Lavender Lentils

So many Thanksgiving articles dismiss anything not turkey as a side dish. To me, vegetables are always the main event, like this lavender lentil recipe. It’s plantbased, protein-packed, luxe on the plate and the palate, easy on the chef. Not only is it fancy enough for parties, it’s a make-ahead, too.  No wonder lavender lentils have become one of my holiday favorites.  Make it now, serve it at Thanksgiving. and thank me later.

This recipe is made mostly with pantry staples, with ingredients you probably have on hand. The two special guests you’ll need for lavender lentils are — doh — lavender and lentils. Herbs de Provence helps, too.

How to Make

1. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a generous sauté pan. Add the chopped garlic and red pepper flakes. Stir and cook for about 3 minutes, until the garlic and peppers sizzle start to sizzle. Add the lentils. Stir them in to coat with oil.
2. When they get a sheen, add herbs de Provence, lavender and thyme and stir. Pour in the vegetable broth and toss in the bay leaf.
3. Bring lentils to a full boil, then reduce heat to low and cover. Let lentils simmer for 30 minutes or until al dente with most of the liquid absorbed. Remove bay leaf.
4. Add the chopped greens by the handful and mix in gently until they start to wilt from the heat of the lentils.
5. Season generously with sea salt and pepper.

Key Ingredients

• Herbs de Provence – a classic French blend of thyme, rosemary, basil, sage and lavender. Open the jar. Take a whiff.  The fragrance should waft you away to the South of France. If all you smell is dust, it’s time for new jar.  A few sourcing options:
  • Spice Lab 
  • Pelindaba Lavender
• Culinary lavender — Available at Fresh Market, Trader Joe’s and other specialty markets, culinary lavender, also called English lavender or to use its fancy botancial name, Lavandula angustifolia, is less oily than other lavender varietals. It adds an herbaceous grace note to dishes, rather than making your food taste like soap.
  • If shopping for lavender a few days before Thanksgiving complicates your life, just add another teaspoon of herbs de Provence or fresh thyme — or both.
  • As with all lavender, culinary lavender is a natural mood modifier, skin soother, de-stressing aromatherapy treatment and antiseptic. Pretty cool.
  • Lavender grows well in pots.  It does not grow well in Miami. At least not in my garden Believe me, I’ve tried. It’s too humid here, and though I love lavender, my few attempts to grow it here in Miami have ended in heartbreak and dead plants.  And yet I’m tempted to try again with this supposedly Florida-friendly varietal from Little River Cooperative.

• Lentils — there’s over a dozen different varieties these little beauties. They’re all madly versatile, glad to take on the flavors they’re cooked with, and offer protein and fiber. 
  • For lavender lentils, go for Beluga lentils.  They’re tiny, black and glossy, like caviar, but don’t worry, they’ re fish-free. You might be able to find them at your local grocery or specialty store, but also at:
    • Rancho Gordo
    • Timeless organic 

Like all lentils, Beluga lentils have an earthy flavor and meaty (but meatless) chew.  Bonus—  they keep their shape after cooking. We should all be so lucky.

Wishing you a happy, bountiful Thanksgiving.  

Lavender Lentils

My lavender lentil recipe appeared at my Thanksgiving table. It also appears in “Pulses”, the recipe book from Pulse Innovation Miami, along with recipes from fellow presenters Robyn Webb, Carolina Molea and Ron Pickarski. Culinary lavender is available at many gourmet stores and online. The rest comes together super-easily. Beluga lentils are fish-free but like their namesake, tiny, black and glossy. They hold their shape after cooking yet infuse beautifully with the herbs for a dish that’s satisfying, savory, umami, and of course vegan.

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Ingredients

  

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 pinch red pepper flakes
• 2 cups beluga lentils small black lentils
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon herbs de Provence
• 1 teaspoon crushed culinary lavender
• 1 spring fresh thyme leaves
• sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• 1 bunch spinach or arugula chopped into bite-sized pieces

Instructions

 

• Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a generous sauté pan. Add the chopped garlic and red pepper flakes. Stir and cook for about 3 minutes, until the garlic and peppers sizzle start to sizzle. Add the lentils. Stir them in to coat with oil.
• When they get a sheen, add herbs de Provence, lavender and thyme and stir. Pour in the vegetable broth and toss in the bay leaf.
• Bring lentils to a full boil, then reduce heat to low and cover. Let lentils simmer for 30 minutes or until al dente with most of the liquid absorbed. Remove bay leaf.
• Add the chopped greens by the handful and mix in gently until they start to wilt from the heat of the lentils.
• Season generously with sea salt and pepper.

Lots More Lentils

Do you need more reasons to love lentils?  How about sustainability?  They’re a low-water-high-yield crop.  How about these recipes?

• Pomegranate lentils
• French lentil salad
• Mjeddrah
• I love Chef Taffy Elrod and I love Rancho Gordo, so I’m including Chef Elrod’s terrific app. Swap out the sour cream for vegan sour cream and you’re good to go.
• New Orleans Chef Nina Compton’s Lentil Okra and coconut stew draws on her Afro-Caribbean roots 

Thank you for reading my vegan stories and plant-based recipes. I sincerely love to connect with listeners and would like to hear your feedback, takeaways, “ah-ha!” moments, etc in the comments.

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