French Lentil Casserole

This is my very favourite recipe, found via google by Jeremy a few years back. Only recently did we successfully retrace his googling steps and locate it. I'm posting it for safe-keeping. It is extremely flavourful, hearty, and delicious, and it fills your apartment with the most delightful aroma...

Here's the original link (thanks to the original blogger, Cecily, whom I don't know personally).

Cecily's French Lentil Casserole
2 cups white wine
1 t thyme
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 T white sugar
1 t salt
1 tsp Herbes de Provence (see below)
1 cup water
1 cup red, green, or French lentils
1 bunch chopped swiss chard
8 small carrots, diced
1 leek, cut into small rounds
1 cup loosely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup butter
olive oil

For Croutons
5 slices country bread, cut into 1 inch cubes
4 T olive oil
3 cloves minced garlic
2 t Herbes de Provence
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425.

Make casserole
Mix wine, thyme, bay leaves, sugar, salt, Herbes de Provence, and water in sauce pan. Add lentils for 40 minutes on medium high. Saute vegetables in olive oil. Mix all ingredients in casserole dish (can also do individual casserole dishes) and bake for 15 minutes at 375, covered with foil.

Make croutons
toss all crouton ingredients together until evenly coated with oil. Bake at 425 for 7-10 minutes.

After baking each - the casserole and the croutons separately - add croutons to top of lentil mixture. Add melted butter over croutons. Bake for 20 minutes at 425.

Serves 4-6. Serve with another vegetable side dish. (Greenbeans, potatoes...)

*If you don't have premixed Herbes de Provence, mix the following:
1 T thyme
1 T chervil (I didn't have this, so I skipped it)
1 T rosemary
1 T savoury
1 t lavender
1 t tarragon
1 t marjoram
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t mint
2 powdered or chopped bay leaves

linda cooks

This is a more subtle recipe than any of my other biscuit experiments. They're a good brunch biscuit and would be great served with eggs and fruit.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 teaspoon dill (I used dried because I didn't have fresh on hand)
1 cup well-shaken light buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, salt, and dill, then blend in butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in cheese. Add buttermilk and stir until just combined.

Form dough into 1 1/2" round balls and place about an inch apart on a large buttered baking sheet. Bake in middle of oven until golden, roughly 10 minutes.

Artistic Biscuits: Dark Chocolate Fennel Biscuits

My coworkers at "Team Umizoomi" spanked a huge project the other day and to celebrate, I made them these.


2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 a bar (or whatever looks like the right amount) of dark chocolate (I used 77%), chopped
3/4 teaspoon dried fennel seeds, roughly chopped into smallish bits
1 cup well-shaken light buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, salt, and fennel, then blend in butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in chocolate. Add buttermilk and stir until just combined.

Form dough into 1 1/2" round balls and place about an inch apart on a large buttered baking sheet. Bake in middle of oven until golden, roughly 10 minutes.

Artistic Biscuits: Thank You, Umiz Monterey Jack & Chipotle Biscuits

As a thank you for going above and beyond with sweetness, I made some savoury biscuits for my terrific coworkers at Nickelodeon's "Team Umizoomi":

Monterey Jack & Chipotle Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
8 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, grated
2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chipotle pepper flakes
1 cup well-shaken light buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, salt, ground pepper, and chipotle flakes in a bowl, then blend in butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in Muenster cheese. Add buttermilk and stir until just combined.

Form dough into 1 1/2" round balls and place about an inch apart on a large buttered baking sheet. Bake in middle of oven until golden, roughly 10 minutes.

Check out some cool Umi stuff on the Nick, Jr. "Team Umizoomi" website!

Artistic Biscuits: Chocolate Orange Walnut Biscuits for Jeri & Robaire

My sister Jeri and her husband Bob (Robaire, I call him) came for a visit today to meet their new nephew. Jeri and I both give the marriage of orange and chocolate the stamp of approval. I wanted to sass up the combo a little so I also added walnuts and chili powder. In the picture below the biscuits look a little flat. That's because I completely forgot to add the baking soda. They were still scrumptious!


2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 t. baking powder
2 t. sugar
3/4 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
6 T. (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
zest of one orange and juice from half
1 oz. good dark chocolate (I used 1/2 a bar of 74% cocao Dagoba with chilies and nibs)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 t. chili powder
1 cup well-shaken low-fat buttermilk
1/8 cup raw sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Blend in butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in orange zest, orange juice, chocolate, walnuts, and chili powder. Add buttermilk and stir until just combined.

Spoon dough into mounds (size depending on how many you wish to make - I made about 15 total) about 2 inches apart onto a buttered large baking sheet. Sprinkle raw sugar on top of each.

Cook 10-12 minutes and transfer immediately to cooling rack. Devour.

Listen to this on loop while making these:

"I Am A Paleontologist" by They Might Be Giants (Animated by my buddy Sean McBride)

Artistic Biscuits: Cheesy "Faken" Birthday Biscuits for Loreen

I made this recipe up for my sister's birthday keeping the following things in mind: 1. She prefers savoury over sweet and 2. she was to arrive in the morning and so I wanted it to be breakfasty. Although I passionately hate omelets, I have nothing against omelet ingredients so I thought long and hard about what I could tolerate in an omelet, were I to be able to tolerate omelets. The answer I came up with that I thought Loreen would like was the following list of ingredients: cheese, vegetarian bacon, onion, parsley, and pepper.

