Black Lentil Soup – Always Bet on Black

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with green lentil soup, but once you start making it with black “beluga” lentils, you’ll have a hard time going back. These black beauties cook up melt-in-your-mouth tender, but still retain their structural integrity, which gives the soup both a thick, satisfying body, and a light, non-starchy mouthfeel.

The flavor is wonderfully meaty, especially when you toss in a handful of bacon, and they require absolutely no finesse to prepare perfectly. Just simmer until you have achieved lentil tenderness, adding broth as needed. That’s pretty much it.

I’m told black lentils are really good for you, which is weird, since I’ve never asked anybody. Nevertheless, this is a soup you can feel good about putting into your body, unlike that “Bacon Jalapeño Popper Chowder” recipe you got off Pinterest. We’re still right in the middle of soup season, so the next time you feel like a hot bowl, I hope you give this black lentil soup a try. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 large portions:

2 tsp vegetable oil

4 oz bacon

1 cup yellow onion, large dice

1 cup carrots, large dice

1 cup celery, large dice

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

cayenne to taste

1 1/4 cup black lentils

5 to 6 cups chicken broth, or as needed
1 bay leaf

1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
1 tsp extra good extra virgin olive oil

When I Think March, I Think Peanuts

For some arbitrary reason, March is National Peanut Month, and to help kick it off, here are a couple of video recipes that feature this great American legume. You can’t beat a warm stew on a cold night, and they don’t get much warmer than red beef curry. The peanuts may seem like a minor player, but they make the dish.

If you want your peanuts more liquid than solid, then by all means, check out this great, and very easy satay dipping sauce. You seriously can’t run out of things to stick in there. 

I hope you give them a try soon, and here’s wishing you a happy and safe National Peanut Month. Click on the titles if you want to read the original post, and see the ingredients. Enjoy!

Red Beef Curry

Peanut Dipping Sauce

Farinata – Why Didn’t You Wish for This Sooner!

The third best part of this job, after the fame and fortune, is learning about unique, new foods; and this farinata video is a perfect example! Until it was requested by a Vlad Kiperman (if that is his real name), I had no idea this tasty, and dead simple recipe even existed. It’s so good, I’m kind of sad the discovery came so late in life.

Farinata is nothing more than a simple garbanzo bean flour batter, which is spiked with olive oil and salt, and baked in a very hot oven. The surface gets crusty, the edges get crispy, and yet the inside stays moist and sort of creamy. The texture is easy to explain, but the taste, not so much.

This is so simple and subtly flavored that it’s a kind of hard to describe. You may be familiar with the taste of garbanzo (aka chickpeas) in things like hummus and falafel, but here it’s not combined with other strongly flavored ingredients, and so you’re getting pure, un-cut bean. It’s going to be easier for me if you just make it and taste for yourself.

Like I said in the video, if you’ve never made this before, you should probably try a plain version to get an idea of what this stuff is all about, but after that, the sky's the limit. The options for add-ons to the batter, as well as potential toppings are virtually limitless. I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Pan Note: I know many will ask, so I’ll just say it now; yes, you can use any oven-safe 10-inch pan to make this, but I have a tough time believing it will come out as wonderfully textured as it would if you use a cast-iron skillet. Putting the batter into a smoking hot pan seems to be one of the big keys here.

Ingredients for 6 portions (one 10-inch cast iron pan):

2 cups lukewarm water

1 1/2 cups garbanzo bean flour (aka chickpea flour)

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt (about 1 tsp fine table salt)

1/2 tsp finely minced rosemary leaves, optional

5 tbsp olive oil, divided (use 3 tablespoons for the batter, and 2 tablespoons for the pan)

freshly ground black pepper to taste

Gluten-Free and Loving It

By the way, since this is made from a legume-based flour, farinata is 100% gluten-free, which should make a small, but very passionate group of foodwishers happy. My usually modus operandi when it comes to such requests and questions is a referral to Allrecipe.com’s impressive, and extensive gluten-free recipe collection, or one of my many talented GF food blogger friends. 

