Lentils

I sometimes wonder if these had a better name if people would eat them more. What if we called them "little orbs of deliciousness" or LOOD for short. Would you eat lood or lentils? Well, as my fiancée will testify, she does not like lentils. Or rather, did not (I think it was the name aversion). I made them for myself in a "fine, but I'm still making what I want" moment, and she ended up eating half of them. That will show her. Well, this time at least.



I read a lot, and I enjoy reading cookbooks. I came across a recipe in Tom Collichio's book for lentils and it piqued my interest, mainly because it contained under 10 ingredients. Sign me up. However, cooking them with only a little bit of stock made them pretty crunchy. I have optimized the recipe and it has not failed me yet. Do not feel like you have to use all of the stock, it varies by lentil variety. I like green lentils, but other varieties will work quite nice.

Lentils

1 1/2 cups lentils, rinsed and picked through for stones.
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups chicken stock
Salt and Pepper

Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat until quite hot. Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, and some salt to the pan, cook until the veggies begin to soften, about 10-15 minutes. Add the lentils to the pot followed by enough stock to cover them (it helps to use a more narrow pot here). Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer the lentils until a good amount of the stock has been absorbed, about 10-15 minutes. Repeat with more stock and some salt, cooking the lentils until they are tender, about 20 minutes more. You may have to repeat the stock adding process a few times (hence 3 cups of stock, it depends on your lentils). Discard the vegetables and serve.