Sinful breakfast deliciousness.

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 t. baking powder
2 t. sugar
3/4 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
6 T. (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
8 oz. Muenster Cheese, coarsely grated (1 1/4 cups)
1/4 cup minced onion
2 T. fresh parsley, finely chopped
5 pieces of Morning Star vegetarian bacon strips (or Smart Bacon)
1 t. coarsely ground black pepper
1 cup well-shaken low-fat buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Blend in butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in Muenster cheese, onion, parsley, and ground pepper. Cook vegetarian bacon according to package instructions (I did mine in the skillet in a Tablespoon of olive oil) and when cool, crumble into bits and add to mixture. Add buttermilk and stir until just combined.

Spoon dough into mounds (size depending on how many you wish to make - I made about 15 total) about 2 inches apart onto a buttered large baking sheet.

Cook 8-10 minutes and transfer immediately to cooling rack. Devour.

Happy Birthday, Loreen.

Artistic Biscuits: Laundry Biscuits (or Biscuits de Noix de Coco, et le Chocolat Lavande)

Instead of doing laundry tonight, I made these biscuits.The coconut and chocolate add some nice texture and "meltiness" and the self-rising flour provides just the right hint of saltiness to keep it from being too sweet. What makes these unique, though, is the lavender.

The french word for lavender is lavande, with a possible origin in the 10th century latin word lividus, which means "bluish." Around the 13th century, lavender was added as a fragrance to soap and the french word laver, to wash, was born. The word laundry is from the 16th century and is related to the french word lavanderie, which comes from the Latin word lavandarium or "things to be washed." I should have brought the lavandarium down to the basement to do the wash tonight, but alas, I was biscuit-inspired.

So while no laundry was done, I did learn a little about the origin of the word.

Laundry Biscuits

Preheat Oven to 400°F

2 cups self-rising flour
4 Tablespoons butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup shredded coconut (I used sweetened but it's up to you)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 Tablespoon dried lavender3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

In a large mixing bowl, blend self-rising flour and butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add remaining ingredients, pouring in the buttermilk last, and stir until just combined.

Coat 2 baking trays with butter and spoon mixture into 18-20 piles, about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 6-8 minutes or until lightly golden in colour. Remove from trays immediately to prevent the bottoms from burning and put them on a cooling rack.

Listen to this while baking:
"Laundry Room" by the Avett Brothers

Watch this lovely Disney animation compilation (accompanied by Burl Ives' singing) while eating these:
"Lavender Blue"

Tasters:
Jeremy Beck & Me

Artistic Biscuits: Grandparents' Day Biscuits

Theme: Grandparents' Day

Grandparents' Day was named an offiical holiday in 1973 in a proclamation by our 39th President, Jimmy Carter. Although generally considered a Hallmark Holiday, its founder, Marian McQuade, had noble intentions in designating a calendar day to remember and celebrate the wisdom of our distinguished matriarchs and patriarchs both in and out of our country's nursing homes. She hoped that that this day would encourage young people to investigate their heritage.

This year, we happen to have some proud, new grandparents visiting which offered up a good excuse for some more biscuit experimenting.
I wanted this recipe to be slightly citrusy with a spicy, woody overtone. I chose orange and cranberry as the base and allspice as the compliment. Allspice is the berry that grows on the pimento tree; an evergreen exclusive to the western hemisphere. Once ground, it loses its flavour very quickly on the shelf. I bought whole allspice and ground it myself with my mortar and pestle and could still barely taste it in this recipe even after sprinkling in about one and a half tablespoons. I shudder to think that the allspice I purchased had been sitting in the grocery store for years and therefore lost its will to be aromatic and flavourful, but I suspect that to be the case.
The first bite of this biscuit was supposed to invoke memories of old wooden spice cabinets and pocketwatches, but what comes to mind is afternoon tea in a sun room looking out on a brisk fall day. Not a bad transportation at all - the biscuits are tasty! - just not exactly what I had aimed to create. Cooking did not help to pronounce the allspice. My advice: taste the batter and if there's no sign of the woody spiciness, add ground cloves to taste.

As they are, these biscuits are deliciously citrusy but, as biscuits should be, not too sweet.

Grandparents' Day Biscuits

2 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 1/2 Tablespoon ground allspice
3/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped into tiny bits
1 cup reduced-fat well-shaken buttermilk

1 whole orange, zested and then cut in half
1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Zest orange and set zest aside.

Place half lemon with its rind and the already zested orange in a pot and fill it with water so that both are covered. Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt, which will tame the bitterness of the rind. Bring to a boil and drain. Cut orange and lemon into manageable pieces and transfer to food processor. Pulse until still slightly chunky.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, salt, and allspice in a bowl, then blend in butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add orange zest, cranberry bits, and buttermilk and stir until just combined. Add processed orange and lemon.

