Evolving Roasted Root Vegetable Lentil Stew

The recipe: I had some French green lentils made already, and decided to add some roasted root vegetables, including onions and shallots; then at my guest’s suggestion made it into a soup rather than a warm salad, by adding chicken broth, bay leaf, and crumbled crispy bacon, and letting it simmer a bit. We added goat cheese to the hot stewy soup and it was pretty good. Look forward to how it is, heated up. We ate it over brown rice in a bowl. Kind of interesting, the way it evolved.

 

Ingredients & method

 

2 cups tiny green lentils, boiled briefly in water to cover, then soaked an hour, then drained.
Add more water or broth to cover, and simmer, with bay leaf, onion, garlic, carrot to flavor the stock.

 

Rather than simmer it for 20-30 minutes all at once, turn it off and let sit, then reheat. This is a good way to make sure it doesn’t overcook and the lentils keep their shape.

 

Cut up peeled carrots, celery root, shallots, garlic, and parsnips. Toss in bowl with olive oil, salt, and pepper and chopped garlic.

 

Roast on a cookie sheet pan with sides in oven at 350 degrees, till all vegetables are nearly tender.

 

Fry some good bacon till crisp, then drain, blot, and crumble.

 

Then add vegetables and bacon to lentil stew, with more broth if necessary, salt and pepper, and simmer.

 

Reheat and try it the next day, so flavors meld.

 

I had cooked the lentils without any flavoring before I decided if I was making a warm salad or a stew. The warm salad variation would of course have you drain it, and add add a vinaigrette instead of the extra broth, and an addition of crumbled goat cheese. But we added goat cheese to the warm stew, and the melted cheese was an interesting flavor addition to the bowl!

 

Decorate with fresh chopped Italian parsley.

One thought on “Evolving Roasted Root Vegetable Lentil Stew

Leave a Reply to Emily O Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *