Inspired by California-Mediterranean cuisines and farmers markets, I cook healthy, flavorful dishes that are easy-to-prepare yet elegant. I write for Zester Daily, One for the Table, Luxury Travel Magazine, Huffington Post & New York Daily News. My latest Amazon eCookbook is 10 Delicious Holiday Recipes. My handcrafted chocolates are available at www.dchocolates.com. "Subscribe via email" and you'll get an email whenever I post a new recipe.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Cioppino with Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic-Parsley Toasts
Traditionally cioppino features fresh crab, reflecting the origin of the dish in San Francisco where Dungeness crabs are plentiful. When crab isn't available or affordable, shrimp works just as well. Clams and mussels are essential to the dish, as are cubes of fish fillets. Flounder sole, tilapia, salmon, or halibut all work well.
Find a reliable supplier of seafood. To ensure we're getting the freshest ingredients, we buy our clams and mussels from Carlsbad Aqua Farm at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market (Wednesday and Sunday) and our flounder sole from Tropical Seafood at the Pacific Palisades Farmers' Market (Sunday).
Tomatoes are as important to making cioppino as is good quality seafood. If the tomatoes are roasted, the soup has a beautiful sweetness edged with the tomato's natural acidity.
One of the helpful aspects of this dish is that many of the elements can be prepared ahead and frozen for later use. I pick up overly ripe tomatoes at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market when they're discounted. I'll buy several pounds, roast them, freezing some whole in an air tight container and turning the rest into tomato sauce, which I also freeze.
The clams and mussels can be cooked, taken out of their shells, and frozen. If the meat is submerged in the broth, there's no danger of freezer burn. The fish fillets can be cut into 1/2" squares, tossed in olive oil, and frozen in a Ziploc bag. That way all the essential parts of the cioppino are waiting in the freezer whenever you want a taste treat.
Cioppino with Roasted Tomatoes
While serving cioppino with shellfish in the shell is more picturesque, my vote is to take the clams, mussels, and crab out of their shells so eating the dish is easier.
Yield: 4 servings
Time: 30 minutes plus 45-60 minutes for the tomatoes
Ingredients
6 large ripe tomatoes, washed
8 cloves garlic, skins removed, finely chopped
1/2 cup Italian parsley, washed, finely chopped, leaves and stems
1/2 pound mushrooms--shiitake or brown--washed, thinly sliced
1 pound Dungeness crab legs, cooked, washed, cut into 1" pieces or 1 pound shrimp, shelled, deveined, cut into 1" pieces
2 pounds butter or little neck clams, washed
2 pounds mussels, washed, beards removed
1 pound fish fillet--sole, salmon, tilapia, or halibut--washed, cut into 1/2" cubes
Olive oil
Black pepper
Method
Roasting the Tomatoes
Remove the remnants of the stem at the top of the tomato and discard. Put the tomatoes on a Silpat or aluminum foil sheet on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil, season with sea salt and pepper, and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45-60 minutes.
Transfer the tomatoes to a large bowl, reserving all the liquid on the bottom of the baking tray. When cooled to the touch, remove the skins and discard. With your fingers, tear the tomatoes into small pieces. Set aside.
Parsley-Garlic Toasts
To make the parsley-garlic toasts, heat 1/4 cup olive oil, seasoned with half the garlic and parsley. Make two slices for each person. Saute the bread on each side until lightly browned.
Cioppino
In a large stock pot, drizzle olive oil on the bottom, heat on a low flame, saute the remaining garlic and parsley until softened. Add 1/4 cup water, the clams and mussels, turn the flame to high, cover, and cook for 5 minutes.
Remove all the clams and mussels that have opened. If any are still closed, put the cover back on and continue cooking another 5 minutes. Any clams and mussels that still haven't opened at that point should be discarded.
Slowly pour the broth into a large bowl. Discard any grit remaining in the stock pot. Return the pot to the stove, drizzle more olive oil, and saute the mushrooms over a low flame until lightly browned. Add the broth and roasted tomato pulp and sauce. Simmer 15 minutes.
Add the fish fillets, stir well, and cook 5 minutes. Add the crab or shrimp and cook for 2 minutes. Finally, add the mussels and clams, stirring them into the broth, being careful not to break apart the fish fillets. Simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Place 1 slice of garlic-parsley toast on the bottom of each bowl, add the cioppino, then place the 2nd slice on top.
