Lentil Raviolis

I stumbled upon a recipe on Epicurious.com for lentil raviolis. The thought never occurred to me! I didn't follow the recipe but made up my own.

In a saucepan:
2 shallots, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
I added a handful of diced pancetta but this could be left out and be a vegetarian dish.

If you do what I did which is get sidetracked, leave it on high and nearly burn them, you get a nice caramelized flavor!

Deglaze with 1/2 c. white wine

Add
1/2 c. chopped shiitakes
Cook until soft.

Add
1 c. lentils
2 c. stock (I used chicken)
Bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer ~25 minutes until lentils are tender

Once cooked, mash up the lentils a bit. I zapped it a few times with my stick blender so some would be mushed but some would be whole.

Chill. Not you, the lentils. Although you *could* chill too...wine is always good while cooking but not too much!

I didn't have time to make my own pasta so I used the store-bought square wonton wrappers. They're great in a pinch.

Brush the wrappers with some egg-white wash, put 1 t. lentil mixture on one wrapper, top with another wrapper and press shut, making sure there's no air in the ravioli. I have a pasta-cutter-wheel dealy that i use to cut around the edges. It makes them pretty and helps seal them shut. I made 18 ravioli for 3 of us. I have a ton of lentils left over.

Boil for 4 minutes (not at a rapid boil or the raviolis will break open).

I topped with my classic red sauce with some andouille sausage in it (again, sausage optional for the vegetarians!). My son had them with just butter and pepper and gobbled them up.

Flounder with Mustard Greens and Raita

So, I'd a made my fish and couscous dish enough times now that I felt I needed to move on. I still bought some wonderful, local flounder at the farmers market and like the preparation of it dusted and semolina and pan fried but it needed to be reworked. I was losing interest.

I picked up some mustard greens, which I don't usually buy and I'm not sure why. Dinosaur kale is really my favorite so it was my go-to green. I changed it up this week. I started by sautéing some shallots, then adding garlic and the mustard greens. I sprinkled about a tablespoon of red wine vinegar into that and about a cup or pre-cooked lentils (1/2 cup dried; I'd made lentils the night before and had some left over).

While that was cooking down, I chopped up half the cucumber (I took out most of the seeds) and blended it with a cup of plain yogurt and a minced garlic clove, lemon juice, salt, and a dash of cayenne pepper.



I prepared the fish the way I typically do. I dusted it with salt, pepper, and semolina flower and fried in butter.

To plate I put a mound of the mustard-lentil mixture, placed the fish on that, and then poured the raita mixture on top.

It turned out great!