Speaking of which, Shauna and Danny from Gluten-Free Girl (the Beyonce and Jay-Z of GF bloggers), have a new cookbook out called, Gluten-Free Girl Every Day. If you happen to swing that way, check it out. The recipes sound wonderful, the photos are gorgeous, and the book’s getting rave reviews.

Cold White Bean & Herb Salad – Mmm, Good Stems!

I’m showing this quick and easy white bean and herb salad for several reasons, not the least of which is to give you a perfectly delicious way to use up the end of that already used once bunch of parsley or cilantro. 

You told yourself you were going to add them to your next stock, forgetting you don’t make stock, and the sheared remains end up in the back of the vegetable crisper where they die a slow, slimy death. Well, this may be the answer.

Both cilantro and Italian parsley have tender stems that pretty much taste exactly like the leaves. By slicing the last half of the bunch thinly, across the stems, you have a perfect addition to any simple, cold bean salad. Besides herb stem recover and utilization, this recipe deserves to be in the rotation for two other very good reasons. It only takes like five minutes to makes, and goes beautifully with any and all of the traditional grilled or barbecued summer meats.

This video also reminds me that you wannabe food snobs need to stop making fun of people that don’t like cilantro. For about 10% of the population, due to certain receptors on the tongue, cilantro tastes nasty, which explains why so many people detest the stuff. The good news is that parsley works even better, so everybody wins.

On a spice note, I used Aleppo pepper here instead of cayenne or pepper flakes, and I hope you do the same. I only discovered this pepper recently, and just love it. It’s hot, but not too hot, and has a bright, fruity flavor I think you’ll really enjoy. Please note: In the video I said it was my new favorite pepper, but I only did that to make cayenne jealous. I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 portions:

1/2 bunch (the stem end) Italian parsley or cilantro, chopped

1 can (15-oz) white beans, rinsed and drained

3 cloves minced garlic
1 rounded tsp Dijon mustard
salt, freshly ground black pepper, and Aleppo pepper to taste
2 tbsp white wine or champagne vinegar (or rice vinegar if you want it a little sweeter)
3 tbsp olive oil

Brazilian Feijoada – Happy (and hopefully very lucky) New Year!!

We’ve posted about this before, but there’s a great, southern tradition of eating beans and greens on New Year’s Day to ensure good fortune in the coming year. 

Apparently, by eating “poor” the first day of the year, you align certain cosmic forces in your favor, which results in prosperity and good luck the rest of the year. Sounds crazy, right? I know, you’re way too sophisticated to believe in such lame supernatural shenanigans. Hey wait a minute…don’t you watch all those ghost hunter shows on cable TV? Busted! Hey, did you hear that noise?

Anyway, whether you believe in this kind of culinary clairvoyance or not, this Brazilian feijoada is one of the world’s great stews. The traditional good luck bean is the black-eyed pea, but here we’re celebrating the delicious, and very nutritious, black bean.

I tried to be clear in the video that this is just my version, and not some attempt at true feijoada authenticity, whatever that is. As long as you have black beans, and LOTS of smoked, salted, dried, and/or cured meats, you are well on your way to some kind of feijoada-like awesomeness.

In case you’re wondering, all I did for the greens was boil some kale in salted water until tender, and then sauté briefly in olive oil and garlic. It pairs perfectly with the white rice and rich stew, and while I can’t guarantee a year’s worth of wealth and good luck, I can promise you a delicious bowl of food. Happy New Year to all of you, and as always, enjoy!

Ingredients for 6 portions:
1 pounds dry black beans, soaked overnight
2 quarts water, plus more as needed (add more whenever stew looks too dry)
1 bay leaf
2 smoked pork chops
12 oz linguica
8 oz Italian sausage
4 oz smoked bacon
3 oz dried beef
1 onion
6 cloves garlic
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
salt and pepper to taste
For the crumbs:
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp grated orange zest
2 tbsp chopped Italian parsley

Basic steps:
- Soak beans overnight, add to pot with bay leaf, beef jerky, and any bones
- Simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until beans are cooked, but very firm
- Add onion mixture and meats, and simmer for another hour, or until beans are very soft
- Add a splash of water at any point during the cooking if stew looks too dry
- Test and add salt near the end, depending on saltiness of meat

View the complete recipe