It’s Super Bowl Sunday, and I am cooking lentils.
“What the Hellmann’s mayonnaise?!” you are probably saying, “Why are you doing that?!”
Because lentils are cheap (69 cents a bag), healthy and delicious!
Also, it’s freaking freezing today in Austin (it’s 49 degrees as I type this, and I’m bundled in layers like I’m back in Montreal), so any excuse to fire up the stove is a good one.
The lentils aren’t actually for this evening’s festivities (which include NOT watching the game, since we don’t own a TV and hate football), but for tomorrow’s breakfast of champions. Celebrity Intern and I discovered a tasty, cheap breakfast that we’ve been savoring for the past few weeks, which he claims is based on a French country-style tradition, and I thought I’d share the recipe.
So first, the lentils. Unlike beans, lentils are kick-ass because they don’t need to be pre-soaked. Brilliant! Grab a cup of ’em, sort through to make sure there aren’t any weird rocks or gross shrivelled ones in your batch, and then give them a quick rinse. Once you’re done with that, chuck ’em in a pot with a 2 to 1 ratio of water to lentils, basically the same way you’d cook rice. We make ours in broth (chicken, usually, although you could go veggie or beef, depending on your tastes) to bump up the flavor.
Then, all you have to do is bring the pot to a boil and simmer those babies for about 20-30 minutes.
Once your lentils are al dente, you can either eat ’em straight off the stove or save them in a container for the following day (hence my pre-cooking them today).
The recipe for our French-Style Lentil Bowls is as follows:
- cooked lentils (about ¼ c. per bowl)
- eggs (1 or 2 per person, depending on how hungry you are)
- breakfast sausage (let's say 1 medium-sized patty per person)
- baby spinach (a few handfuls ought to do it)
- Put your pre-cooked lentils into individual bowls for each person. If you've got 'em straight out of the refrigerator, nuke 'em for about 30 seconds to warm them up.
- Cook your breakfast sausage patties to perfection, i.e. browning 'em on both sides. This should take maybe 15 minutes tops. Set 'em aside to cool down while you make the eggs. While the eggs are cooking you can cut up your sausage into bite-sized pieces and distribute into the bowls.
- Cook your eggs over easy (this is why I have Celebrity Intern in the kitchen; I am terrible at flipping my eggs without breaking the yolks!), and layer 'em over your lentils and sausage.
- Wilt that spinach in your skillet. This goes pretty quick, maybe 1 minute max. Add the results to your bowls.
- Serve hot, with sriracha hot sauce if you're feeling adventurous.
Sounds weird, looks a bit like dog food in a bowl (hence the lack of photos – but check out Closet Cooking’s Sausage on Lentils and Greens or Serious Eats’ French Lentils with Sausage, Wilted Arugula & Dijon Mustard recipes for some that look more appetizing than mine did), but I swear it tastes delicious.
And did I mention it’s good for you?
If you’re in a hurry, you can also substitute rinsed and drained canned black beans for the lentils. Or, if you’re feeling wild and crazy, you can even mix lentils and black beans together. WHOA!
Have you ever tried lentils for breakfast? What’s your favorite recipe?
