Is there a better plan than a spoon dish when the temperatures drop? Apart from two spoonfuls, I doubt it: stews, stews, stews, recipes with substance with legumes and vegetables as a base, with a little protein, spices, herbs and dressings to top it off. The theory is clear to all of us, but in practice not everyone always has the time to cook something that requires hours of cooking (in addition to remembering the previous soaking). Once again, legumes already cooked – in a jar, from a cooker or refrigerated – come to the rescue of lost souls: in the case of today, specifically lentils.
Finishing them in a stew is not too tricky, but there are some basics that can make your life much easier. The varieties of lentils that we will find the most are the pardina and the verdina, and sometimes it can be a bit difficult to remove them from the pot without turning them into a puree, since they are delicate and usually come a little caked. To remove them more easily, you can heat the jar a little in the microwave, so the governing or coating liquid will become more liquid and offer less resistance.
Evicting the insurgents that usually remain at the bottom becomes easier if we add a little water or the broth that we are going to use, cover it and shake it (without doing the rough so as not to destroy them). Another tip so that they do not end up turned into mush: instead of putting the spoon or spatula to stir them, you can do it by directly moving the entire casserole caught by the handles in small and smooth circles, as if you were trying to assemble a pilpil. To finish, we must not add too much liquid, and in this there must be the flavor that we want to add to the dish, which is directly linked to the next point.
Almost all the stews that come we will start the same – with what is known as “how good that starter pack smells” -: with a good stir-fry. Start it up by putting a chopped onion in a saucepan with a little oil over medium heat, when it begins to take color add a couple of garlic cloves -or more, if you want- minced or rolled, and when everything is golden brown and smells good, add two grated pear tomatoes or 200 g of chopped or grated canned tomato. Raise the heat a little for a few seconds until everything is dancing and return it to half power; Stir occasionally for about five minutes or until the oil separates from the sauce (you can also use 100 g of homemade or good quality tomato sauce and save yourself this step).
Of course you can – and you should – prepare two or three times more stir-fry each time and freeze the rest in the same portions in which you are going to consume it: you will be a few minutes closer to your next stew and you will have optimized your energy so much by getting to the mess like gas or electricity invested in the process. All the recipes that come are for four people, as a first or second course; It depends on how hungry the diners are: if you see that they fall short because you live with teenagers or Critters, you can increase the amount of lentils a bit or add a little cooked rice to the dishes.
Seafood stew of lentils with squid and mussels
You can do it perfectly with defrosted squid of the kind that are chopped -translated: one of the cheapest, and perfect for this recipe-, natural mussels also defrosted and even with canned pickled mussels, whose juice will give flavor to the stew. Start a sauce over medium heat with a large chopped onion, a splash of oil and a little salt, when it is golden add two cloves of garlic -or to taste- and four tablespoons of good fried tomato (or two of concentrated tomato, or three grated tomatoes and leave until reduced and the oil separates from the tomato).
Add the squid and give them a few turns, when they start to decrease it is time for a kilo of cooked lentils with their canning liquid and a little water (or vegetable or fish broth). Let it chup chup over a low heat for five minutes and add the cooked or pickled mussels already off the heat, so that they are tempered with the residual heat. Serve, if you like, with a little chopped fresh parsley.
Stewed lentils with pumpkin, carrot, garam masala, yogurt and pomegranate
Start with the same base sauce as in the previous recipe, adding 400 g of pumpkin cut into cubes at the same time as the onion and four carrots cut in four lengthwise and then into small pieces. When everything begins to take color, continue with the garlic and tomato, and then add a level tablespoon of garam masala (or curry to taste). Add a kilo of lentils with the cooking liquid, a little water or vegetable broth and bring to a boil over low heat for about 10 minutes. Serve with a tablespoon of natural yogurt and another of pomegranate grains, which will add acidity and freshness.
Stewed lentils with mushrooms and sausage
You can use the mixture of mushrooms you prefer, a single variety, some rehydrated -use the liquid as broth-, those sold in the frozen section or even canned. Start the sauce with the onion and, at the same time that we are going to put the garlic, add two chopped sausages and between 150 and 300 g of mushrooms (depending on how powerful they are in flavor, shiitake is not the same as mushrooms). With the tomato add a little thyme, then a kilo of lentils and a little water, vegetable broth or the water to rehydrate the mushrooms. Let it boil for five minutes while we make a mince with a clove of garlic, parsley and a handful of almonds or hazelnuts, add the mince, stir and turn off the heat. Let stand for five minutes so that the garlic loses strength and serve.
