From the creators of “canned lentils are your friends” and the producers of “quick and easy pantry foods”, this express stew comes to your screens in which legumes are mixed with not very new elements: vinegar -which is used to brighten them already in the dish, as is or in the form of pickled chilli in different formats-, the sofrito and the paprika, which are normally added during cooking.
In addition, we will add another ingredient that is not so common but will give them a very tasty touch: the mussels that accompany these dressings in the classic pickled can that, if you don't have it in your kitchen, you can easily find in any supermarket. Do these mussels need to be fat as fists? I usually use medium-sized ones in olive oil for these types of recipes, and I reserve the really good ones to eat alone as an aperitif, but everyone has their own tastes and budgets. Taste the stew while cooking and decide if you want to add a little more paprika (sometimes preserves are a little flat).
For an extremely vegan version you only have to use mussels in scallop sauce -one of my favorite culinary paradoxes, various seafood is marketed with that sauce, but not the one that gives it its name-, which already have the sofrito incorporated. For a finer version, you can pass the sauce or pickle through the blender to obtain a creamy emulsion. In any case, it is important that the mussels do not pass through the casserole so that they do not dry out or break; the residual heat of the stew will be more than enough to temper them.
If you want to cook the lentils from raw – here are a few tricks to make them come out perfect -, boil them with a head of garlic cut in half and one or two bay leaves and take the opportunity to prepare more quantity (for this recipe you will need a few 350 grams dry). I usually make a whole kilo each time and, if I see that we are not going to use them in the next three days – something that does not usually happen because between spoon dishes, salads, creams, a curry or whatever we ventilate them quickly – , I freeze them and that's it.
Time: fifteen minutes
Difficulty: An amoeba could do it
Ingredients
For 4 people
- 800 g cooked lentils (with their cooking liquid)
- 1 large onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 80 g fried tomato (or 2 tablespoons tomato concentrate)
- 2 cans of pickled mussels (about 120 grams, undrained weight)
- Salt
- Olive oil
- Piparras, chili peppers or Riojan joys (optional)
- Parsley (optional)
Instructions
Peel and slice the garlic cloves. Brown them in a saucepan with a little oil over medium-low heat, from cold.
Meanwhile, peel and chop the onion and add to the saucepan where we have the garlic. Give it a few turns, raise the heat a little – very little – and let it brown (add a splash of water to release steam and not stick if necessary).
If you want, separate a little of the oil from the preserved mussels with a spoon.
Add the tomato and stir for a minute to combine. Pour in the lentils, stir and add the mussel pickle and a little water (it doesn't have to be very soupy).
Bring to a gentle boil for about 10 minutes, stirring a couple of times in the process. Serve with the mussels and some piparras, joys or chillies on top, top with the oil – if we have reserved it – and a little chopped parsley (optional).
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