Variations
Instead of garlic cloves in the cioppino saute, use 1 whole green garlic, outer skin of the bulb and root end removed, white and green parts thinly sliced
Add 1 cup cubes of cooked, peeled potato, preferably Yukon Gold or fingerlings, unpeeled and quartered
Add kernels from 1 grilled corn on the cob
Substitute cilantro for the parsley
Saute thin rounds of Italian sausage or chorizo, add to the broth
Use 1/4 cup white instead of water
Friday, January 29, 2010
Eating Well Makes Good Sense
The truth is, you'll save money and feel better. What's more, you won't be giving up convenience. Most of these dishes can be made in 30 minutes or less.
Salads
Arugula Salad with Avocado
Arugula Salad with Hazelnuts, Carrots, and Avocados
Arugula Salad with Persimmons and Pomegranate Seeds
Black Kale, Kabocha Squash, Cheddar Cheese and Almonds
Bulgar Salad with Celery
Carrot Salad with Lemon-Soaked Raisins
Chopped Parsley Salad
Cole Slaw with Capers
Couscous Salad with Grilled Vegetables
Egg Salad
Farmers' Market Fresh Chopped Vegetable Salad
Grilled Corn Salads
Grilled Vegetable Couscous Salad
Grilled Vegetables
Parsley-Grilled Corn Salad
Potato Salad with Corn
Risotto with Summer Vegetables
Roasted Beet Salad
Salad-e Shirazi: Iranian Cucumbers, Cherry Tomatoes, and Onions
Spinach Salad
Tomato and Avocado Salad
Tomato, Avocado, Corn and Garlic Toast Salad
Wilted Spinach Salad
Soups, Snacks, Sauces, and Side Dishes
The Amazingly Versatile Blackened Pepper
Baked Sweet Potatoes with Sauteed Shallots, Garlic, and Mushrooms
Braised Sprouted Broccoli
Cannelini Beans with Roasted Tomatoes and Spinach
Caramelized Vegetable Pasta
Chermoula Sauce for Salads, Side Dishes, and Entrees
An Easy Saute with Brussels Sprouts and Carrots
Grilled Artichokes
Grilled Corn on the Cob
Grilled Vegetables
Farmers' Market Fresh Vegetable Saute
Homemade Vegetable Soup
Kale Sauteed with Garlic and Farm Fresh Vegetables
Kimchi Ramen Soup
Kosher Pickles
Mushroom Soup
Potatoes, Mashed, for Breakfast
Quesadillas, Open Faced
Ramen Soup with Kimchi and Farmers' Market Fresh Vegetables
Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Roasted Garlic-Tomato Sauce
Roasted Tomatoes
Roasted Tomato Sauce
Salt Crusted Fingerling Potatoes
Salt Steamed Broccoli
Sauteed Beet Greens
Sauteed Kale with Vegetables
Steamed Artichokes
Summer Vegetable Risotto
Sweet Potatoes Grilled
Sweet Potato Inari Sushi
Tapenade the Frugal Cook's Secret Weapon
Tomato-Vegetable Soup
Tomatoes, Roasted, for Easy-to-Make Sauce
Tomatoes, Roasted Whole or Sliced
Vegetable Soup
Vegetable Soup for Cold Weather
Entrees
Brown Sugar Pork Ribs
Chicken Wings with Kimchi Glaze
Curry, Easy-to-Make
Ginger-Soy Sauce Poached Black Cod
Cioppino with Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic Toasts
Ginger-Soy Black Cod
Green Garlic and Clams
Grilled Shrimp
Grilled Shrimp with a Tex-Mex Dry Rub
Kimchi Chicken Wings
Low Cal Breaded Fish Fillets
Israeli Couscous with Vegetables
Italian Sausages and Roasted Tomatoes
Native American-Style Salmon
Pasta Alla Checca
Pasta with Roasted Corn and Garlic
Ribs, Brown Sugar Glaze
Risotto with Farmers' Market Fresh Squash Blossoms and Baby Zucchini
Roasted Cherry Tomato and Shiitake Mushroom Pasta
Salmon with a Garlic-Citrus Glaze
Sauteed Fish with Capers, Corn, and Tomatoes
Skewered Cherry Tomatoes
Tequila Glazed Shrimp
Tofu, Beet Greens, and Brown Rice
Tofu with Crispy Toppings
Desserts
Baked Cherries
Baked Plums
Custard
Fig Tart with Crystalized Ginger Crust and Roasted Almonds
Honey Poached Apples and Pears with Cinnamon, Vanilla, Raisins, and Peppercorns
Friday, April 24, 2015
The District by Hannah An, Upscale Vietnamese near the Beverly Center
Wednesday, November 24, 2021
Thanksgiving Essentials - Brined Roast Turkey, Corn Bread Stuffing and Mushroom Gravy
A post from several years ago with recipes for the way we prepare the turkey, stuffing and gravy. This year we bought a 20 pound organic turkey to serve 16 people. With all the appetizers, sides, salads and the salmon we're making, that should be the perfect size.
