French Lentils and Brown Rice

I love lentils, the texture, the earthy flavour, and the way they smell like tea when they are cooking.  I don't make them nearly enough.  The other night I was trying to decide what to have for dinner, I found some french lentils in the cupboard and some brown and wild rice so I googled around a bit for a recipe.  I didn't have all the ingredients for any one recipe so I decided to go it on my own.  This is what I came up with and it was just what I was looking for, simple, rustic, and filling.

French Lentils and Brown Rice


1/3 cup onion diced
1 or 2 carrots diced
1/2 cup dried french lentils
1 or 2 glugs of olive oil
1/4 tsp celery seed
pinch of cloves
salt and pepper
1/2 cup brown and wild rice mix


Cook rice according to package directions.

Saute onions and carrots in olive oil for 2-3 minutes.
Add celery seeds and cloves and continue to cook until soft and beginning to caramelize.
Add lentils and add about 1 1/4 cups water (enough to cover).  Bring to a simmer.
Season with salt and pepper and continue to simmer until no liquid remains (about 35 minutes).
Makes 2 generous portions as a main dish.

It's all about vegetables soaked in vinegar...

So, I recently read Molly Wizenberg's book A Homemade Life.  It is filled with great stories about food and life and how the two are intertwined.  It also left me with a serious cravings for crusty bread, cheese, and salads of all kinds.  I ended up making two salads with vinegary dressings based on recipes from two different Mollys, both turned out to be fantastic and will taste even better after hanging out in the fridge overnight.

I started with a wilted cucumber salad based on the one from Molli Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest cookbook.  The recipe called for 4 medium cucumbers, but I used 2 fair sized field cucumbers and it filled the jar right to the top.

Wilted Cucumber Salad

adapted from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest

2/3 cup white wine vinegar

1/3 cup water

4 tbps sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup thinly sliced onion

2 large field cucumbers peeled and thinly sliced

2 tsp dried dill
ground black pepper

Heat the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a saucepan just until boiling.
Place the cucumber and onion slices in a heat-proof bowl, and pour the liquid over the veggies.  Allow to cool.
Add the dill and black pepper then transfer everything to a large jar with a tight fitting lid and refrigerate overnight.
Feel free to eat right out of the jar.
Will keep for approximately two weeks in the fridge.



I also made myself a red cabbage salad based on a Red Salad from Orangette.  It turned out great (which is good because it makes lots!), and would make a nice alternative to traditional coleslaw.

Red Salad
adapted from Orangette

8 cups of red cabbage sliced into thin strips
1/2 pound of radishes thinly sliced
1 small red onion thinly sliced

the juice of one lime
1 clove of garlic minced
1 tbps sugar
3 tsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil)
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the veggies in a large bowl.
Mix the remaining ingredients in a small jar with a lid and give it a good shake.
Add the dressing to the salad (I didn't use it all, so I put the lid back on and put it in the fridge for another salad), toss.
This could be eaten right away or let is sit for a half hour or so like I did so it marinated a bit.

Not another food blog!

Well sort of.  My goal is to keep a record of the stuff I eat, sort of an online recipe book but better because others can see it and comment and share if they want.  So feel free to check in and see what I'm up to, or not.