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Serves
8-10 as a side dish
Author Notes
I love lentils for their earthy flavor and I love French (or green) lentils for their toothiness. In other words, they don't melt. This is my version of a recipe for barbecued lentils, Not Afraid of Flavor, by Ben and Karen Barker, the owner/chefs of a wonderful restaurant, Magnolia Grill, in Durham, NC. These folks know something about flavor! —Nora
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Ingredients
- French Lentils with Rainbow Chard
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3 cups
cooked French lentils
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1/3 cup
diced onion
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1/3 cup
diced celery
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1/3` cups
diced carrot
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2
cloves garlic, minced
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stems from 1 bunch of rainbow chard, diced
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Variations: use in addition to or instead of the above: leeks, fennel, parsnips
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olive oil
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1/4 cup
medium white wine
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Vegetable stock
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Leaves from 1 bunch of rainbow chard, shredded
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2 tablespoons
tomato sauce or ketchup
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1 tablespoon
balsamic vinegar, more to taste
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1 tablespoon
honey or other sweetener, more to taste
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Dash
Worchestershire sauce, more to taste
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Salt to taste
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Pepper to taste
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Dried thyme to taste
Directions
- French Lentils with Rainbow Chard
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Saute all the diced vegetables in olive oil until beginning to caramelize. Add the wine and let it cook off.
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Add the cooked lentils, the stock (enough to almost cover the lentils), the salt and pepper, the thyme, and the Worchestershire sauce. Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes. If there is still a lot of broth, simmer another 10 minutes or ladle off some broth.
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While the lentils and vegetables simmer, shred the chard leaves, rinse them, and steam or saute them.
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Stir the tender chard leaves into the lentil mixture and take off the heat.
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Add the tomato sauce or ketchup, vinegar, and honey or other sweetener. Stir and taste. Add more of any of the seasonings until it tastes right.
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Serve at room temperature. Just before serving, taste and season again, if necessary.
- Improvisations
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I have made this with other shredded and cooked greens, with caramelized onions, with roasted cauliflower, with roasted sweet potatoes cut into small bits. Think of the lentils as a blank canvas. As I type this, I'm imagining adding toasted nuts just before serving, or some dried fruit.
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