Gluten-free lasagna

 

 A medical diagnosis of celiac disease is no barrier to making lasagna in my experience. These gluten-free pasta sheets by Chickapea, made from chickpeas and lentils, fit the bill perfectly.

Make your tomato sauce from whole peeled tomatoes and fresh carrot, celery, onion and extra virgin olive oil, and your ragu from ground meat without fillers.

Grate your parmigiano reggiano cheese from wedges, and use fresh mozzarella if that's in your recipe. 

Substitute a seasoned whole milk ricotta sauce with nutmeg for the béchamel normally made with wheat flour and butter, and you are good to go. I save salted pasta water left over from making other shapes of Chickapea pasta for other dinners to dilute the ricotta.

Your gluten-free family member will thank you for the effort. 

Happiness is having a pulse!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nyuk, nyuk.

Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. ... And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat. 

-- Daniel 1:12, 15

Happiness is make-ahead Italian lentil loaf

Italian lentil loaf                                                        

                                                       

2 cups lentils

1 bay leaf

1 cup fine bulgur wheat

1 egg

1 T tomato paste

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

1T extra virgin olive oil

4 oz rapini, blanched and finely chopped

1 clove garlic, pressed

1/4 t black pepper

1/2 t ground fennel seed

1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes, ground

1 t salt

1 t Hungarian paprika

2/3 cup grated Romano cheese

1 cup Panko bread crumbs

Ketchup or tomato sauce

1) Prepare the lentils by washing them. Bring 6 cups water to a boil in a saucepan, add the lentils and bay leaf, return to a boil and cover. Simmer on lowest setting for about 45 minutes. When tender, drain and reserve both the lentils and the cooking liquid to cool. Discard the bay leaf.

2) Prepare the bulgur. Boil two cups of liquid made from the reserved lentil broth in a saucepan, add the bulgur, stir, cover and turn off the heat and let bulgur cook 15 minutes. Then uncover to cool.

3) Whisk an egg in a mixing bowl. Whisk in the tomato paste, onion, olive oil, rapini, garlic, black pepper, fennel, red pepper, salt and paprika.

4) Using a large silicone spatula, stir in the cheese, bulgur and lentils, finishing with the bread crumbs.

5) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

6) Grease two glass bread pans with Crisco.

7) Press the lentil mixture into the bread pans and bake about 40 minutes. The loaves are done when a toothpick comes out clean.

8) At this point paint the loaves with some tomato sauce or ketchup and bake 5 minutes more.

9) Let the loaves cool on the stove top until cool to the touch. Then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight for serving the next day with more ketchup or tomato sauce and a side salad. The loaves slice evenly and cleanly and servings can be easily reheated in the microwave on a plate and kept warm in the oven as you prepare the salad.

Serves at least six.     

Some of the top food sources for vitamin B9 (daily need is 400 micrograms)

Some of the top food sources for vitamin B9, also known as folate (daily need is 400 micrograms):

lentils (1 cup cooked): 358 micrograms

pinto beans (1 cup cooked): 296 micrograms

asparagus (1 cup cooked): 268 micrograms

spinach (1 cup cooked): 263 micrograms

broccoli (1 cup cooked): 168 micrograms

avocado (whole, 201 grams): 163 micrograms

mango (whole, 336 grams): 145 micrograms

romaine lettuce (3 ounces): 116 micrograms

orange (whole, 121 grams): 47 micrograms

wheat bread (slice, 29 grams): 25 micrograms

More here. 

Happiness is low-sodium barley lentil soup for lunch

Barley growing in Provence to the right, lavender to the left

3 cups turkey stock from Thanksgiving, made from the leftover bones

6 cups water

3/4 cup green lentils, rinsed

3/4 cup hulled barley, rinsed

2 bay leaves

1 yellow onion, chopped

3 small carrots, chopped

1 large garlic clove, chopped

extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon French sea salt

2 teaspoons dried rosemary leaves

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

 

1/ bring the stock and water to a boil and add the lentils, barley and bay leaves

2/ simmer at a low boil one hour, covered

3/ chop the onion, carrots and garlic and saute in the olive oil until softened, set aside

4/ to a spice grinder add sea salt, black pepper, rosemary and thyme leaves and pulse until powdery

5/ when the barley and lentils are soft, add the sautéed vegetables and the spices to the soup and stir occasionally while simmering, twenty minutes more

makes about eight cups, approximately 310 mg sodium per cup (lentils 15 mg, barley 15 mg, onion 10 mg, carrots 105 mg, salt 2325 milligrams = 2470 mg/8 = 308.75 mg/cup)

Happiness is a good cook, and a good doctor

 

For great the man, and useful, without doubt,

Who seasons pottage, or expels the gout;

Whose science keeps life in, and keeps death out.

