For the past few years, I’ve made this simple, yet nourishing dish for Ash Wednesday, then frozen the rest for Good Friday’s meal. With cheese melted on top, it’s delicious and delightfully frugal; without cheese, it’s positively penitential and even more frugal. More on why Catholics choose to sacrifice as part of our Lenten devotion coming this week.
Recipe: Hearty Lentil Stew
Ingredients:
1 chopped onion
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 chopped green pepper (in my freezer)
6 c. water
1 c. barley
1 c. dry lentils
1 carrot, shredded
2 c. tomato sauce
2 T. apple cider vinegar
2 T. soy sauce
1 tsp basil
½ tsp marjoram
salt and pepper
Method:
Sauté onion, celery, garlic, and green pepper in a large pot with a small amount of water or oil until softened. Add 6 cups water, barley, and lentils. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Stir, cover and cook 30 minutes. Add all the remaining ingredients, stir, cover and cook 30 minutes.
You can also crock pot this. Serve over potatoes or brown rice.
Seriously. You can’t get much simpler than those directions! It’s the perfect meal for a day when you don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen or if you want something simple and basic. It makes plenty for two meals for a family of four and freezes great.
Want to “soak” it? Easy peasy. Just let the lentils and barley soak overnight in warm water with a few Tbs of vinegar added. Drain and proceed with the recipe as written except you’ll probably want to delete a 1/2-1 cup or so of water because the rice and lentils will have soaked up some already. (Why soak grains?) The lentils in the photo above were sprouted for a day or two before making the recipe.
Need more legumes? Check out my all-inclusive dry beans post.
More Meatless Meals:
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This post is part of Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed With Grace, Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free, Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet, and The $5 Dinner Challenge.
Looks really tasty!!
.-= kanmuri´s last blog ..Tedious Work =-.
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This looks excellent! I typically cook up lentils plain with just a few common seasonings. This looks so much better – I especially love that it would be doable in a crock pot!
.-= Aubree Cherie´s last blog ..White Bean Blondie Bars =-.
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This looks easy and delicious. I have tried making lentils in so many different ways and my children will not touch them. I think I’ll give it another try with this recipe though. Perhaps on top of some potatoes, they’ll give it a try.
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I like the seasonings in this soup, it looks so delicious!
.-= Brenda´s last blog ..Pickle Lady/TMTT =-.
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This sounds wonderful. Even we Lutherans partake of the sacrifice. I think I’ll try this for our meatless meal this Friday. Thanks for sharing.
Lisa
.-= Lisa´s last blog ..slow cooking fixation =-.
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Looks delicious, Katie. I enjoyed a different version last week. Lentils are a high fiber convenience food, for sure.
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Looks delicious! My kids would love this topped with shredded, raw cheddar cheese. We love lentils even outside of Lent. Our meal plans usually include a number of meatless meals to counter the additional cost of buying local, grass-fed and pastured meats.
Mary Ellen
.-= The Working Home Keeper´s last blog ..Star Breath =-.
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Katie Reply:
March 17th, 2010 at 12:40 am
Mary Ellen,
Katie
Definitely meatless often! Thanks for visiting!
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This looks great! I have a question for you though. Last time I sprouted lentils, I did too many, so I popped the the extras in the freezer. If I thaw and cook them, will I retain the enzymes/nutrients from the sprouting?
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Katie Reply:
March 18th, 2010 at 4:37 am
Lori,
Katie
I don’t know how uncooked lentils will do in the freezer quality-wise, but I always cook my lentils. Any cooking kills enzymes, every time, so you’re not really wanting enzymes in sprouted lentils, just released nutrients and easier digestibility. Freezing shouldn’t harm enzymes for other foods, by the way. I cook and freeze sprouted lentils. I am fairly certain the nutrients should be kept just fine.
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that looks really delicious!
.-= SnoWhite´s last blog ..Veggie Omelets =-.
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It’s great to have lots of recipes for lentils. I agree with Joann that it is a highly nutritious food.
DomesticProductions15.com
.-= Laurie´s last blog ..Greek Salad with all the Works =-.
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Great recipe. My family is Lebanese so growing up we used lentils a lot. I’m always on the lookout for easy healthy lentil recipes. And I’m always happy to see a recipe that uses apple cider vinegar!
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There are so many different kinds of lentils, which should I be using for this recipe? Since some types of lentils don’t hold there shape very well once cooked.
Thanks.
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Katie Reply:
March 18th, 2010 at 4:38 am
Elizabeth,
Katie
I’ve only ever used green lentils, but I always wonder what the red ones are and how they’re different!
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Thanks Katie. Red lentils almost dissolve when cooked but they leave a pretty carrot coloring behind.
Thanks so much. I am going to try to sprout my own lentils even though I am a little worried about bacteria growth during the sprouting process.
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Slightly Indulgent Tuesday – 3/16/10 : Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free // Mar 22, 2010 at 10:47 am
[...] @Domestic Productions (Greek Salad with the Works)3. Lauren @ Celiac Teen (Gluten-Free Pie Crust)4. Kitchen Stewardship (Simple Lentil Stew)5. Bean and Guacamole Tostados6. Ashlie@delshadduo (Bean and Guacamole Tostados)7. Shirley @ gfe [...]
I linked to this one, too. :>) I love your tradition of making it on Ash Weds and freezing for Good Friday.
.-= Lenetta @ Nettacow´s last blog ..Enormous Toddler Bib/Napkin =-.
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I made this the other day for my husband who thinks he hasn’t been fed a meal if there isn’t any meat included. It was a hit!
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Used red pepper, part tomato sauce and the rest diced tomatoes as per my larder and no carrots — tasted great. The next day I added cumin and chili powder and it is absolutely fabulous! I’m going to serve it as a burrito and add cheese. I think corn would work in here as would peppers — mild or hot. Thanks for the recipe.
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