Thanksgiving was my mother's favorite holiday. She loved the chance to have her family and friends seated around the table, catching up, telling stories, and eating favorite treats.
Most of the time I do the cooking since I work at home and because we have a kitchen the size of a New York closet. Thanksgiving is my wife's day and I happily step to the side, working as a sous chef, assisting her in executing a meal that usually serves between 15-20.Even though Thanksgiving is a lot of work, the key is organization. Writing up a menu is the first step, then a shopping list, and finally a time-line for the day before Thanksgiving and the day of the meal.
Along with those first steps, we cover the bottom of the oven with aluminum foil so clean up after the meal is easier. Cleaning out the refrigerator makes room for the turkey after we pick it up from the grocery store and so there's space for all those delicious left-overs after the meal.
Besides shopping at the grocery store we visit our local farmers' market to pick up fresh vegetables for the sides dishes: beets, sweet potatoes, lettuce, celery, carrots, mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, corn, leeks, and onions.
But the most important part of the meal is the turkey and no turkey is complete without a great stuffing.
Corn Bread Stuffing with Sausages, Dried Apricots, and Pecans
Over the years my wife has developed a crowd-pleasing stuffing with a contrast of textures: soft (corn bread), spicy (sausage), chewy (dried apricots), and crunchy (pecans).
Yield: 15-20 servings
Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
2 boxes corn bread mix
3 celery stalks, washed, ends trimmed, leaves discarded
1 pound mushrooms, brown, shiitake, or portabella, washed, pat dried, finely chopped
2 medium yellow onions, peeled, ends removed, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped
1 stick sweet butter
1 1/2 cups turkey or chicken stock
4 Italian style sweet sausages
1 cup dried apricots, finely chopped
1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped
Sea salt and pepper
Method
Make the corn bread the night before and leave the pan on the counter so the corn bread dries out. Use any cornbread mix you like. My wife uses Jiffy. It's inexpensive and tastes great. The instructions are on the box.
Saute the sausages whole in a frying pan with a little olive oil until browned, remove, cut into bite-sized pieces, and set aside. Pour off the excess fat. Add the celery, mushrooms, onion, and garlic into the pan with the stick of butter and saute. Season with sea salt and pepper. Cook until lightly browned, then add stock and summer 15 minutes.
Cut the cornbread into chunks and crumble into a large mixing bowl. Add the apricots, pecans, and the saute. Stir well and set aside until you're ready to stuff the turkey.
Roast Turkey
The most difficult part about cooking a turkey is size. Even a 15 pound turkey is larger than any roast you'll ever cook, so it's important to have somebody around to help strong-arm the turkey.
The rule of thumb about cooking time is 15-20 minutes per pound at 325 degrees but there are so many variables, you can also use a roasting thermometer and, our preferred method, jiggle-the-leg and if it almost comes off, the turkey's done.
There's a lot of talk about whether to brine or not to brine. In the Los Angeles Times, Russ Parsons argued for what he calls a "dry" brine, which means salting the turkey inside and out, then wrapping it in a sealable bag and refrigerating it for one to two days.
Yield: 20-25 servings
Time: 7-8 hours
Ingredients
1 turkey, 23-25 pounds
Olive oil
Sea salt and pepper
Method
Unwrap the turkey. Remove the packet with the liver, neck, heart, and giblet. Use a pair of pliers to remove the piece of wire that holds the legs. It can be a real pain to get the wire off. Wash the turkey inside and out. Pat dry on the outside.
