Baked Vegetable Stew -- Nemesis to the Rescue

peasant food, anyone?

Ah, Nemesis, my old friend. I always enjoy cooking with my enameled cast-iron casserole. The metal holds the heat so it cooks the food in addition to the heat of the oven cooking the food, and the enameled finish cleans up easily. It's also pretty. And really, really heavy.

I decided it would be fun to experiment with this cooking pot, but I think this recipe would work equally well in any large casserole. Or even a dutch oven, provided it was oven safe.

I made a rather large quantity, because I was working with some rather large vegetables, and hey, I'm lazy and don't want to have to cook again for a couple of days. Plus I like stocking my freezer with meals  that just need to be heated up. But this recipe can easily be halved.

I whipped up a loaf of bread that rose while the casserole was in the oven,  and then baked on the same temperature. I personally am a big fan of fresh bread and vegetable stew, but if you're not, you could always eat it by itself, with quinoa, with rice, whilst tap-dancing, on your balcony, or with Parisian spies dressed in Versace.

The bread recipe I used was the same as from my post for Very Good Bread. It's our favourite, and seems to be pretty much idiot-proof, which means I don't screw it up even when my mind is on other things and I make mistakes.

So, if you are a fan of vegetable stew and fresh bread, you might like to eat like we did tonight. It was very tasty.

ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup cashews

1 tsp sea salt

2 cups Du Puy lentils

1 tsp sea salt

4 medium sized carrots, thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)

2 large sweet potatoes, cut into cubes (about 4 cups)

1 acorn squash, cut into cubes

1 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp herbe de provence

1 1/2 cups water +1/2 cup left over tomato sauce (or 1 and 1 or 2 and 0 or 0 and 2 etc.)

300 g package of organic frozen spinach, brought to room temperature

directions:

1. preheat your oven to 345

2. put the coconut oil in your pot or casserole, and put it in the oven for just a few minutes as it's preheating to liquify the oil

3. put the onion, garlic, cashews and 1 tsp of salt into the oil, and stir around

4. layer the 2 cups of lentils next, and sprinkle with another tsp of sea salt

5. layer the carrots next

6. layer the sweet potatoes next. I used my fabulous purple ones, as you can see in the picture

7. layer the squash next, and sprinkle the 3rd tsp of sea salt on top.

8. sprinkle 1 tbsp of herbe de provence on top of the squash

9. pour your water or water and tomato sauce or pure tomato sauce mixture over the squash

10. put the lid on, and put the casserole in the oven

11. bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours at 345, depending on your cooking dish

12. when it comes out, stir in your room temperature spinach and put the lid back on, but don't return to it to the oven

13. put your bread in the oven to bake

14 serve the stew with bread, baby tomatoes, and carrot medallions. Or a side salad. Or a slightly sardonic smile.

This tasted very good, and is one of those dishes that will also improve in flavour by the next day. I'm definitely going to jar some of it for future meals when I don't have the ingredients or time to cook from fresh.