Lentil

Serve this dal as a dip with pita chips or as a side dish with grilled meats or fish.

A blend of lentils, brown rice, winter squash, and aromatic vegetables, this dish is easy to prepare on the stovetop or in a slow cooker.

Lentils and potato provide wholesome fiber in this hearty main-dish soup. While it simmers, bake some Corn Muffins (page 286) and toss a salad with one of the vinaigrettes on pages 96–97.

Cassoulet is a traditional French dish of white beans and various meats, cooked slowly for the flavors to blend. This fragrant vegetarian version uses Indian spices and lentils rather than white beans. It’s wonderful as a main course or as a side dish with roasted chicken or fish.

II Gran Sasso is the highest peak of the Apennines, surging up from the sea, a beast longer than twenty miles, a great-winged harpy, petrified, iced in flight and leaving only a slender shelf of coastal plain in its wake. And hitched halfway up its magnificence sits the medieval fastness of Santo Stefano di Sessanio. One meets few of its two hundred folk on a Wednesday evening’s sunset walk through its catacombs and labyrinths, peering into the unbarred doors of abandoned houses that spirit up invention and half-light musings. Inside the bar—there is always a bar—a Medici crest embellishing its door, the briscola squad is hard at play. Curious at what could bring us forty-five hundred feet up into the January cold that afternoon, we told them we were looking for lentils. Sometimes I can still hear their laughing. But they found us some lentils, the last of that year’s harvest, they told us, and they convinced us to stay the evening, the night, in a little locanda, an inn, closed for the season but of which one of them was the owner. Of course we stayed and of course we cooked and ate the beautiful black lentils that looked so like a great bowlful of glossy jet beads and of course we drank beautiful wine. And afterward we slept close by the fire. Though it is hardly traditional to adorn this humble soup with cream, when our host offered it with the willowy dollops melting into its warmth, it tasted like a dish as old as the mountains’ secrets. And I would never again eat it any other way. The ennobling of the soup with saffron is common in many dishes of the region but only for these last half a hundred years. Fields of crocus have flourished, though, for centuries in the peculiar micro-climate of the high plains of Navelli and Civitaretenga, since a curious village monk, when sojourning in Spain, folded a fistful of their dried seeds in his handkerchief and tucked them in a prayer book. The monk sowed the seeds first in the monastery gardens, and when the flowers bloomed and he harvested their pistils according to the rites he learned in Spain, he and his brothers planted whole fields of the sweet flowers, desiring to use the saffron as a pharmaceutical and as a colorant for ceremonial vestments. Still, the old monk’s is the only saffron cultivated in Italy.

When I was chef de cuisine at Campanile, I had to make brisket every Friday for the weekend brunch menu. Pounds and pounds of it passed through the hot ovens and sat resting on the counter before it was put away in the refrigerator. Sometimes I’d hear someone whisper, “Hide the brisket, she’s coming.” Nancy Silverton, the owner, would suddenly appear from around the corner, fingers poised to pilfer the fatty top layer from the roast. It was so rich and addictive, we couldn’t blame her. When you buy your brisket, don’t let your butcher cut away that top fatty layer; it adds essential flavor and keeps the brisket from drying out. Look for a brisket sold “point-on”—that triangular end is the most tender and flavorful part of the meat. You don’t have to serve both sauces with the brisket, but I think it’s super delicious that way. One bite gets an herby, acidic note of salsa verde and the next one rewards you with a fiesty horseradish cream. When I made this dish at home, my husband, brother-in-law, and best friend managed to polish off the entire 6-pound brisket by themselves while watching a single basketball game. I was shocked. It’s always better to make more brisket rather than less. And even if your friends don’t have as big appetites as mine do, you’ll be happy to have the leftovers for sandwiches or hash the next day.

These tiny black lentils are named for their resemblance to caviar.

Since my family loves lentils, I keep a few cans of organic canned lentils on hand to use when we want a meal with this nourishing legume in a hurry. To make this dish a little fancier, try using beluga lentils, as I’ve recommended in earlier recipes. These diminutive, gleaming black lentils contrast attractively with the spinach and dried tomatoes.

Spicy Tofurky sausages make a bold statement in this easy lentil stew. If you can find beluga lentils, use them—they give this dish extra visual appeal.

This is inspired by mujaddarah, a traditional Middle Eastern dish that is sometimes made with rice, and sometimes with cracked wheat. The grain is combined with lentils and lots of onions browned in olive oil. Even in its basic form, it’s delicious. Since we save some time by cooking (rather than soaking) the bulgur, I like to dress up this classic with the nontraditional but tasty additions of scallions and raisins.

My older son loves a very simple red lentil soup served at a local Middle Eastern café. It’s good, but to my mind, not very interesting, so I created my own version, with a little more style and substance. I make this regularly and he rarely clamors for the café version.

French green lentils, or lentilles du Puy, are smaller and more delicate in flavor than the usual supermarket variety. They require only fifteen minutes of cooking too, which makes them a handy pantry staple. A drizzle of crème fraîche and heavy cream sends this dish over the top.

Sometimes you just gotta take a break from hard-core carnivordom, and these are the way to go—just ask our staff, who eat them around the clock. These balls happen to be Mike’s favorite, too. You’ll often find us at the bar with a big bowl, topped with Classic Tomato Sauce (page 56) or Spinach-Basil Pesto (page 58) and a side of steamed or sautéed spinach. And when it comes to kids, this is a great and tasty way to sneak in more veggies.

In a showcase dish for slow-cooking-meets-quick-and-easy, sausage and lentils come together in a hearty combination for cool weather. The slow part is making the sausage, which is actually a cinch and can be done days in advance. The quick-and-easy part is that the dish cooks in about half an hour. Of all the many, many kinds of lentils, which vary in size, color, and their use in cooking, French green lentils are perfect for preparations such as this one where you want the lentils to cook up soft to the center while retaining their shape and not collapsing into a puree, as would be desirable, for instance, in an Indian dal. The soupçon of balsamic vinegar is stirred in just before serving so its tang and aroma remain bright and boldly present, not faded into the background.

This great side dish has a bit of a Quebecois-lumberjack-in-Bollywood taste. It is red lentils cooked like dahl, seasoned like baked beans. It is a pork chop’s best friend, or will mate with a hefty breakfast.

This dish comes straight from my mom, who made it nearly every Friday during Lent. It’s hearty and savory, and the rice and lentils together make it a perfect vegetarian protein. The burnt onion garnish is key; it adds depth and richness to the overall effect. Mom often served this with a rustic tomato, cucumber, and red onion salsa seasoned with lemon and mint, which lend acidity, texture, and fresh flavors to the plate.

There are as many varieties of dal (the nourishing lentil soup) as there are towns and villages in India. Our recipe is inspired by the one served at Kasa Indian Eatery, just down the street from the Market. It gets a dose of butter, which makes the soup incredibly rich in flavor, and pureeing half gives it extra creaminess. This recipe can easily be doubled.