Red Lentil Cauliflower Soup

I have a wonderful trade worked out with a friend. She comes to help me do several hours of serious yard work, we have lunch and then I give her a massage. Recently I threw together some red lentil soup doing a riff on this recipe. My friend was so impressed she asked me for the recipe...of course I had made it on the fly and had to recreate it after the fact. It is an easy and very satisfying soup for lunch after some hard physical labor or perfect for dinner on a cold night.

Red lentil cauliflower soup

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup dried red lentils, rinsed
1 small cauliflower, 1 cup chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped roasted red bell pepper
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp curry powder
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp Better Bouillon*
1 tsp. salt

3-4 cups water *( or stock in which case you could leave out the Better Bouillon)

1) Heat olive oil in a large pot, add onion and sauté until soft and brown at the edges.
2) Add cumin seeds and curry powder, cook for 1-2 minutes stirring well.
3) Add cauliflower and peppers, stir and cook for a few more minutes.
4) Add lentils, water, salt and bouillon, start with 3 cups water, adjust later for how thick you want it.
5) Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30-45 minutes until the lentils are very tender.

It tastes a whole lot better than it looks in this photo...

Eggplant the purple vegetable.

I love eggplant, turns out Bob did not. As with a lot of food preferences, it's all about how it is prepared.
Nowadays at the farmer's market eggplant comes in lots of shapes, sizes and even colors.
I try to eat it every week when it is in full season. It doesn't lend itself to freezing or canning, so I enjoy it while it is around. I am particularly fond of the small long eggplants, they work very well in stir-fries.

Here is a very simple way to make eggplant.

I like to pair the eggplant with bell peppers ( I decided to use just the red one). You can see that I cut the eggplant in half inch slices on the diagonal, the bell pepper in inch chunks. Feel free to a summer squash or onions or green beans or any other vegetable that seems to fit.

Here is my wok, we got it at a yard sale still in its original wooden box. I am not an expert but I enjoy what I make with it.

Start by heating about two tablespoons of olive oil at a medium high temperature. Once the oil is hot dump in your eggplant and pepper. I was lazy this time but usually I also add 3 to 4 cloves of minced garlic.

The trick is to keep tossing the veggies around with the metal wok tool.This is not a meal where you can wok away, tee hee.
Once they have started to cook a bit I add my not so secret ingredients.

I add 1 tablespoon sesame oil, 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce and 1-2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar. Eggplants are like sponges, they tend to soak up any liquid you choose to use.
 Keep tossing the veggies.

Don't be in a hurry, it can take the eggplant some time to soften to that nice chewy texture.
I also added a half a block of firm tofu, chopped into cubes.

In the meantime you will want some thing to put the veggies over. You could go the normal (boring) route of white or brown rice or you could try something different.
We love the combination of millet and quinoa.

The millet is on the left and the quinoa is on the right. You can see that they are both the same size and thus cook at the same rate. I use half millet and half quinoa, rinse them first, then cook them in my rice cooker, 2 cups of water to 1 cup of grains. Don't forget to add a bit of oil so it doesn't stick.

It looks like this when it is done.
Test a piece of eggplant to make sure it is a texture you like, then ladle it over your grains.
Feel free to toss on some more soy sauce or chili sauce.

Now Bob loves eggplant !!!

Roasting Red Peppers

It's finally pepper season around here. They are big beautiful and cheap and I love them.

In order to enjoy them all year round I roast them first.
Like tomatoes they need to be peeled before you freeze them.
Roasting them accomplishes two things it makes them easy to peel and gives them that deep, delicious flavor.

Start by preheating your oven to 450 F and covering your cookie sheet with foil.
Wash the peppers and place on the cookie sheet whole.

Set the times for 15 minutes, check them and turn them.

They will start to blacken, that is what you want.
Check them again in 15 more minutes. You want them blackened on all sides, so depending on the size of your peppers, they may need another 15 minutes.

Once they are done, place them in a brown paper bag or cover bowl to cool.
As the steam from the peppers condenses, the skin becomes easier to peel off.

Then the fun begins.

Peel off the skin...

Pull out the stem...
( you can see I do these tasks while watching football;-)

Remove any excess seeds.

I place whole, peeled and seeded peppers on a wax paper covered cookie sheet to freeze them.

Notice the handsome cat in the background.

When they have frozen, I remove them from the cookie sheet and store them in the freezer in a plastic freezer bag.

I love pulling them out in the off season to add to spreads, stir fry's, beans, pizzas, enchiladas, lasagnas, soups or even marinated salads.

This method works for any type of pepper, green or red, hot or mild.