Adventures In Legume Love
It interests me how much my taste has evolved since I was a child. I assume this is true for everyone. Of particular interest for today’s post is the fact that as a child, I did not like legumes. Well, except for peanuts. And peanut butter. But my mother’s split pea soup? I could choke it down but I certainly didn’t like it. Chili? Not only was it full of beans but the spice profile was also not to my taste (that hasn’t changed…cumin is nasty). And my mother also occasionally made a vegetarian dish she called Cheesy Lentils. Like the split pea soup, I could eat it, but I had to force it down.
As an adult, I’ve learned that I really like split pea soup. In fact, I have a recipe for split pea soup that is so sublime (and simple) that I can eat a pot of the stuff by myself over the course of a week and never get tired of it. Unfortunately, my split pea soup recipe requires a very meaty ham bone. No, not the kind you can get at the butcher…the kind that is left over after everyone has done a sloppy job of getting the meat off the bone of the Easter ham. The soup requires a big chunk of bone (preferably still full of marrow), a good amount of meat, and a good amount of fat. You can substitute diced ham, of course, but it’s nowhere near as good. And since I’m not willing to buy a whole ham just to make soup with the remains, I seldom get to make my superb split pea soup, so it remains a rare treat.
Also, once I hit adulthood and starting doing all my own cooking and after realizing that at least some legumes were tasty, I started to reminisce fondly about mom’s cheesy lentils. So I asked her for the recipe, and for some reason, she couldn’t find it. I don’t know how that’s possible…she made it repeatedly during my childhood. How could she have lost the recipe? Of course, there was the internet, and so I did some research. And I eventually cobbled together a cheesy lentil recipe that was sufficiently close to what I remembered from my young years.
So, the method first, followed by the recipe. You assemble everything except the cheese in a large baking dish, cover it tightly with foil, and bake for about 40 minutes. Take the dish out of the oven, peel back the foil, and stir everything around. Cover it again and cook some more until the lentils are tender. This takes 20-40 more minutes, depending on what kind of lentils you use. I like the regular lentils. But if you use French lentils or red lentils, both of those are smaller than the regular lentils and therefore cook faster. Pull your baking dish out of the oven, remove the foil, pull out the bay leaf, and then sprinkle some grated sharp cheddar cheese over the top. Put it back into the oven until the cheese melts. This makes six generous servings, which can be eaten immediately or refrigerated or frozen. Like a good stew, this dish is even better after sitting in the refrigerator for a day or so. The flavors have a chance to blend and meld.
I realize that this is unlike most of the recipes I post on this blog…it’s ridiculously healthy, with the small amount of cheese being the least healthy part of it. But I’m posting it not because it’s healthy, but because it’s genuinely delicious. I generally eat it by itself, but it’s also very nice served over rice.
If you are not a huge fan of legumes, you might give this recipe a try as a sort of gateway into how delicious they can be. Enjoy!
Baked Lentils With Cheese
INGREDIENTS
12 oz lentils
2 Cups water
1 bay leaf
2 Tsp salt
1/4 Tsp pepper
1/4 Tsp marjoram
1/4 Tsp sage
1/4 Tsp thyme
2 large onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 14.5 oz can chopped tomatoes
2 large carrots, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 1/2 Cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375°.
Place all items except the cheese in a 9x13" baking dish (including all the juice from the tomatoes). Bake covered for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and stir. Cover and continue to bake until lentils are tender, 20-40 minutes longer. Remove from oven and pull out the bay leaf. Sprinkle the cheese on the top. Return to the oven and bake (uncovered) for 5 more minutes or until the cheese is melted.
Note: like stew, this dish is even better the second day, as the flavors blend and mellow. This dish freezes very well after baking.
