We saw this vegetarian stew recipe in the December 2008 Cooking Light, and it just looked so gosh darn pretty, easy, healthy and cheap we gave it a try. This is certainly a dish where being lucky enough to shop at the DeKalb Farmer’s market makes it even cheaper–lemons, garlic, and parsley especially are things that you save several bucks compared to the grocery store. I also have a freezer full of tomatoes from my late grandma (from 1992 tonight but still good) so that was free–I do still have approximately 300 cans of diced tomatoes to not have to buy in order to recoup the expense of my fancy upright freezer.
My notes on the recipe:
For the first few bites I had to convince myself I liked it more than I did for some reason (I was also hungry and cranky) but it grew on me and was a tasty and filling (and did I mention cheap?) dinner. Rhiannon liked it a lot, especially the combination of spices that made it a little sweet and savory tasting. We struggle to eat meals without meat as the main course, and even though we know we would suck as vegetarians and use it as an excuse to eat mac and cheese and french fries all the time, we do buy into the ethical and health reasons for eating less meat as a general rule. This recipe has a nice 18g of protein per serving (chicken breast has 30g for comparison) so it’s a decent vegetarian meal. We had it with a spinach salad with crumbled goat cheese, toasted pecans, and balsamic vinaigrette.
Here’s the recipe as it’s listed, although mint was expensive and ugly this week at the DeKalb Farmer’s Market and it’s not right outside the door in our herb garden like it was during the warm weather, so we left it out. Seriously–I only changed one thing in the recipe. Oh, except for the part where I totally ignored their insane instructions to cook lentils in one pot, then drain them, cook the edamame in
another pot and drain them, and then put it all together in yet
another pot. I just picked one pot big enough for the whole thing (a dutch oven or even something a little smaller would work), rinsed it out after the lentils cooked since there’s always some gunk left on the sides of the pan, and had just that pan plus the strainer that the lentils and edamame were in after draining. Take that
Cooking Light.
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried lentils
- 3/4 cup frozen shelled edamame (green soybeans)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups minced onion
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Dash of ground cloves
Instructions
1. Place lentils in a large saucepan; cover with water to 2 inches above lentils. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until tender. Drain well, and set aside in a bowl.
2. Place edamame in a the saucepan; cover with water to 2 inches above edamame. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until edamame are tender. Remove from heat; drain well and set aside with lentils.
3. Heat oil in the saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic to pan, saute 6 minutes until onion is translucent, stirring often. Stir in tomatoes and saute briefly and then stir in lentils, edamame, lemon juice, and remaining herbs and spices. Cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring often.
