick, easy and light.  I've never had a lentil soup before, so this should be an interesting experiment, but I have faith that it will turn out nicely.  And to be perfectly honest, I'm not certain that I will be all that upset, even if it doesn't turn out.  In the past 2 weeks we have had some phenomenal meals - Yakitori Totto, Cascabel Taqueria, Eataly, Otto, Soba Nippon, etc.  I'm not saying that I think we need to go on a cleanse, but some simple lentil soup and a few salads for the next few weeks couldn't hurt.

So I will be the first to admit that this wasn't the most exciting dish that we have ever made.  Nor was it the prettiest.  But it was exactly what we both wanted and/or needed this evening.  The soup was light enough that it helped balance out the past two weeks of crazy eating, but hearty enough to be totally satisfying on a cool, drizzly winter night.  You could taste the lemon juice, the evoo, and a bit of sweetness from the onions.  But the flavors were very subtle and mellow, rather than in your face.  It was perfect.  Definitely toast a baguette or some other bread to dip into the soup because this soup is perfect for dipping.  Here's to some delicious home-cooked meals in 2011!

Recipe after the jump!