PS – I like the ones with recipes or at least cooking instructions.
I am like the opposite of Sam’s Club, in my ideal world I would do my shopping one egg at a time. Just as some wish they could decamp to become gentlemen farmers, I wish I could retire to the position of grocery fella: Start each morning thinking about lunch and dinner, then go shopping - hitting some combination of bakeries, produce markets, specialty stores and the occasional trip to a more conventional grocery in search of the right ingredients. Of course this aspiration would require money, someone to cook for and I’m not really so sure it is the much of a career.
Lately, the meal worth leaving the house for involves beets and surprisingly lentils – Summertime is salad time and the two items meet for an outstanding combination.
Life in the Express lane
1 cup Lentils – Brown work very well, the small French Puy lentils are way good, but are really expensive for a legume. 1 bunch – about 5 medium beets with their tops –red, golden or chioggia beets are all good choices. Shortly before cooking, sever the greens from the root, leaving about an inch of greens left on top.
1/4 cup rice or apple vinegar
2 Tablespoons oil - Canola is good, walnut better.
Salt and pepper.
By and large, the lentils and the beets will take the same amount of time to cook. If you have a steamer, which fits on top of pot, you can cook them both at the same time. So don’t wait until the lentils are done before cooking the beets.
Lentils, especially the Puys cook way totally fast, so you don’t need to soak them ahead of time. Rinse the lentils and add to a pan with about 4 cups of cold salted water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat until you are maintaining a robust simmer and start checking for doneness after about 20 minutes (10 if using Puys). While the lentils are cooking, rinse and coarsely chop the greens – you can use the stems but they need to be cut smaller than leafy part.
When the lentils are chewable but still chewy, add the greens to the to the pot, wait 60 seconds then drain the water (a little remaining water is fine, the lentils will reabsorb it).
Let the lentils cool until they reach room temp. The larger the surface area, the quicker things will cool. A cookie sheet works better than a cylindrical pan – especially the still hot pan they were cooked in.
A cook can boil, bake, steam, microwave or pressure-cook the beets. No matter the cooking medium, cook the beets whole in their skins/jackets. I like steaming them, baking caramelizes the sugars beautifully, but this method takes the longest and some days firing up a hot oven for a half dozen beets is too much.
Even if the beets are improbably the exact same size - they will cook at slightly different times. They are done when, as the expression goes, stick a fork in it. More accurately, it is when you can extract the fork easily. Let the beets cool off at room temp.
When the beets are cool, peel off jackets, they should slip right off, but you might need to clean up with a pairing knife. Cut into one inch cubes, add to lentils and greens. Add vinegar and oil, salt and pepper to taste. You can serve here or let it cool for a couple hours or a couple days
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