COME DOWN AND HAVE A LITTLE STEW
The chilly weather has me feeling soupy-stewy, if you know what I mean. That hankering for a bowl of pure comfort, that starts with sautéed onions and garlic.
As you know, I am prone to getting culinary “notions” in my head, and this week it was lentils. Lentil stew in particular, and I had greens just asking to be plopped into a stew, perhaps the easiest way to get your greens. jump to recipe
I must confess there were also new bowls in the house, that were just so cute and old fashioned, which may have been the real cause of the soupy-stew notions. Or was it that I also have a tendency to get a song stuck in my head for days, and an earworm had also taken hold: “Come down and have a little stew.” The worst part was that I although I knew it was from a broadway musical, it took me a while to remember which show ~ Annie!
In my New York Days when winter was in full swing, I‘d often have a friend over for some soupy-stew. Eating in the kitchen next to the stove is as cozy as feeding gets. Since nobody ever hires a caterer to make a single pot of something, it was the opposite of work to feed a friend a bowl of stew. It’s difficult for serious feeders to make two servings of anything, so I also got to send the friend home with another serving (at least). Double the feeding, double the happiness!
Stew for two is possible though, and like soup, a great place to use up odds and ends in the crisper drawer – I stumbled upon butternut squash and a few mushrooms in mine and in they went. If you are embracing more plant based eating these days, there are loads of tasty sausage options that marry well with lentils and beans. The greens make for not only a lovely splash of contrast, but are on every good for you list. Let there be stew.
Swap beans for lentils and squash for sweet potato if you like. I used arugula, but any leafy green will do, and am currently having a love affair with swiss chard, which would be good here. Lentils cook up quickly and are infinitely less mysterious to cook than beans. If using sausage, brown first, then remove from pan and reserve, adding back with the broth.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of lentils, cooked
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 cups broth
- 1 cup butternut squash chunks
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 fistfuls of leafy greens
Instructions
- Sauté the onion in a little olive oil until just golden, then add the garlic and cook another minute. Add broth and stir up any brown bits on the bottom, then add squash, thyme and a little salt. Let cook until squash are just tender, then taste and adjust seasoning. Add lentils and greens and let cook another 5 minutes. Serve in cute bowls.
