Du Puys Lentils and Brown Rice

Home alone is not always the title of a Macaulay Culkin film.  Nor am I cute or blond. However, I was home alone yesterday afternoon, my art class cancelled, with some paintings to finish and dinner to make. So, I threw some stuff in a pot, and hunkered down with my canvases. This dish would lend itself very well to a slow cooker. If I'd only thought about dinner at breakfast! Alas, I didn't think about dinner until mid-afternoon, and this only took 50 minutes to cook, plus about 10 minutes for prep. Very tasty, rib-sticking, complete meal in a bowl. And Colin, who once informed me if it wasn't pasta, it wasn't going to be delicious, declared it to be "yummy comfort food". There is no higher praise ;) And most importantly, I had plenty of time to work on my paintings.

Now there are a couple of important things to realize before you make this dish. First of all, not all lentils are created equal. I used the Du Puy lentil, which is so cute and so special, that you will forever after forget the names of all your former lentil friends. And the brown rice we use is so short grained that it's nearly round. It has a chewy deliciousness that is completely unlike the dry, long grain rice I grew up on.

Also there is a reason I use frozen spinach. I keep packages of organic frozen spinach on hand at all times, because I use spinach when I make pasta or green muffins, because it's not always easy to find organic greens at the super market, because it's easy to cook up super fast with a little sea salt and coconut oil for a yummy side dish, and because it's convenient. Spinach is a good vege to try to use organic, because it's one of the worst offenders for toxic chemicals when conventionally farmed. I like having some basics on hand so that I can throw dinner together without a trip to the grocery store. Such as this one! I did happen to have a some organic carrots, and organic broccoli stems on hand (I'd roasted the crowns for dinner earlier in the week). Crowns wouldn't work in this recipe because of the boiling time involved, but the stems work a charm after you peel off the outer woody sheath. Now, please admire my super macro rice and lentil pictures before you continue to the recipe. ;) 

Thank you.

Our favourite brown rice is so short of grain that it is nearly round. We tend to prefer California brown rice such as calrose.

The very adorable and distinct Du Puy lentil is a tiny, flavourful pulse that eclipses the large, pale green lentils most of us are most familiar with. Perhaps harder to find, but well worth the effort.

ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Du Puy lentils

1 1/2 cups very short grain brown rice

5 1/2 cups filtered water

2 medium carrots

3 stems from broccoli stalks (you know, the part that's left when you cut the crowns off)

150 grams of frozen spinach, set aside to defrost

2 tbsp vegetarian bouillion powder (we use organic Harvest Sun, the vegetarian, yeast free one)

a pinch or 2 of sea salt

a little freshly ground black pepper

1 or 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

4 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil

directions:

1. put the rice, lentils, coconut oil, vinegar, bouillion powder,  and water in a medium sized pot

2. put the pot on the stove, and bring it to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, reduce the heat, and set the timer for 50 mintues. It should be on a simmer for the duration of the cooking.

3. chop the carrots into small pieces

4. peel off the woody sheath from the broccoli, and chop the broccoli into small pieces

5. add the broccoli, carrots, salt, and pepper to the pot

6. when the spinach has defrosted, chop it finely

7. when the rice and lentils are fully cooked, remove from heat, and stir in the spinach.

8. serve with alacrity. Or with grape tomatoes and carrot medallions (we prefer medallions to sticks around here, and definitely prefer tomatoes to alacrity).

This is a very flavourful dish, but in a way that is appealing to young palates. The cooked vegetables inspire a sweetness in it, and the savoury seasoning balances all the flavours well. My son ate about half of his before even pausing for breath.