Stewed Lentils Plus An Egg

Lentils are great. You can do crazy, fancy and elaborate things to them or just plain simple like adding them to miso soup. They are great at absorbing flavors and at the same time hold on to their own distinctive flavor. They are cheap, healthy and delicious.

Here’s a quick way to eat lentils. Saute diced garlic and onion with lentils in some olive oil. Add enough liquid (water or stock) so that there’s about half an inch between the lentils and the top of the liquid. Bring to a boil and simmer till lentils are done. Add tomato paste, ketchup, salt and pepper to taste. Serve an egg (fried, poached, hard boiled) with the lentils.

Here are few more ways you can cook lentils.
Lentils, Beans and Pork Cracklings over Toast

Pork Belly Stew with Lentils and Kale

Lentils with Pasta

And then there’s always the reliable lentil soup or if you some have some spices laying around, try making daal.

Pork Belly Stew With Lentils And Kale

Few days ago I got an email from my sister, Bonnie, about hibernation. She is doing a series of blog posts about what people would wear or drink or eat or whatever to prep for cold wintry weather. Obviously my mind drifted towards food and thought what I would eat in preparation of going into hibernation or what I would eat for days if I get trapped in a snow storm. The answer was quite simple, a pork belly stew!

This time around, I decided not to follow any recipes and basically go with my guts (or natural talent at throwing a bunch of stuff together and stick it in the oven?). I thought what would go well with pork belly in a stew-y situation? Here’s what I came up with…

Lamb And Butternut Squash Stew

It’s weird how once it got a little cold, I couldn’t stop thinking about lamb stew and how wonderful it would be to use the Dutch oven(and the oven) again. I was sort of dreaming about making a lamb and some sort of squash stew with a sprinkle of curry powder. I still had $26 to use on my The Meat Hook gift card I got for my birthday so I decided to get some lamb at The Meat Hook.

Philly Pinoy Is A Cure For The Homesick

You probably think Red Hook, Brooklyn would be the last place to find Filipino food. But if you know the story behind Philly Pinoy (used to be the “Bait Shop” with a tiki bar looking exterior) then you know it’s exactly where it should be. Catered to the large number of Filipino cruise ship workers that come in with the Queen Mary 2 and Caribbean Princess, Philly Pinoy is just mere blocks away for the homesick workers to get some home cooked meals. Last time without knowing how Benjamin David, owner of Philly Pinoy, runs his shop, I went looking for lunch and failed to get any food.

This time armed with my new found knowledge and the handy Brooklyn cruise terminal schedule, I didn’t fail.