Orecchiette with Lentils, Onions, and Spinach

Lentils are way under-appreciated. Especially for vegetarian cooking, they offer a delicious source of protein, texture, and rich earthy flavors. Granted, they might take a little while to cook, but they are always well worth it. We’ve done plenty of lentil soups and stews, salads and even sandwiches, but this is the first pasta I’ve seen that utilizes these nutritious legume. Apparently, lentils have the 3rd highest levels of protein in a plant, right behind soybeans and hemp.

As far as varieties of lentils, our supermarket only carries one, the precise variety of which I am unsure. They are little khaki colored brownish things, so I’m assuming they are the common brown lentil (I’m a genius, I know). We’ve also found the red variety at an International Foods store, though I don’t recommend substituting the red ones in this dish: the reds cook much quicker and you might end up with a pot of mush. Have some red lentils lying around? Try this easy and delicious red lentil soup. I have yet to find actual French Green Lentils (though I admit I haven’t looked all that hard), but the brown ones worked just fine in this recipe (just be cautious not to overcook them – they can get mushy, fast!)

This dish was surprisingly hearty, yet still fresh and delicious. Definitely something we’ll be making again.

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Orecchiette with Lentils, Onions, and Spinach

Makes 6 servings. Recipe from Epicurious.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup olive oil
3 large onions (2 pounds total), thinly sliced (7 cups)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
1 cup French green lentils
1 pound orecchiette, fusilli, or penne
2 (5-ounce) bags baby spinach
1 1/2 ounces finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons)

Directions:

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then stir in onions, garlic, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Reduce heat to moderately low and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until onions are very tender and golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Discard bay leaf.

While onions cook, cover lentils with water by 1 inch in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan and boil over moderate heat, covered, until lentils are just tender and most of water is absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and let stand, covered, until ready to use.

Cook pasta in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Reserve 1 cup cooking water, then drain pasta in a colander and return pasta to pot.

Add onions, lentils, and spinach to pasta, then toss with just enough reserved cooking water to wilt spinach and moisten pasta. Add cheese and salt and pepper to taste, tossing to combine.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Um, folks, we have another winner. This one was so good it has bumped another cupcake out of the running altogether. Bye bye regular old chocolate, hello hot chocolate! In Taylor’s words, this is a much more sophisticated chocolate. In Robin’s words, mmmmm. The texture was fascinating. So moist, and yet fluffy and slightly grainy (in a good way). Something about the combination of ingredients that go into the batter, it comes out of the oven full of flavors you can’t quite identify. Deep, rich flavors. While we didn’t add enough cayenne to make it spicy, the pinch we did add brings a depth to the cake like adding salt might, but much more pronounced. It’s like the cayenne becomes a super salt – that brings out the fine details of all the other ingredients within the cake.

In other words, it’s darn good.

We topped these off with a simple cream cheese buttercream, flavored with almond and a touch of vanilla. I jokingly suggested we add some color to the snow white frosting, and immediately both Taylor and Robin shouted “Purple!”. Right, ok, purple it is. And how purple they are. Topped with some pearlescent jimmies, they make for a very glamorous cupcake.

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Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes. Recipe adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons corn flour or very fine cornmeal
1/4 cup almond meal
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract

For Frosting:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
3-3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk or soymilk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350?F and line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Whisk together coconut milk and flaxseed and allow to sit for 10 minutes, then whisk in sugar, oil, vanilla, and almond extract.

In another bowl, sift together flour, corn flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne. Gently mix in wet ingredients.

Fill cupcake liners with 1/4 cup of batter (approximately 2/3 full). Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.

For frosting, cream the butter. Slowly add most of the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until mixture is smooth and fluffy. Add soymilk, extracts, and coloring (if desired), and mix until combined. Add remaining powdered sugar, adding more if necessary to achieve proper consistency. Mix at medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

I’d Call it a Success.

Thanksgiving is over for another year, and for that, we are sad. But we are still enjoying the memories (and the leftovers) from last night, and those will last at least a week (more so for the memories). It was a great Thanksgiving. We only had one (ok, two) semi-disasters, when our thermometer croaked on us (sorry for the panicked post!), and another when I forgot I was halving the pie crust recipe for a single crust pie, and accidentally added twice as much water as needed. Despite that, things turned out beautifully. The turkey was done through and not overcooked (phew!), and I had plenty of time to make another pie crust. We actually ate on time for once (4:30, to be exact), which is an amazing feat in and of itself. Our small table was overflowing with delicious food, and while we all ate way too much, way too fast, we sat staring at our empty plates, completely and utterly satisfied. After a brief digestion break, we enjoyed some James Bond and pumpkin pie (which I have since declared my most successful pie EVER), and went off to bed.

We also learned that turkey comas aren’t exclusive to humans, either…

Life is good, indeed.

I will be posting more pictures and recipes in the coming days, but right now, I’m feeling like some turkey sandwiches. And maybe some cupcakes, as if we didn’t spend enough time in the kitchen yesterday. :)

Done too early?

Um, so our thermometer looks like it’s short circuited or something, and isn’t giving us an accurate temperature reading. Our turkey has been in the oven for 2 hours 40 minutes (11.5 lb turkey) at 350 degrees F, and we’re hesitant to think it is done, but the few sporadic readings we did get showed well over the 160-170 degree F temperature recommendations, and the skin is beautifully browned.

Who knows of a failsafe way to tell if it’s really done or not, without a thermometer? Like, quick?

We’re not ready for it to be done yet! We were expecting AT LEAST another hour and half cooking time, still have to cook the stuffing, boil the potatoes, roast the green beans…

When is something like this EVER done EARLY?

Turkey – you baffle me.