Lentils with Broiled Eggplants from “Plenty” by Yotam Ottolenghi

It was a miracle. I got through a Thanksgiving dinner without that sick feeling from too much delicious stuffing, gravy, and chicken, squash, potatoes, and my own personal starchy bliss-coma. I had all those things, yes, but I also made about 6 lbs of roasted vegetables (the root-ier ones, but the lighter ones too – everything from turnip with balsamic and lemon to two butternut squash dishes, piles and piles of zucchini, and my my favourite crunchy garlic on cauliflower. Then just to truly put it over the top, I added a vegetarian main dish, both for myself and for the non meat-lovers at the dinner.

I have a new cookbook. This in itself is exciting for me. It’s called Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi by Yotam Ottolenghi and it’s an absolutely gorgeous book with photos of charred eggplants with yogurt and pomegranates, organized by vegetable, and oh yes, it’s all vegetables. Nary a meat product to be found, but nary a tofu sauté either. Thank goodness. Just simple fresh vegetables all glam-ed up. There’s a chapter devoted to eggplant. This in itself would make me buy the book, but the fact that it takes humble vegetables often delegated to the steamer or pot of boiling water and turns them into works of art for the eyes (and for the tongue, I hoped), made me very excited.

So I started with the lentils and broiled eggplant dish – a slightly acidic, nutty lentil dish. In fact, too acidic for me (maybe my fault since I used balsamic instead of red wine vinegar), and a little too gloopy (the eggplants release a lot of water and the recipe didn’t say how long they should sit in the sieve before adding the balsamic in a bowl). So it wasn’t bad, and the idea of toasting lentils before cooking them is interesting, but maybe because I also changed the type of lentil used, it just wasn’t stellar. I did get to roast 3 lbs of baby eggplants (you could use any eggplants), though, and despite having to remove all their skins afterward, it was fun. But that’s me. I’m ridiculous. Who thinks skinning baby eggplants is fun?

Recipe rating: 6/10. Mostly for effort on its part. It tried. Very edible, but just not as awe-inspiring as I’d hoped.

Look at that, though! Isn’t it gorgeous?? All those fresh tomatoes and the parsley! The eggplant looks disgusting but tastes so sweet and succulent. It’s a slippery dish, with a pool of juices at the bottom, and a little bland and too acidic overall (maybe the fault of my balsamic vinegar), but it makes for a great presentation. The parsley was actually my idea, though, whereas recipe books are generally smarter than I am about these things…

Lentils with Roasted Eggplants

3 lbs baby eggplant or two medium eggplant

2 tbsp RED WINE VINEGAR (not balsamic as I tried to do)

1 tsp salt, divided

1/2 tsp pepper, divided

1 cup lentils (the recipe recommends small black ones – puy or castelluccio, which is probably another reason my version of the dish was lacklustre. I used channa dal, a yellow split pea. Completely different and wrong, but it did the trick), rinsed

3 carrots, peeled

2 celery stalks

1 bay leaf

3 thyme sprigs (or a bouquet garni would make a good substitution, since this broth is kind of bland)

1/2 white onion

3 tbsp olive oil, divided

12 cherry tomatoes, halved (another problem since I didn’t have cherry tomatoes that week. I just seeded, chopped, and drained the juice of two medium tomatoes, and it wasn’t as sweet or pungent as it should have been)

1/3 tsp brown sugar (1/3rd of a teaspoon? Really? I should have up-ed it to a teaspoon to make up for the tomatoes, I think)

1 tbsp chopped parsley, cilantro, and dill (or chives or basil or whatever you have that’s green and leafy or easily chop-able), plus extra parsley for garnish

2 tbsp creme fraiche or natural yogurt (optional. I don’t think it needs it, but if your dish ends up acidic like mine it might help calm it down a little)

Directions:

Broil the eggplants by poking them all over with a knife or a fork and placing the whole baby eggplants or large eggplants on a foil-lined baking sheet and broiling them for 30 minutes (for the babies) or up to an hour (for the mamas) under a broiler on high (turning them every 10 minutes or so, so all the sides char). They should be soft all the way through and the skin should be wilting.

When the eggplants are done, take them out of the oven, cut them open to let them cool, and when cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh. Now drain the liquid from the flesh by placing the eggplants in a colander!!! The recipe says at least 15 minutes, but I say at least 30. The longer the better. No rush since the eggplant needs to wait for the lentils to cook anyway.

Then combine the eggplants in a bowl with 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper, and add 1/2 tbsp of the balsamic vinegar.

Now the lentils (or do this while the eggplants are broiling. Probably a better idea). Put them in a large saucepan with 1 of the carrots, half a celery stalk (the veggies should be in large chunks), the bay leaf, thyme (or bouquet garni), onion, and water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a boil, skim the scum that rises to the top (this is why you can’t use dried thyme – you’ll skim it all off) then reduce the heat and simmer on low for 25 minutes (or 45, or longer if your lentils require more simmering as mine did. They shouldn’t be mushy, but you shouldn’t be chewing too hard).

When soft, drain the lentils. That’s silly. You added those veggies to make a kind of broth and then you just dump it out. Well 1 carrot and half a celery stalk with a bay leaf and a tiny bit of herbs isn’t going to make a pungent stock anyway. So take all those things out of the drained lentils now and let the lentils drain completely before transferring to a mixing bowl. This is the same principle as the eggplants – they really need to drain or the dish will be too soupy. So wait, and then wait some more.

Add the remaining 1 tbsp vinegar, 2 tbsp olive oil, 3/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Let the flavours infuse the lentils or you’ll hate yourself because it’ll be so bland.

Now finely dice the remaining carrot and celery and combine with the halved tomatoes (I just diced my tomatoes after juicing and seeding them) and toss them in a roasting pan with 1 tbsp olive oil, the sugar, and a pinch of salt. Bake in an oven preheated to 325 degrees Celcius for 20 minutes, or until the veggies are tender. The original recipe says 20 minutes at 275, but my carrots were plenty tough after that amount of time, and even an extra 15 minutes couldn’t soften them up. So be prepared to, yet again, be patient.

Combine the roasted vegetables with the lentils and chopped herbs, reserving some parsley for garnish. TASTE! ADJUST SEASONINGS! You can’t really make it a whole lot better at this point, but the cook’s cheat of adding more salt might come in handy. Maybe more herbs?

To serve, place a bunch of lentils on a plate, add some of the vinegar-ed eggplant on top, followed by the creme fraiche or yogurt if you want, then the herbs to garnish. Or do a giant serving bowl, as I did. Always end with the herb garnish. The eggplant looks gross as the top feature.