One of my favorite ways to use my cooking talents is to cook for my friends. I love sharing healthy dishes to inspire them to eat more balanced meals. Eating less meat has helped drastically with inflammation and digestion. For my friends, I prepared a fresh veggie and lentil stew. It has all fresh, veggies straight like swiss chard, arugula, fennel, and cabbage, and peppers. Mix in some spices and some veggie broth, and you have yourself a delicious, easy, healthy lentil stew. Sometimes, I'll mix and match the vegetables to bring different elements to the dish. I enjoy learning the skill involved in chopping everything. There’s an art to it. Since working at a kitchen, I’ve been humbled by how many ways there are to prepare vegetables. Recently, I started adding roasted white beans and lemon for an extra boost. I had no idea how much two simple elements would elevate the dish. This dish normally gets thrown out because nobody eats it except me. I was pleased to say that it was finished in a weekend. I will be making it again this way from now on. You can find my original recipe here, which contains ingredients from a local farm.
Find my new and improved recipe below:
Ingredients:
2 cups of lentils
4-5 cups of vegetable broth (or water)
2 cups of fresh veggies of your choice (feel free to use more if you like)
1 lemon, squeezed and juiced
2 15 oz cans of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Spices:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2-3 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp celery salt
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2) While the oven is preheating, grab a pot and combine the lentils, broth, and spices.
3) Chop all your veggies into cubes.
4) Drain and rinse your beans and pat to dry.
5) Put the vegetables and beans on a baking sheet with foil and pour olive oil on them.
6) Season with more salt, pepper, and garlic.
7) Cook veggies for 25-30 minutes or until veggies are soft and beans are crunchy.
8) Turn the stove on to medium and let it come to a boil (~10 minutes).
9) Once it’s boiling, cover it up and let it simmer while your veggies and beans are roasting.
10) Once everything are done, take them out of the oven and combine them with the stew. Feel free to add some more broth if it starts to look dry.
11) Squeeze lemon and stir to mix in. Enjoy with fresh parsley and more lemon!
