Power Foods struck again on Friday. Okay, spinach struck again; a seemingly ever-occurrent vegetable in our fridge. I was very proud of this recipe simply because I had all the ingredients on hand. Well, everything but the thyme, which Zack kindly picked up from Trader Joe's on his way home from work.
What to do? Cook french lentils with garlic and a bay leaf; cook a tubular pasta; saute more garlic, leeks, and thyme in extra-virgin olive oil; add the spinach and reserved pasta cooking liquid; lastly, pour the whole mixture over pasta. And you can be sure a little salt and freshly ground pepper are in the mix as well. Always.
First of all, one thing I'm learning is to taste/try as you cook. Sure, it will more than likely be great if it smells good, but test tasting helps you to make sure things are cooked the way you want them to be (a.k.a. the leeks are soft and not marginally crunchy). I've made the mistake with onions before also. Third time is the charm; I will be test tasting from now on. Secondly, Zack and I seem to have all this regular pasta on hand, but this recipe definitely calls for whole-wheat pasta. Of course. This is Power Foods! It's the healthy version. Which we should probably be turning to if we are going to continue eating as much pasta as we have been lately.
Lesson learned? Let those leeks and onions sweat it out long enough to soften a little. And maybe start using more whole-wheat pasta. And I just have to say, the best part of this recipe is the way the pasta just naturally fills up with the little lentils. In other words, not only have you made a sort of pasta salad. You have made lentil-stuffed pasta. How fancy are you?
Long time subscriber, first time commenter here.
ReplyDeleteI am going to try this out with some added steak. I've never cooked pasta before but I do pretty much this without the pasta all the time.
Keep the delicious healthy (vegetarian with meat is how I like to describe it) recipes coming.
My dad bought me a cook book, but I hated it. It was filled with easy stuff that no one needs a book for and stuff I don't care to spend time making like stuffed chicken breasts, apple pies, bacon wrapped steak, etc.
I'd love to hear about some meals that are fast, healthy, and delicious! :) :) Satisfying the first two requirements is easy, but I don't have many dishes for all three. So far I've found fajitas, curries/soups, omelettes, and broiled salmon. Or maybe you could tell me a way to make baked chicken, steamed vegetables, and rice/beans taste better.
Thanks for your comment, Max. If you are going for faster, you can definitely try sauteing chicken instead of baking it. That is usually what I do. I like to saute it in extra-virgin olive oil, which is also healthy, and the neat thing about olive oil is you can infuse it with other ingredients like garlic or herbs to make it more flavorful. I sometimes put a couple whole garlic cloves in a pan of extra-virgin olive oil over medium to medium high heat. Just take it out before it burns!
ReplyDeleteYou can also rub the chicken with different spices to get different flavors. For example, cumin and chili pepper for a sort of Mexican flavor, or garlic powder, onion powder, and oregano for more of an Italian influence. And I always use Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.
If you do want to bake your chicken, I know a pretty popular way of doing so is with fresh sliced lemon and pepper. Other than that, I don't have too much experience baking it yet.
Zack and I think chicken stock makes steamed vegetables and rice better. More flavorful. And adding onion and garlic to sauteed vegetables seems to make them better as well. And salt and fresh ground pepper.
Hope that helps. But do take this all with a grain of salt. I'm still an amateur. ;)
Thanks Amateur Cooking Explorer Abby!! Much better than me.
ReplyDeleteI'll give sauteing it a try. I should have said broil instead of bake: the style that cooks from the top quickly high heat.
I had the lentils and pasta tonight it was really fab. Instead of spinach, I used basil and sauted it with garlic and tomatoes.
My pasta tasted kind of bland though. I'll try cooking the pasta for the last 5 minutes with everything else next time.
Cool. You can add a little salt to the boiling pasta water if you want to; that's usually what I do, but I haven't tried much else.
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you want the actual recipes to anything posted here. I would be happy to share.