-- Walter Harte (1709-1774)

Some of the top mineral-rich foods

Nuts are in a class all by themselves

Seen here:

Almonds, cashews and Brazil nuts

Beans and lentils

Spinach and kale

Salmon and sardines

Sunflower seeds, flax seeds and pumpkin seeds

Oysters, scallops, mussels and clams

Mushrooms

Oatmeal, whole wheat and wheat germ

Milk and yogurt

Beef and lamb

Avocado

Dark chocolate

Parmesan, Swiss and Mozzarella

Apricots, prunes, raisins, figs and dates 

Happiness is finding French Green Lentils at the vegetarian foods emporium

Eat Lentils Today To Bring Good Luck For The New Year

So say the Italians, according to this story:

We all get another chance in the new year — clean slate, new resolutions. For a little extra push of luck there are culinary superstitions from cultures all over the world. ... Legumes of any kind bring good luck because they resemble coins and, therefore, wealth. ... Italians eat lentils and sausage to bring in the new year. The lentils play the same role as black-eyed peas and the sausages, sliced crosswise, resemble coins. The pork — specifically the fat — signifies abundance.

I was making Lentil Soup from The Silver Palate Cookbook, somewhat modified, when I learned of the superstition (great minds think alike):

8 cups homemade chicken stock

1.5 cups organic green lentils, washed

2 small bay leaves and 2 matching-sized pieces of Parmesan rind (I save these in the freezer)

6 oz. uncured bacon, diced

1 medium organic onion, diced

3 organic carrots, peeled and diced

3 large cloves homegrown garlic, diced

1 tsp. dried thyme leaves

1/4 tsp. celery seed

1/4 tsp. Folgate lavender buds

1. Wash the lentils, drain, and boil gently for 45 minutes in the chicken stock in a covered large soup pot along with the bay leaves and Parmesan rinds, which add a unique creaminess.

2. Meanwhile prepare the bacon and saute in a dutch oven, stirring frequently until crisp over less than medium heat. Reserve for serving.

3. Dice the vegetables as the bacon finishes and sweat them for 20 minutes covered in the bacon fat of the dutch oven over less than medium heat. I add the carrots first, then the onions carefully on top and sweat together for 10 minutes, then I stir and sweat five minutes more, and then I add the garlic on top without stirring for the last five minutes.

4. Add the vegetables to the stock and lentils, which by now should be done. Also add the seasonings, which I grind ahead of time in my coffee grinder very briefly. Simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and the Parmesan rinds, if you can find them.

5. Serve with reserved bacon dice, and season with salt and pepper to taste with some buttered, toasted bread or an English Muffin.

Good luck!

h/t Monica

My Current Super Foods Menu

Monday--Burritos (homemade pinto beans, onions, and saved bacon fat from uncured bacon, ground turkey, homemade Mexican seasonings, in an Azteca brand flour tortilla with extra sharp cheddar cheese and fresh toppings including homemade guacamole, black olives, salsa, green onion and chopped spinach)

Tuesday--Basil Pesto Sockeye Pie (canned wild sockeye salmon, eggs, homegrown tomato sauce, homemade basil pesto sauce, rolled oats) with a green salad of romaine lettuce and spinach with a lemon-evoo dressing

Wednesday--Italian pasta with homemade hot Italian turkey sausage, homemade tomato sauce, grated Pecorino Romano cheese and steamed green beans or baby broccoli or a romaine-spinach salad

Thursday--One of two flexible nights in the week like Sunday, but often curry night, usually leftover poultry, butter, garlic, Penzeys curry powder, canned coconut milk, flaked coconut, dried cranberries, diced Fuji apples and chopped almonds served over Jasmine rice with a salad on the side, or Italian meatloaf made with ground turkey, rapini and seasonings, or baked chicken with rice and broccoli

Friday--Filet of something from the sea, these days baked skin-on steelhead trout with lemon pepper, Jasmine rice and a steamed vegetable like baby broccoli or green beans, or a curried salmon-rice cake with a fruit sauce, or sockeye pie leftovers

Saturday--Napoli style pizza baked in cast iron with homemade basil pesto sauce, homemade tomato sauce, mozzarella, and fresh roma tomato slices, with a fresh salad

Sunday--Charcoal Grill Day: usually hamburgers ground at home from a single piece of Angus chuck served with all the toppings desired on a potato bun and steamed green petite peas with butter, otherwise grilled marinated Otto's chicken (locally grown) with red potatoes baked in the oven, or a stir fry in the wok, or pasta carbonara