Reserve the liver to make a turkey chopped liver. Put the neck, heart, and giblet into a large saucepan with a lot of water, at least five inches higher than the turkey pieces. Replenish whatever water boils off. Simmer for 2-3 hours or until the meat on the neck falls off if you touch it with a fork. Strain the stock and reserve to use for gravy. Pull the meat off the neck and save to make turkey soup. Use the giblets in the gravy.
The next step is easier with a friend. Drizzle olive oil on the outside of the turkey. Using your hands spread the oil over the entire bird, front and back. Sprinkle sea salt and black pepper inside the cavity and on the outside.
To put in the stuffing, either my wife or I holds the turkey upright and steady while the other loosely packs the stuffing inside the large cavity, one handful at a time.
Use 8-12 metal skewers and kitchen string to close the large cavity. Carefully turn the turkey over so you can put stuffing into the top area. Use 6-8 skewers and string to close that cavity.
Use any kind of roasting pan. Whether you use a disposable aluminum foil pan or an expensive stainless steel roasting pan from William Sonoma, the result will be the same. The important thing to remember is the pan must be at least 2" wider than the turkey, otherwise as the bird cooks, its juices will drip onto the bottom of your stove and make a mess. To insure that the turkey browns evenly, you'll need a wire rack.
Place the turkey on the rack, breast down and put into the oven. After 30 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees.
After that, every 30 minutes, baste the turkey with the fat that drips down into the pan. If the skin starts to brown too quickly, put an aluminum tent over the top.
After 3 hours, turn the turkey over. With a large bird this is easier said than done because now the turkey is not only heavy, it's very hot.
Another set of hands is a big help here. My wife and I have choreographed this crucial moment. I lift the roasting pan with the turkey out of the oven, placing it on the cutting board. Michelle stands at the ready with a pot holder in each hand. As I lift the rack with the turkey, she removes the pan. I flip the rack with the turkey onto the cutting board, having first put a kitchen towel along the edge to prevent juices from falling to the floor.
We pour all the juices and fat from the pan into a basting bowl, scrapping off the flavor bits on the bottom of the pan to make gravy.
The rack goes back into the pan. The turkey goes onto the rack, breast side up. After a good basting, the turkey goes back in the oven, covered with an aluminum foil tent.
As the turkey continues to cook, if the wing tips and drumstick ends brown too quickly, wrap them in aluminum foil.
Continue basting every 30 minutes. When the turkey is finished, remove from the oven and let rest 5 minutes.
Carve the turkey on a cutting board, removing the wings first, then the legs, thighs, and the breasts. Either place the pieces on the platter whole, to be carved at the table, or sliced for easy serving. Open the cavities and spoon out the stuffing.
Mushroom-Giblet Gravy
While the turkey is cooking, start the gravy.
Yield: 15-20 servings
Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
2 medium yellow onions, peeled, ends removed, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped
1 turkey giblet, cooked, grizzle removed, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary, tarragon, or Italian parsley
1/2 pound mushrooms, brown, shiitake, or portabella, washed, finely chopped or sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups turkey stock
Sea salt and pepper
Method
Saute the giblet, onions, garlic, fresh herbs, and mushrooms until lightly browned. Add turkey stock and the flavor bits you scraped off the roasting pan, simmer and reduce by 1/3. Taste and adjust the flavors. If too salty, add more stock and a pat of sweet (unsalted) butter.
Reheat before serving.
Turkey Stock
When you're eating Thanksgiving dinner, odds are you aren't thinking about your next meal, but I am. Admittedly, it's a bit obsessive, but before I sit down to join the dinner, all the bones and scraps go into a large pot filled with water. By the time we're clearing the table, the stock is finished.
Turkey stock is rich and flavorful. Perfect for making soups, stews, and pasta sauce, and like chicken stock, freezes beautifully.
Yield: 15-20 servings
Time: 1 hour
Ingredients
1 turkey carcass, skin, scraps
Water
Method
Put the carcass into a large pot. If any of stuffing makes it into the pot, all the better for flavor and richness. Cover the bones with water. Simmer 1 hour. Strain and refrigerate. Pick the meat off the bones to use in a soup or stew.
