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.
