purrs, lentils, and malbec

My apartment smells like butter and onions. I am drinking a rather satisfying glass of $5 Malbec during a lull in the tasks associated with my favorite lentil & chard recipe. The boy cat is purring up a storm on my chest. His affection has increased since we restricted the kitty bitties to a measured amount rather than the 24-hour buffet. I am still a little zonked from the 3 hours Kevin and I just spent at Crate & Barrel pouring over merchandise with discrimination and glee. Registering was our reward for getting out the save-the-date cards last week. They were designed, printed, stamped, and hand addressed all by us. Our house was quite a little Detroit-style assembly line last weekend. While that was good to get done, we definitely needed something involving scanners and cheese domes today.

You see, today is Sunday. It is the one day I do not work. So technically, it’s my fun day. I never thought it would be; that line in the song Manic Monday always rang hollow to me. Ever since I grasped the idea of there being seven days to the week, I have been aware of how absolutely distinct my associations are with each day. My brain even assigned each day a color. Monday is red – a bright red, the color of emergencies. That red taints Sunday, which is a kinda mellow, pumpkin-y orange. But here I am, loving Sunday up. The way I look at it, it’s pretty much my responsibility to get the most joy and relaxation out of Sundays as possible.

Enter the killer recipe I got from Cooks Illustrated for french green lentils with chard (and a second glass of wine). The only mistake the amazing folks at America’s Test Kitchen made was to use olive oil instead of butter. I will forgive them though, since the recipe comes from their The Best Light Recipe collection. Also, this recipe pre-dates the things we learned from Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, especially the part about full-fat dairy from pastured cows. My butter comes from Maple View Farms, and I can assure you that their cows are happy in the pasture. Here is my version of their fabulous lentils with chard:

Ingredients:

2 med. onions
2 bunches chard – green, red, rainbow – any will do
2 Tbsp. butter (preferably from local, pastured cows)
3.5 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups Puy (French green) lentils
1 tsp. dried thyme
Juice of one lemon, or to taste
Salt, to taste

1) Chop the onions and place them in a dutch oven. Separate the chard leaves from the stems. Chop the chard stems and place them in the dutch oven along with the onion, 1 Tbsp. of the butter and 1 tsp. salt. Stir well, turn the heat up to medium, and cover. Stirring occasionally, cook until onion and chard stems have softened, about 10 minutes. Slice the chard leaves into 1.5 inch wide strips and set aside.

2) Add the broth (I used Better than Bullion No Chicken Base), lentils & thyme to the onion mixture. Bring to a boil, uncovered. Then cover & reduce the heat to low. Stirring occasionally, cook until the lentils are almost done – they will have the slightest bit of tooth to them. This should take around 35-40 minutes.

3) Remove the cover and add the chard leaves to the lentil mixture in several batches, stirring with each one. Allow lentils to cook for 8-10 minutes more, until they are properly tender. Take dutch oven off heat and add the lemon juice, remaining 1 Tbsp. of butter and salt to taste.

This makes about 6 generous entrée servings which freeze quite well. Given each one only has 1/3 a Tbsp. of butter and about 300 calories each, you are getting quite a healthy meal. If you want to make it part of a larger meal, decrease the serving size and serve the lentils with a nicely sautéed chicken breast or grilled pork sausage as well as a salad with garlicky balsamic vinaigrette.

And enjoy your Sunday!