The stock keeps in the freezer for six months.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Toast Goes Savory at Superba Food + Bread in Venice
Chef Taylor Boudreaux demonstrated how to get crispy skin on salmon filets. That session changed my cooking because he turned me on to carbon steel pans which are better than cast iron pans. At the moment I have only found them at Surfas Culinary District (8777 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232), although regrettably, they are often sold out of the pans.
Some chefs have kitchens that are expansive work spaces with the latest high tech tools like David Codney at the Peninsula where he and his staff demonstrated making mac n' cheese with truffles, a fine dining riff on a childhood favorite.
In the only hotel restaurant on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, in a tiny corner of his compact kitchen, David Padillo showed me how easy it is to make a spicy, citrus drunken shrimp, Mexican style.
In the city of Napa at the entrance way to the Napa Valley chef Paul Fields prepares gluten-free meals for guests of the Inn on Randolph. When I stayed at the Inn he made gluten-free chocolate chip cookies and a breakfast of Beluga lentils with roasted vegetables topped with a poached egg.
For Zester Daily I posted an interview and video cooking demonstration with the baker and chef at Superba Food + Bread (1900 S. Lincoln Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90291). Chef Jason Travi and baker Jonathan Eng used their partnership to create savory toasts, elevating that most simple of snacks into a gastronomic delight. A signature toast is one that uses a grilled slice of Eng's pain au levain topped with Travi's Lebanese red pepper-walnut muhammara sauce and finished with spoonfuls of fresh burrata.
Take a look at the Zester Daily article with a video by Travi and Eng. The toast in the video is the toast I ate after the demonstration. It was absolutely delicious. And easy to make at home.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
From Los Angeles to UC Davis with a Stop at San Francisco's Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market
The last time I shopped at the market I was working for
For an appetizer Ron was going to barbeque skewers of
There were stand-outs at the market: large bunches of watercress from White Crane Springs Ranch, peaches and nectarines from Frog Hollow Farm, and Ella Bella Farm's broccoli di cicco (sprouted broccoli). We also bought corn, tomatoes, arugula, and Italian parsley. The market is such a treat. Even if you didn't need to shop, walking through the crowds and enjoying the visual experience of the waterfront setting is more than enough reason to come to the market.
Ironically we would have missed one of the best parts of the market if the forest fires weren't raging in
We hadn't planned to eat at the market because we were on our way to
Claire had patiently endured our extra time at the market. We owed it to her to finish shopping quickly. While she ate a breakfast muffin from Downtown Bakery, I picked up a chicken from the Golden Gate Meat Company and a piece of Capricious cheese from Achadinha Cheese Company.
Later that afternoon Ron, Michelle, and I cooked our dinner, which included grilled chicken, sausages, and vegetables; a summer drink of white rum, mint, and limes that combines the best of a Mojito and a Caipirinha; Ron's skewers of Wagyu beef and morels were amazing, the morels' earthiness perfectly complimented the meat's buttery sweetness; chopped liver and egg salad; grilled lavash; arugula and carrot salad; chopped salad; watercress with grated Capricious cheese; and the banana chocolate chip walnut cake.
Of all the dishes we made, what Marii liked best was the chopped salad with grilled vegetables and Italian parsley. There will be more about the rest of the dinner in subsequent posts, but I wanted to start with Marii's favorite dish.
Summer's Best Chopped Salad
A salad with an infinite number of variations.
Yield 4 servings
Time 45 minutes
Ingredients
2 bunches Italian parsley (washed, finely chopped, leaves and stems)
1 large avocado (peeled, pit removed, roughly chopped)
4 carrots (washed, peeled, cut into 1/4" thick, 2" long slabs)
2 scallions (washed, ends trimmed)
4 ears of corn (husks and silks removed, washed)
1/2 pound broccoli (washed, ends trimmed, stems peeled, florets cut into 1/4" thick, 2" long slabs; if using sprouted broccoli grill whole)
1/2 pound string beans (washed, ends trimmed)
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
Sea salt and pepper
Method
Put the chopped parsley and avocado into a large mixing bowl. Heat a barbecue grill. Drizzle olive oil on the vegetables, season with sea salt and pepper. Grill 5-10 minutes until lightly brown. If you don't have a grill, you can accomplish a similar result in a 350 degree oven. Turn frequently in either case so the vegetables don't burn. Remove and let cool.
