7 Million ways to Make Lentil Soup (in a slow cooker)

 

The great Mark Bittman has 7 Ways to Make Lentil Soup, and if you want to start out with making any of these, I think you will have a delicious meal when you are done.

An even easier version is this. Take this list of ingredients

1. 1 cup of green lentils, rinced
2. 1 can (28 oz) of stewed tomatoes
3. 2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
4. 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
5. 1 onion, chopped
6. 1 rib of celery, chopped
7. 3 garlic cloves, minced
8. 3 bay leaves
9. 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
10. 3 Tbps curry powder
11. 1 tsp cumin
12. 1 tsp coriander
13. 4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock

Add them all to a slow cookers (4 quart / 4 litre) size or bigger, stir, then  cook on low (8-10 hours) or high (4-5 hours). Remove bay leaves before serving.

Now I say seven million ways to make lentil soup because you really can substitute greatly for very different soups. For example:

• this version has 4 cups of stock and 28 oz of tomatoes, compared to Bittman's with 6 cups of stock. I think you can play around with the types of tomatoes (diced, plum) and the ratio of stock to tomatoes (only have a 14 oz can of tomatoes? Use it and go with 5 cups of stock)
• You can use most any root vegetable instead of the potatoes or carrots. Try turnips, parsnips, or yams. Replace the celery with celeriac. I don't think red beets will work, but white beets might.
• Replace the onion with shallots or pearl onions.
• I didn't have spices 10, 11 and 12, but I did have an Indian spice mix, so I used 3 Tbsp of that instead.
• Add some sriracha to make it spicy. Or dice up some jalapeno with the onion and toss it in. Red pepper flakes or some hot pepper sauce would also work.
• If you don't need it vegetarian, try the different meats that Bittman suggests. Leftover or rotisserie chicken would also be good. Or take some out and put it in a pot with fish and poach the fish until it is cooked.
• Toss in some cooked pasta or cooked beans to make it more of a stew.
• Towards the end stir in some chopped greens like spinach or kale or other greens that will wilt in a warm liquid.
• At the end, add some wine vinegar to give it a bit of bite.
• Garnish with herbs, or a drop of pesto or salsa verde. Or stir in some tomato based salsa. (Again, do it to your own taste.)

The lentils and the stock make up the foundation of the soup. The rest is seasoning and vegetables (and possibly non vegetables). Feel free to experiment and make the soup your own (and use up the left overs in your fridge or pantry).

Baked eggs are perfect: simple, nutritious, delicious, and elegant

As Mark Bittman demonstrates, baked eggs are The Simplest Egg, Yet the Most Elegant.
You just need an egg and practically anything else for a superb dish. For example, here's his recipe: Recipe: Baked Egg With Prosciutto and Tomato - New York Times. Here's another one with bacon: Stacey Snacks: Baked Eggs in Bacon Baskets. This morning I lined muffin tins with cold cuts (turkey slices) and then followed Stacey's examples.

If you want eggs sunnyside up for dipping in, you can substitute baked eggs and cook them for around 10 minutes and you will get a perfectly running york with cooked whites that look much nicer than those in the pan. Plus there is the added treat of whatever you lined the pan with.

You can also saute anything you like and then serve it topped with such an egg and you have a wonderful dish.

Best of all, it's so easy: even people who hate to cook can bake an egg. I did mine in a toaster oven and it comes out well.

You may want to experiment first before you make this for others. 375 is a good temperature to cook the eggs in, and with my toaster oven, 10 minutes yielded a very runny egg. Next time I will aim for 12 minutes. Eggs require attention for best results, but the results are worth it.

The McRib as a method of arbitrage. The awl has the goods.

The Awl has a fascinating analysis of the McRib that includes some speculation on why McDonald's introduces it when it does. The above graph, from the article, plots two lines,

The blue line is the price of hogs in America over the last decade, and the black lines represent approximate times when McDonald’s has reintroduced the McRib

It goes into details on why McDonald's might introduce the McRib when it does and why. It has other things to say about the sandwich, not all that I agree with, but overall the article is thought provoking and well worth a read.

I would also add that besides price, Marketing cycles have something to do with it. McDonald's is constantly turning over promotions, and the McRib would likely have to be tied into that campaign cycle as well.

Great value wines at the LCBO under $15: Mas des Dames (La Dame) 2008

MAS DES DAMES LA DAME 2008 was given 91 points by Wine Spectator and rated number 1 in terms of value for money for wines from Languedoc. It's made up of grenache, syrah, and cariginan and while some of these reviews talk about it's spice and fruit, what I like about it is its earthy/peaty qualities. It wouldn't appeal to everyone, but if you tire of excessive fruit forward wines from places like Australia, try this.

Can you do the math challenge? Hint: it's about food, not math

What is it? Well, according to the Posterous site:

On April 6, 2010, ten high-profile Torontonians (and their families, if they're joining them) will pick up a standard food bank hamper at The Stop. These hampers - which include an array of non-perishable food, as well as a little bit of fresh produce - typically last a person three or four days, though many folks stretch this to a week or ten days. Our participants will live exclusively off the contents of the hamper for as long as they can. They will not eat out or accept free food or drink (though they are encouraged to eat at least two meals at a drop-in). They will be allowed to use up to five standard pantry ingredients - oil, flour, salt, coffee, etc. - but are asked to keep track of the quantity of these items used.

Sounds interesting to say the least. (And as a techie, I like their use of Posterous). If you are on Posterous, you can subscribe to them. Or follow along in other ways.

A new trend? The 99 cent pizza slice

In Toronto, there is a rush of gourmet burger joints coming out. In my neighborhood in the last year, at least three have popped up that I know of. Which made me wonder if the next thing we will see in Toronto is this: In Expensive New York, Pizza for $1, or Even 99 Cents. If New York does it, Toronto may not be far behind.

A note on the blog

I found myself getting stuck blogging about Jamie's book -- something I still want to do -- so I am going to blog about food in general for awhile and then hopefully get back to his book. The trick of blogging is not to get in a rut, but blog your way through writing block. So I will.