Black Beluga Lentils with Black Garlic, Kumatoes and Baby Bells

The Lentils come out creamy and well seasoned because you prepare them Thomas Keller Style. Cooked with onion, thyme, carrot, s&p and the trick is a little vinegar for tenderness and infusing the flavor. I added balsamic after the lentils were cooked. They were delicious just like that but I added Kumatoes that are

better than your average forking store tomato and roasted them with sweet black garlic. The sweet black garlic doesn’t taste like garlic it’s more of a smokey prune kind of taste.

I also roasted up some super sweet baby bell peppers and added some fresh chopped scallions.

I made a big batch of lentils and froze some, left some plain in the fridge for adding to salads and only needed a heaping cup of them cooked for this recipe.

Basic almost (Thomas Keller Style Way) of doing lentils

For about 2 lbs of lentils.

I added them to my sauce pan and added enough water to cover them well.

about 1 teaspoon kosher salt

about 1/2 teaspoon pepper ( I used Aleppo this time)

about 1 teaspoon dried thyme (you should use fresh sprig but I didn’t have one)

one carrot or a parsnip (to be tossed out after cooking because it’s flavorless now)

1/2 large red onion or a forking leek if you prefer (to be forking tossed out after cooking)

Bring to boil and reduce to simmer and cover for about 15 minutes or until tender. Mine soaked up all the water and were perfect so I didn’t drain. Discard onion and carrot. Add two big splashes of balsamic vinegar and set a side and let cool.

Now roast up your chopped 5 or 6 kumatoes or good tomatoes and place on pan with your pealed 2-3 heads of black garlic and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Set your oven to 375 degrees for roasting.

Get about 9 baby bell peppers.

Chop them into rings and place on baking pan, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and place in oven with your tomatoes.

The peppers will take around 25 minutes and the kumatoes with black garlic will take about 35 minutes.

Now with a spoon mixed up the roasted tomatoes with black garlic mixing the garlic up into the mixture.

Season both pans with fresh ground sea salt and fresh black pepper.

Add your kumato/black garlic mixture to a heaping cup of prepared black beluga lentils.

Top with the roasted baby bells and fresh cut scallions.

Forking Good

Nothing is forking  easier to make than home made mascarpone cheese.

All you need is-

cream, it should be heavy cream but you can do it with whipping cream too or a combination of the two. The store was giving away these creams so I did a combination of 2 pints heavy cream and 1 pint whipping cream. Whipping cream has about 7% less fat than heavy cream so it’s not a very big difference. The creams with the least amount of stabilizers will produce the highest quality cheese. For that reason you can never use the less expensive manufacturing cream. It has way to much forking stabilizers in it and can only be used for sauces. The only other ingredients I used where juice from one lemon and about a teaspoon of kosher salt.

You need to heat the cream and salt in a sauce pan and bring it slowly to a slow boil and let it go a few minutes. Then slowly add the fresh squeezed lemon juice, you might not need it all depending on how big or forking juicy your lemon is. You need the cream to thicken and to coat your spoon.

Then you pour into a paper towel lined colander.

Let drain over night.

Peal away the paper towel.

Now you have home made mascarpone cheese!

It was WHEY easier than you thought! Wasn’t it?

2 pints heavy cream

1 pint whipping cream

juice of one lemon (maybe less)

about a teaspoon of kosher salt

makes about 4 cups of mascarpone

Forking Good!

Mixed Citrus and Saffron Basboosa with Lemon Summac Mascarpone

Since tasting my first Basboosa recently from Zahav Restaurant in Philadelphia I studied several recipes from the internet. I got the impression that most Basboosas are very sweet like baklava. I sort of learned from Zahav on what a Basboosa can be so I did my own twist on the soaked and baked semolina cake. I made adjustments to basic recipes and cut the butter and sugar a bit and made my cake with citrus and saffron for a unique taste I figured that by using a gastrique  The cake would be more delicious and complex.  I used my Grapefruit Saffron Gastrique Recipe that I did recently. I thought the combinations of the different citrus and saffron would all compliment each other and the grated sweetened orange rind would be the perfect accent. This cake sits on a home made mascarpone  thats flavored with lemon and the lemon like spice called summac. This is what I came up with. This recipe makes about 18 small cakes that are not too sweet and are very flavorful with a light texture.

Ingredients makes about 18 servings (freezes very well)

1 cup semolina flour

1 cup yogurt

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 beaten egg

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons limequat rind (you can substitute lime or kumquat or a mix of the two)

pinch saffron

combine and set oven to 350. Grease muffin pans and fill half way.

Bake about 14 minutes till they look done.

Let cool.

Make your lemon summac mascarpone cream.

2 cups home made or store purchased mascarpone (mascarpone recipe to follow on my next recipe)

about 1/2 cup sugar

Grated zest of one lemon

Juice of 1/2 a lemon or whole if small

2 pinches of summac

Mix and set a side.

You need zest of three oranges and supreme the segments of at least two of the oranges.

Add 1/4 cup of sugar to the orange zest and set a side.

Remove Basboosas from pans and place on oiled baking pans and set oven to broil.

Pour Grapefruit Saffron Gastrique over Cakes. (I did that recipe only a few back) It’s just a cup of sugar cooked with a cup of vinegar juice of a grapefruit, 2 oz. butter and a pinch of saffron and a pinch of salt.

Add orange segments to top of cakes.

Broil for about 2 minutes or until slightly browned.

Now assemble.

smear plate with about a tablespoon of cream

top cream with a cake

sprinkle the sweetened orange zest on cake

serve warm.

Mixed Citrus and Saffron Basboosa with Lemon Summac Mascarpone

Forking Good!

Levantine Inspired Lentil Dip with 3 Hour Crispy Melty Onions

This dip is a loose interpretation of the Levantine Dish Called Mujadara also spelled Mejadra.

Mujadara is basically a pilaf of regular lentils, long grain rice and Crispy onions.

I came up with this dish because my husband doesn’t like the texture of lentils and will only eat them mushy or in a soup.

First start off your onions

You need a baking pan drizzled with extra virgin olive oil,

Drizzle of balsamic vinegar

a few bay leaves

a few black peppercorns

4 pealed red onions cut in halves sliced thin and also drizzle the tops with extra virgin olive oil.

Place pan in a 325 degree oven on your middle rack and roast 3 hours.

For your lentils

I used 3 1/2 cups of lentils that were 1/2 the regular brown ones and half pink lentils. The pink ones turn mushy and the brown ones give a little texture. You cover the washed and rinsed lentils with a good cover of water. Add your spices.

2 teaspoons coriander

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2-1/4 teaspoon caynee (if you eat this the same day the 1/2 t. taste almost too hot but the next day it’s more mellow)

1 cinnamon stick

Bring this mixture up to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and then cover the pot. Your lentils will be done in 15-20 minutes. You might need to add one cup of water for the texture you want. (when the lentils are done remove the cinnamon stick)

When your onions are done they will look like this.

Pull the crispy ones off and set to the side of the pan.

Mix all those melty sweet onions into the lentils.

Mix and serve topped with the crispier onions and optional chopped scallions and sour cream or yogurt.

Levantine Inspired Lentil Dip with 3 Hour Crispy Melty Onions

Forking Good!