"You take command in the kitchen."
- spoken to me by Phyllis Theroux - author, teacher, and light collector extraordinaire
I 've learned a few things from being sick a lot. One of them is the fact that when I can do nothing else - I can cook. This didn't happen overnight. It came to evolve over time as various indistinct maladies invaded and assaulted my body and took up residence, and I came to understand the word - chronic. Another thing I've discovered from persistent ailing is that real food cooked in simple ways is very often good for it. Now here's something surprising I found out by being both sick and cooking - the secret to taking command in the kitchen is merely habit and practice, with a side of necessity and a dollop of awareness. When something really matters to you and it makes a difference in your life - don't you find that you can somehow make the effort?
so...
Once upon a time on a Friday night at home and alone, with nary another soul's taste buds to assuage but my very own - I made sweet potato and lentil stew. I found lots of different recipes on the internet with many variations on this theme. There was one from Martha Stewart with sausage and sage and another version with bacon. Both sounded delish, but I decided on this particular one from Daphne Oz with a few changes - I added fresh ginger, replaced most of the water with veggie broth, and sweetened it with a little maple syrup. The recipe made an enormous pot of goodness, so I ate from the immediate results and froze the rest. I think it would be a good move to take it out of the freezer later and then add the cooked sausage or bacon that the other recipes called for. The lentils provide about 11 grams of protein per 1/4 cup serving and I sprinkled hemp seed over mine to boost that.
Here's what I did:
Sweet Potato and Lentil Stew
Olive oil
1 chopped red onion
3 or 4 chopped carrots
2 chopped celery stalks
1 1/2 t. minced garlic
2 t. cumin
1 t. coriander
1/2 t. turmeric
big chunk of fresh ginger - peeled and finely grated
2 c. rinsed lentils
4 c. veggie broth
2 c. water
1 sweet potato - peeled and chopped
1 bunch kale - remove hard center stems and rough chop leaves, I used purple
salt and pepper
drizzle of maple syrup
cilantro to scatter on top
To large soup pot, add olive oil and onion - salt and pepper and cook a couple of minutes. Next add carrots and celery - salt and pepper and cook some more. Turn down heat - add garlic, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and ginger...then add the lentils. Add the broth and water and turn up heat to a nice bubbly simmer. Throw in the chopped sweet potato and kale, add more salt and a good drizzle of maple syrup.
Do not cover the pot - I hear this makes the lentils mushy. I watched my pot and had to add more water as the stew cooked and the lentils needed it - around 45 minutes or so. If you like your kale with some bite left in it - wait until the lentils have cooked till almost done and then add it later near the end of the simmering process.
The secret to a really flavorful rich stew or soup is to season each layer as you go. You cannot salt and pepper at the end and get the same results.
Now, I have to talk about the sensory experience of cooking with all these vibrant colors - a red onion, orange carrots and sweet potatoes, purple kale, and green cilantro - then there's the exotic aroma of the spices of cumin, coriander, and turmeric (anti-inflammatory)...what pleases the eye and nose, will surely please the taste buds as well. Nutritionally and medicinally, the value of this dish astounds - doing the body infinite amounts of good! There is something creatively rewarding with cooking and it doesn't have to be fancy or difficult. Cooking takes me out of myself. All that peeling and chopping and combining fresh ingredients provides such unhurried expectation...and if you make it a habit and a practice, it becomes less of a task and more of a labor of love, I think. I guess if you cook and create from the heart - what you make will satisfy your soul...anyway, most of the time I find this to be true. Sprinkle all endeavors with a certain sense of curiosity and adventure and there's no telling what you may come up with...
That's it - the next day, Friday night's lentils became Saturday's leisurely lunch. I reheated the leftovers, chopped up an adequately ripe avocado and tossed it on top. This stew is so satisfying and filling - and even better the following day.
I've been struggling with my blog lately and life in general - looking for something that will lend both shape and direction. And then I thought of what Phyllis said in that observant way she has as a writer and a teacher - who sees the best in others and generously and kindly offers life-giving input. I decided to attempt to look through the light today and write about what I know and what is constant in my life. Cooking is something that I can do and that I must do everyday. Why even now as I sign off, I'm thinking of tender crab cakes for dinner and rainbow chard on the side with leeks and tiny sweet peppers of red, yellow, and orange...
and if you haven't yet discovered and read The Journal Keeper by Phyllis Theroux - you simply must.
1 1/2 t. minced garlic
2 t. cumin
1 t. coriander
1/2 t. turmeric
big chunk of fresh ginger - peeled and finely grated
2 c. rinsed lentils
4 c. veggie broth
2 c. water
1 sweet potato - peeled and chopped
1 bunch kale - remove hard center stems and rough chop leaves, I used purple
salt and pepper
drizzle of maple syrup
cilantro to scatter on top
To large soup pot, add olive oil and onion - salt and pepper and cook a couple of minutes. Next add carrots and celery - salt and pepper and cook some more. Turn down heat - add garlic, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and ginger...then add the lentils. Add the broth and water and turn up heat to a nice bubbly simmer. Throw in the chopped sweet potato and kale, add more salt and a good drizzle of maple syrup.
Do not cover the pot - I hear this makes the lentils mushy. I watched my pot and had to add more water as the stew cooked and the lentils needed it - around 45 minutes or so. If you like your kale with some bite left in it - wait until the lentils have cooked till almost done and then add it later near the end of the simmering process.
The secret to a really flavorful rich stew or soup is to season each layer as you go. You cannot salt and pepper at the end and get the same results.
Now, I have to talk about the sensory experience of cooking with all these vibrant colors - a red onion, orange carrots and sweet potatoes, purple kale, and green cilantro - then there's the exotic aroma of the spices of cumin, coriander, and turmeric (anti-inflammatory)...what pleases the eye and nose, will surely please the taste buds as well. Nutritionally and medicinally, the value of this dish astounds - doing the body infinite amounts of good! There is something creatively rewarding with cooking and it doesn't have to be fancy or difficult. Cooking takes me out of myself. All that peeling and chopping and combining fresh ingredients provides such unhurried expectation...and if you make it a habit and a practice, it becomes less of a task and more of a labor of love, I think. I guess if you cook and create from the heart - what you make will satisfy your soul...anyway, most of the time I find this to be true. Sprinkle all endeavors with a certain sense of curiosity and adventure and there's no telling what you may come up with...
That's it - the next day, Friday night's lentils became Saturday's leisurely lunch. I reheated the leftovers, chopped up an adequately ripe avocado and tossed it on top. This stew is so satisfying and filling - and even better the following day.
I've been struggling with my blog lately and life in general - looking for something that will lend both shape and direction. And then I thought of what Phyllis said in that observant way she has as a writer and a teacher - who sees the best in others and generously and kindly offers life-giving input. I decided to attempt to look through the light today and write about what I know and what is constant in my life. Cooking is something that I can do and that I must do everyday. Why even now as I sign off, I'm thinking of tender crab cakes for dinner and rainbow chard on the side with leeks and tiny sweet peppers of red, yellow, and orange...
and if you haven't yet discovered and read The Journal Keeper by Phyllis Theroux - you simply must.
Consider it dessert!
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