Lentil Mushroom Walnut Balls with Cranberry-Pear Sauce

We made these for AJ and Eleen's wedding banquet, and many times since. A little (okay, a lot) labor-intensive, it makes sense to double, triple up the recipe and keep some in the freezer! Here's the link.

Kilby's genius Lamb Curry for baked potatoes

Kilby made this for our supper last night here in her little English village. A wonderful supper on a chill night. Ingredients are listed in order of quantity (most of the first ones, least of the last ones); when she can, or I figure it out, I'll come back here and add quantities. If you're a cooking genius like Rebekah, you can figure it out yourself.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

fennel seeds
coriander seeds
mustard seeds
fenugreek seeds
cumin seeds
cardamom pods
peppercorns
cloves
tumeric
garam masala
curry leaves
bay leaf
cinnamon

butter
ginger
garlic
onion
red dal lentils

lamb
water
salt

potatoes
sour cream

Directions:

Heat wok or pot on medium low. Add all spices. Toast about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove whole spices, leaves, and cinnamom and set asie. Grind others to fine powder.

Toast one more minute with whole spices over medium high.

Add butter, stir to melt. Add aromatics, stir fry 5-10 minutes til soft and starting to brown. Raise heat to high.

Add lamb & brown thoroughly.

Barely cover with boiling water and add salt. Simmer covered for 2-3 hours over medium low.

1 hour before serving, bake washed and pierced potatoes at 400 degrees.

Remove lid from curry, raise heat to medium, simmer open til reduced & thickened. Adjust flavor with salt & garam masala. Remove whole spices & leaves.

Serve over open baked potates with sour cream and chutney. We had these with delicious mango-chili chutney and an Indian IPA ale.

Stuffed Peppers

Just in time for a third to join us, I'm getting really good at creating meals just big enough to feed two mouths. This should serve as a disclaimer––since I never measure things, I'm guesstimating in my head how much of each following ingredient you'll need to make this kicky Mediterranean flavored meal for 6 people.

You'll probably need

• 1 c rice (I used basmati)
• 1/8 c capers, with their brine
• 1 large onion (or 2 red)
• 5-6 cloves garlic
• 1/4 c walnuts
• 2 T dried thyme (or twice that, fresh)
• 3 t ground black pepper
• 3 t ground allspice
• 12 sundried tomatoes (jarred or softened)
• 1 c ground lamb
• 1/2 c beef broth
• 3 T red wine (or red wine vinegar)
• 1/4 c sour cream or Greek yogurt (optional)
• feta or goat cheese, to taste
• 6 bell peppers (red, yellow, or orange, not green!)

Cook the rice according to directions, first adding the capers and their brine to the water. When done, fluff and set aside.

Cut the tops off of each pepper and scrape out any seeds and membrane. Place them in a casserole dish and make sure they all stand upright; if not, cut off the tiniest piece of the bottom to make them stand, without perforating the bottom.

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.

Finely chop onion, garlic, walnuts, and the sundried tomatoes. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, then add enough extra virgin olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Gently fry the herbs, spices, and walnuts (not the tomatoes) in the oil, adding more oil if it seems dry. The walnuts will absorb plenty of the moisture. When the mixture is browned, add the lamb and stir until everything is well combined and the lamb is browned.

While the meat mixture is cooking, whisk together your beef broth (bullion is fine) with the red wine. I used vinegar, but afterwards realized wine would have been better. Optionally, you can add a dollop of sour cream or Greek yogurt, something I can't get here but I bet would pull everything in this dish together beautifully.

Spoon the rice in with the meat mixture, stopping when you have equal parts rice and meat. Fish out any capers if you like them! Pour in the liquid mixture, and turn the heat up to high. Bring to a boil while stirring until the liquid is absorbed or cooked off but everything is still moist and holds together.

Turn off the heat and crumble in the cheese. Stir to combine, then spoon the mixture into each pepper until either it's used up or each pepper is packed full. Put the tops back on and, if necessary, press down. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the peppers are tender.

Serve with tzatziki, fresh mint or mint sauce, yogurt. Whatever suits your fancy.

Notes:

-You will not need ANY extra salt in this recipe; the beef broth, caper brine, sundried tomatoes, and vinegar or wine will give it all the zing it needs.

-Cooked lentils could be substituted with lamb to make this dish vegetarian. Omit the cheese and sour cream/yogurt to make it vegan.

-You could substitute couscous or quinoa for the rice.

-Finally, fresh parsley would probably be a nice flavor addition and a lovely garnish.

Winter Lentils

Lacking the change of seasons and the cold, short days of winter, I have slipped into finding other ways of enjoying the magic of the last months of the year, like wearing scarves over tank-tops, getting up early while it's still dark and cold, and serving almost nothing but hot food for our meals. Gone are the salads I used to crave and the cooling smoothies and iced coffee. I find myself cooking everything.

And, of course, going heavy on the spices and herbs.

This particular supper was a sudden inspiration on account of the general lack of food in my house these days, given my extreme laziness when it comes to shopping. I have bags of dried lentils, peas, beans, and rice stashed at the top of my cooking cupboard for emergencies like this. In my fridge I found nutmeggy boerewors, a jar of herb-loaded oil from used-up sundried tomatoes, two little cloves of garlic, in my potato basket I found one onion, and the two hideous tomatoes from my garden had finally ripened. Meal plan.

If I were to do this again, I would have to get more sundried tomatoes or else figure out what the herbs in that oil were. A recipe would look somewhat like this:

• 3 tablespoons oil (from a jar of sundried tomatoes if you have it)
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme, or more to taste
• 1/4 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
• 1 large fresh tomato, chopped
• 2 cups lentils
• water, to cover lentils
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• salt to taste
• 3 cups cooked white rice
• 1 package boerewors, grilled in the oven

In a large soup pan, heat the oil very hot, then sauté the onion, garlic, and thyme together. If your oil isn't flavored, you can probably add other herbs until it smells and tastes right. Toss in the tomatoes and sauté till tender. Add the lentils and fry till you hear constant popping and sizzling and the lentils take on a slightly browned look. Then cover with water and bring to a boil for five minutes. Turn the heat down to low and cover. Simmer till lentils are tender, about 40 minutes.

When the lentils are tender, the rice is prepared, and the boerewors are cooked, you can add the salt and nutmeg to the lentils and adjust the seasonings and liquid as necessary. You can top each bowl of lentils and rice with chopped boerewors or add the sausages directly to the lentils.

Makes 6-8 servings.