Friday, January 23, 2015

foodie friday : sausage and lentils



Yes, I know I skipped Wed.  Myles was semi-sick and his nap was almost non-existing.  So I took the day off.  That post needed more thought anyway.  

I watch the Today show every morning. The other day, they had Padma Lakshmi on to share a family meal for under $20.  I am always a little interested in those types of recipe segments, but they are usually not something I am particularly interested in trying.  This one though, I rewound a couple of times and immediately had the recipe on my phone and bookmarked.  I couldn't get to the grocery fast enough to buy everything.  You can find the recipe here.

I don't think I really had any real idea of what this would turn out to taste like, it just sounded so good!  None of the ingredients were difficult to find, except the chicken and apple sausage.  Padma did say that you could substitute any smoked sausage but that she liked the sweetness of the apple in this.  So I went to 3 different groceries one afternoon before I found them.  Poor Myles.  I really should have just bought the regular smoked sausage.  It would have been cheaper and would have worked just fine.  The flavors are so complex I don't think I really tasted any special flavor from buying the chicken and apple.  You could even drop the sausage entirely to make this a vegetarian dish.

Don't get me wrong though.  This was amazing.  Thankfully Myles went down for his nap right when I needed to get started on it though because it was time consuming.  A lot of it was just set it and forget it (the lentils, and I chose brown rice which takes about 50 minutes on its own to cook).  What killed me time wise was the chopping.  Although after the comments on my Instagram photo, I seem to have been a bit too meticulous!  The ginger was also just difficult to deal with so I would definitely buy pre-minced next time.  I got my rice going and then chopped everything while getting my lentils boiling (25 min).  Chopping took almost an hour.  I'm so slow.  

The final verdict was that I completely loved it but might only make it again if our parents are here and can help speed things along.  Myles said "mmm" and ate a bowl full despite the spice.  I would probably cut back a bit on the chili flakes next time.  Kyle's response was what it always is on new recipes... "meh.  Its not bad".  Which means he is eating it because I made it.  Lentils just aren't his thing.


Definitely, definitely try this one weekend when you have someone to help juggle it all.  No joke, this is amazing.  I had a ton of leftovers and have had it several times this week.

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2 comments:

  1. This sounds great! I think Trader Joe's might have a chicken & apple sausage, so I just might have to give it a try... lentils not really my favorite thing, but this sounds like a great way to learn to like them a little more and introduce Hendrik to them too. And this kind of dish + my hubby is usually a winner. Still impressed with your chopping skills - mine won't look nearly so pretty. Oh, and I love Padma :)

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  2. Yum! Tip for the ginger: I never chop/dice mine. I store it in the freezer and use a microplane to grate it. Saves so much time! I love my microplane. Great for ginger, garlic, zesting citrus, grating nutmeg, finely shredding hard cheeses like Parmesan. You need one in your life.

    Also, I don't think I've ever been to a grocery that didn't carry apple chicken sausage. Did you ask an employee if they had it? It blows my mind that you had to hunt it down. It's often by the hot dogs or in the case with fresh meats.

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