Looking for new ideas for delicious, nutritious, quick-cooking and budget-conscious meals?
Make lentils your go-to legume.
One of the first foods ever cultivated, lentils have never really entered the mainstream of American cuisine. But that may be changing.
Flip through the index of "The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook" by Erin Chase (St. Martin's Griffin) and you'll count nine recipes featuring lentils, including lentil meatloaf. Lentils are a smart choice for penny-pinching cooks: Chase estimates a cup of brown lentils costs just 40 cents.
"Gourmet Today" by Ruth Reichl (Houghton Mifflin) offers 11 recipes with lentils, including lentils with curried butternut squash and walnuts, a combination for anyone who craves "memorably seasoned" dishes.
The Star's Spicy Lentils With Turkey Sausage is just such a memorable dish, seasoned with the subtle heat of cayenne and jalapeno pepper and the smoky flavor of low-fat turkey sausage.
Lentils contain more protein than any other vegetable besides soybeans. Lentils are an excellent source of folate, a very good source of fiber and a good source of iron.
Shopping tip: Brown lentils are available in supermarkets and usually marked simply "lentils." Green lentils are a gourmet item found in specialty stores. Red lentils are typically found at Middle Eastern and Indian stores.
Cooking tip: Unlike dried beans, lentils don't require a presoak and cook in 20 to 30 minutes
Serving tip: This recipe also would be tasty with ham instead of sausage. Stir in 2 cups cubed, lean, fully cooked ham instead of sausage during the last 10 minutes of cooking.
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SPICY LENTILS WITH TURKEY SAUSAGE
Makes 6 servings
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 leeks, trimmed and chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 cup brown lentils
3 1/2 to 4 cups reduced-sodium vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste
1 pound smoked turkey sausage, cut into 1-inch pieces
Spray a Dutch oven with nonstick spray coating. Heat pan over medium high heat. Add chopped vegetables and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are tender, about 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in lentils, 3 1/2 cups stock and seasonings. Cover and heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low and cook 45 to 50 minutes or until lentils are just tender. (Note: If mixture becomes too thick, stir in remaining 1/2 cup stock.) Stir in sausage. Cover and cook 10 minutes or until lentils are tender. Remove bay leaf before serving.
Per (1 1/4-cup) serving: 270 calories (23 percent from fat), 7 grams total fat (3 grams saturated), 56 milligrams cholesterol, 26 grams carbohydrates, 30 grams protein, 386 milligrams sodium, 11 grams dietary fiber.
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(Recipe developed for The Star by professional home economists Kathryn Moore and Roxanne Wyss.)
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(c) 2010, The Kansas City Star. Distributed by Mclatchy-Tribune News Service.