Lentils with potatoes, duck confit and sour apple
We start this sauce just like the others but using a little duck fat instead of oil -to enhance its flavor-, and adding two potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes. When the onion and potatoes are colored, you can add a splash of white wine or brandy, let it evaporate and continue with the sauce. At the time of adding the kilo of lentils and the water or broth, we also put a little rosemary and two whole duck confit thighs, and let it cook for about seven minutes over a low heat and covered. After this time, remove the confit, remove the skin -and discard it-, crumble it and return to the casserole. Serve with a sour apple diced on top.
Lentils with chorizo
The maternal container par excellence can also be prepared in a quick version, and with excellent results. We will start the sauce with the onion and the chorizo - between 200 and 300 grams, less if it is more cured, more if it is fresh – letting it release the fat before adding oil (and add it only if necessary). Continue with the sauce and, at the same time as the tomato, add a little paprika to enhance the flavor of the chorizo -as we are going to cook it for a short time-, the kilo of cooked lentils and a little water or vegetable broth. Five minutes over low heat will be enough, serve if you want with some seeds and a little vinegar.
Lentil stew with prawns, saffron and juice from their heads
Another sample that with already cooked vegetables we can also mark a very fine dish in a matter of minutes, this time in a marine version. If you have the prawns already peeled or you are lazy to make the concentrated broth – in this case make it look because it is literally ten minutes, of which you work two – you can use a little fish broth to enhance its flavor.
We start the basic sauce in a saucepan and in another pot the broth with the heads and skins that we will have removed from 500 g of prawns, first browned in a little oil; When they are colored, put a stream of wine, let it evaporate, add a glass of water, a little salt and a few strands of previously roasted saffron and bring to a boil for about 15 minutes. After this time, pass through a Chinese or a fine mesh strainer, pressing with a spoon to remove all the juice. At the moment of adding the kilo of lentils, we also add the broth, boil for five minutes and finish with the peeled prawns, briefly sautéed – and the juice that they have released – already off the heat.
Very fast Mexican lentils with egg and red onion
We give the Mexican eggs a turn and turn them into a spoon dish with a sauce of onion, pepper and tomato, lentils and to top it off, a fried or ironed egg. Start the sauce by adding half a green and half red pepper chopped to the onion, and continue as usual, finally letting the lentils boil for five minutes with the sauce and a little water or broth. Serve with one or two eggs to taste -and / or avocado- and, if you like, a few slices of pickled jalapeño with its vinegar.
Creamy lentils with artichokes and pickled quail
In this recipe we will have to cook the artichokes previously, since they need more cooking than we will give them together with the lentils (they would be too undone if they were cooked together). Out of season we can use frozen artichokes, if it is in season we can cook them quickly by braising them as in this video or by giving them a few minutes in the microwave (in a bowl covered with a plate, with a few drops of water to help generate moisture).
We make the base sauce and precook the artichokes with the system we want; at the time of adding the kilo of lentils we also put the artichokes, four whole quails and a little water; after simmering over low heat for about eight minutes, remove the quail, cut into quarters and serve. We will achieve that the broth is work and silky by grinding a part of it with a little of the marinade and a few tablespoons of lentils until an emulsion is obtained, which we will return to the stew by stirring gently.
Lentil, leek and sweet potato cream with ham and mint
To top it off, a cream -which is also a spoon dish- in which we will use the lentils to give body and silkiness, the ham as fat in which to brown the vegetables and at the same time as a topping and mint to refresh the whole. We start by melting the fat of 150 grams of diced ham over medium heat, until it is crisp. Remove the ham and, in the same fat, brown an onion, the white part of a leek and a couple of medium peeled sweet potatoes (all diced). Add 800 g of cooked lentils, 750 ml of water or broth and a sprig of mint and bring to a boil for about 15 minutes or until the sweet potato is tender. Remove the mint branch, add 200 ml of evaporated milk and blend until obtaining a fine cream. Top with minced mint or peppermint oil.
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