Reduce the balsamic vinegar in a saucepan on a low flame until you have a quarter of the original volume. The vinegar will become sweet.
Finely chop the grilled vegetables, add to the parsley, drizzle with olive oil and reduced balsamic, season to taste with sea salt and pepper. Toss well and transfer to a salad bowl.
Variations
Keep the salad vegetarian and grill any vegetable you enjoy, like squash, asparagus, onions or mushrooms, chop, and add to the salad.
Add cheese such as crumbled feta, finely chopped comte, mozzarella, Swiss or cheddar.
Add chopped artichoke bottoms.
Add chopped hardboiled eggs.
Add homemade croutons.
Add chopped roasted beets.
Monday, January 12, 2015
Lentil-Veggie Stew, a One Pot Winter Pleasure
With the weather outside cold and wet, we were happy to be inside the busy, warm restaurant. We ordered our favorite dishes: udon with mushrooms, tempura vegetables and shrimp on seasoned rice, salmon sashimi with pale white daikon threads & wispy pickled seaweed, spinach salad seasoned with mirin and sesame paste, sea urchin (uni) sushi with quail yolk, egg omelet sushi (tamago), baked crab hand roll and hot soba in soup with thinly sliced scallions and paper thin sheets of fatty duck breast.
We talked, shared a bottle of hot sake and looked at photographs from our holiday trips. A great way to begin the new year.
Yesterday the rain was reduced to a light drizzle. Not enough to soak through a thick sweater but enough to chill skin and bone. When it was time to think about dinner, I had only one thought. Cook something easy. Cook something in one pot. And make sure it is hot, filling and delicious.
A few years ago a press trip took me Spokane, Washington and Moscow, Idaho. The area is well-known for its agricultural products, most importantly lentils. A representative of the USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council gave us a "Lentils 101" talk that described the many varieties of lentils, their nutritional value and economic importance to protein-starved regions of the world. Each of us was given a copy of The Pea & Lentil Cookbook: From Everyday to Gourmet which has recipes using dried legumes in dishes as varied as appetizers, soups, salads, entrees and desserts.
Cooking with lentils is easy.
The basics are wash and rinse the lentils. Discard any broken or misshapen lentils. Generally speaking lentils are cooked in water at a ratio of one cup of lentils to two and a half cups of water. Simmer covered for 30-50 minutes, tasting the lentils as they cook and removing the pot from the stove when they are to your taste. Cooked longer, lentils will soften and can be used in purees for soups, dips, sauces and spreads.
I like the lentils to retain their shape so I cook them only until they are al dente.
Lentils come in many varieties. They are not all the same. Find the ones you like. My favorites are Beluga or black lentils and Spanish pardina lentils, which I used last night.
Roasted tomato sauce adds a pleasing acid. Canned tomato sauce may be used, but a better alternative is to make your own. For Zester Daily I wrote about making roasted tomatoes and sauce to keep in your freezer.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 cup lentils
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of cayenne (optional)
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 garlic clove, washed, skin removed, minced
1 medium sized yellow onion, washed, paper skin, root and stem ends removed, finely chopped
2 cups mushrooms, preferably shiitake or brown, washed, the ends of the stems removed, finely chopped
1 medium sized carrot, stem cut off, peeled, washed
1 large roasted tomato, washed, stem removed or 1/2 cup roasted tomato sauce
2 cups spinach leaves, washed and thin sliced
Directions
Rinse the lentils, discarding any that are broken or discovered.
In a 2 quart sauce pan, heat the olive oil. Add the dry spices and garlic. Lightly brown.
Add the onions, mushrooms and carrots. Saute until lightly browned.
Add the lentils, water and roasted tomato sauce. Stir well. Bring to a simmer. Cover.
After 15 minutes, add the spinach leaves. Stir well. Cover.
The lentils may take 25-45 minutes to soften. How long depends on many factors. After 25 minutes, taste a few lentils. If they need more cooking and the liquid has evaporated, add enough water to keep the lentils covered.
Stir well, cover and continue cooking, checking the pot every 5 minutes until they have achieved the desired texture.
Serve hot.
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