Luncheon is usually a homemade barley-lentil soup using homemade chicken broth with some homemade buttered toast, or leftovers like a burrito, and an apple on the side with a square of 70% cocoa chocolate to finish, or a can of Norwegian bristling sardines on rye crackers with a fresh pear

Breakfast is usually stove-top espresso with 2% milk steamed, a hardboiled egg or a fried egg with toast and jam, and a fresh orange, or a blueberry-banana smoothie with homemade yogurt, coconut milk, cinnamon and ground flaxseed meal, or whole oatmeal with berries and walnuts

Wine, especially on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Purists will revolt as purists do, but life is for the enjoying.

Lentil Barley Soup With Paprika and Rapini

I'm forever making soup with lentils and barley because they are super for you, inexpensive, taste good, and cook quickly. And you can marry them to a variety of herb and vegetable combinations to make healthy eating more interesting from day to day.

Sometimes it's sage and butternut squash, other times oregano and diced Italian tomatoes, or rosemary, bay leaf and parmesan rind with a pinch of cayenne or crushed red pepper flakes. Sometimes I'll leave out the barley, sometimes I'll use cooked leftover long grain brown rice instead. Soup is flexible.

In this recipe I use a little sweet Hungarian paprika with chopped rapini, otherwise known as broccoli rabe, a relative of the turnip family, a dark green leafy vegetable loaded with nutrition and a unique flavor.

When thinking soup, think three steps: the boil, the sweat, and the finish. The boil is where the "hard" cooking occurs, in which you avoid adding the more delicate ingredients which will suffer for the experience. The sweat is for softening the base vegetables like garlic, onion, carrot, and celery. In the finish, you add your herbs, spices and showcase ingredients to heat them through and simmer for a shorter period.

Lentil Barley Soup With Paprika and Rapini

3 quarts prepared Quick Chicken Stock

1 cup lentils, washed (French green lentils du Puy hold up best)

1 cup organic hulled barley, washed (use pearled barley if you must)

3 cloves garlic, pressed

1 large onion, diced

3 large carrots, peeled and diced

.5 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 t salt

.5 t black pepper

1 heaping teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika

.5 cup tomato paste

4 oz. chopped rapini leaves and heads, washed

1. Add the lentils and barley to the chicken stock in a large stainless steel pot, bring to a boil, and bubble on the boil gently about one hour, until the barley is tooth tender.

2. Heat the oil over low heat in a heavy sauce pan, press the garlic, chop the onions and carrots, and saute these together, covered, over gentle heat, about ten to twenty minutes, stirring now and again, until the onions are translucent and the carrots softened. Let rest covered off the heat.

3. Wash and dry the rapini, accumulate 4 oz. of leaves and heads and chop up finely.

4. To the cooked lentils and barley, add the salt, pepper, paprika and tomato paste. Stir and adjust seasonings to your liking. Then add the onion and carrot mixture and stir. Bring to a boil and simmer for fifteen minutes, and then add the chopped rapini and simmer for ten minutes more.

It's a pretty soup to serve, with little green, orange and white colors bobbing in a reddish brown sea. Perfect for today's blizzard in Michigan.

Butternut Squash, Sage and Lentil Soup

Family from Provence visited and brought along some lentils du Puy, the world's finest, and Mr. Wenger kindly shared some of his hefty butternut squashes with us . . . time to make some soup with these memorable gifts!

Baking squash is easy. Wash them in cool water. Slice them lengthwise and place them cut side down in a large oiled broiler pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for an hour and twenty minutes, until a knife passes through easily. Let them cool on the counter, scoop out the seeds and strings and discard. Then spoon out the flesh to use and/or store. Bada bing, bada boom. Just like downtown.

Butternut Squash, Sage and Lentil Soup

6 cups chicken stock

2 cups, firmly packed, baked butternut squash

.5 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1 dash cayenne pepper (aka 1/8 teaspoon)

.5 t ground sage leaf

1 t salt

.75 cup lentils, washed (if you don't have the French variety, domestic green lentils will work)

1. In a large covered stainless steel pot, simmer the lentils in the broth until tender, about 45 minutes.

2. To the reservoir of a blender, add the garlic cloves, cover and puree. Then add some squash, and broth from the pot, and puree. Add the oil, cayenne, sage and salt and puree some more. Add the rest of the squash, more broth if needed, and puree until combined and smooth.

3. Pour the blended mixture into the soup pot, stir and heat until bubbly. Serve with some nice buttered toast and an apple.

Soup makes me happy. Mm. Mm. Mm.