I love lentils.
I love greens.
I love balsamic vinegar.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I need to tell you a story.
I came up with what I thought was an amazing idea. I even told some of my friends what I was dreaming up. A healthy mac & cheese with chard and lentils added in. In fact, after I had told one friend I read a food magazine at her house with the same concept as a feature article.
So, I made my mac & cheese and prepared the chard and lentils with balsamic vinegar. I put the dish together, baked it with a toasty crumb topping. Then I tasted it. And it wasn’t good. So disappointing. It wasn’t the chard and lentils that made the dish unappetizing. I don’t even think it was the mac & cheese because I’ve been pretty happy with the recipe before. I think it was a combination of the two together and using a casserole dish that was too deep.
I am not abandoning the idea. I just need to perfect it.
Meantime, however, the chard and lentils were amazing on their own and I want to share that recipe with you here and now.
Lentils du Puy are French green lentils. I have a hard time finding them in Saskatoon, but found a small packet of organic lentilles du Puy at Dad’s Organic Market. You don’t have to use this variety of lentil but nice fat black or green lentils are recommended.
- ½ cup dried lentilles du Puy
- 2 cups water
- 1 bunch Swiss chard, ribs and stems removed
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- Salt & pepper
- Rinse lentils and place in a saucepan with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes until lentils are tender. Drain and rinse.
- In a skillet, heat olive oil.
- Saute onion and garlic for 3 minutes, until they begin to soften.
- Add cooked lentils and chard. Saute 3 more minutes until chard begins to wilt.
- Add balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Combine.
- Serve hot.
Sometimes good things can be saved out of an otherwise disastrous kitchen experiment.
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