Spoon dough into mounds (size depending on quantity desired. I think I made about 22 biscuits total.) about 2 inches apart onto a buttered large baking sheet. Bake in middle of oven until golden, 12-14 minutes.

Listen to this while you're making these:

"Grandpa Was A Carpenter" by John Prine and performed by John Prine & The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Listen to this while you're eating these:

"How Many Biscuits Can You Eat" performed by Dr. Humphrey Bate & His Possum Hunters, 1930's

Tasters:
Actor Jeremy Beck, Grandpa R. Beck, "Yoyo" (Grandmother) S. Beck

Artistic Biscuits: Coal Mine Labour Day Biscuits Part Two - Sweet

Theme: Labour Day


I've created this post as a part two to my original Coal Mine Labour Day Biscuit post, as I forgot to mention this interesting tidbit:

Some Cornish coal miners' wives intended the Coal Miner Pasty to serve as a two-course meal. According to Ann Pringle Harris' 1988 New York Times Piece:
It was filled at one end with meat or fish and whatever vegetables happened to be in the kitchen,'' Betty Bucknell explained, ''and at the other with apples, plums, cherries or any other fruit that was in season.

Although I can't find a source, as the Coal Miner Pasty appears to be derivative of the Cornish Pasty, I assume the above to be the case for at least some U.S. miners as well.

My original intention was to make my Coal Mine Labour Day Biscuits half-savoury and half-sweet; split right down the middle like a Black & White Cookie. However, I only had enough flour for one, so I chose to make them in two different batches instead, starting with the savoury batch.

Here's the recipe I came up with for the sweet variety. I wish I could post the aroma of these subtle and lovely biscuits. They are just delightful. I think the strawberries add just the perfect amount of sweetness. These are biscuits, not scones, and therefore I didn't make them overly sweet. You could add more sugar, though, if that's your preference.

Coal Mine Labour Day Biscuits - Sweet

2 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 Tablespoon dried tarragon leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped into small bits
2 Tablespoons wheat germ
1/2 cup dried strawberries, chopped (I extracted these from the Trader Joe's dried berry medley)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup reduced-fat well-shaken buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, salt, in a bowl, then blend in butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in tarragon, rosemary, wheat germ, and lemon zest. Add strawberries, breaking the pieces apart if they're stuck together. Add buttermilk and stir until just combined.

Spoon dough into mounds (size depending on quantity desired. I think I made about 22 biscuits total.) about 2 inches apart onto a buttered large baking sheet. Bake in middle of oven until golden, 12-15 minutes.

Listen to this while baking:

"Paradise" written by and performed by John Prine.

Watch this while eating:

"Coal Miner's Daughter"

Tasters:

Jeremy Beck, B. Conaty, & The Sultan Family

Artistic Biscuits: Coal Mine Labour Day Biscuits Part One - Savoury

Theme: Labour Day


As this is Labour Day Weekend, Jeremy proposed that the theme of my first official Biscuit Project biscuits be just that: Labour Day. Labour Day in the U.S. is a "celebration of the economic and social achievements of workers" and was started in 1894 as a reaction to the Pullman Strike (a conflict involving cut wages for railroad car workers). Having just watched the documentary Harlan County, USA, about the 1973 coal miners' strike in Kentucky, I was inspired to focus on this part of our hardworking, energy source-providing American workforce.


Our first American commercial coal miners descended into the mines in the 1700's in Midlothian, near Richmond, Virginia. According to various accounts, thankfully preserved online by the daughters of coal miners, meals were generally prepared by the coal miners' wives and packed into a metal pail with a cover, sometimes customized with stickers or, by the more artistic, painted with scenes. While the coal miner's meal varied from place to place and day to day, I've come across a few trends:

Last night's leftovers

A sandwich and fruit

The Coal Miner Pasty, (pasty is pronounced PASStee, not PAYstee) also known as the Traditional Cornish Pasty and introduced by emigrants from Cornwall, a little filled pastry purse, made with potatoes, turnips or rutabaga, onions, and ground beef.

I chose the pasty as my biscuit spring board, leaving out the meat because I'm a vegetarian. Here's what I came up with. They were DELICIOUS.

Coal Mine Labour Day Biscuits - Savoury

2 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
3/4 teaspoon fresh rosemary
2 scallions or green onions, minced
1 turnip, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
2 red potatoes, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup reduced-fat well-shaken buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and turnip and cook for 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, salt, and rosemary in a bowl, then blend in butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in scallions. With a potato masher or a fork, mash in potatoes and turnips until still slightly chunky but evenly mixed in. Add buttermilk and stir until just combined.

Spoon dough into mounds (size depending on quantity desired. I think I made about 24 biscuits total.) about 2 inches apart onto a buttered large baking sheet. Bake in middle of oven until golden, 17 to 20 minutes.

Tips:

Don't skip the turnips, even if you're afraid of them. They add a sweetness and a lovely texture. No need to be afraid of a turnip.

Listen to this while you're baking:

"The Mountain" performed by Steve Earle and The Del McCoury Band

Check out one of these documentaries while you're eating:

Harlan County, USA
Burning the Future: Coal in America

Tasters: Actor Jeremy Beck, John Rouse, one of the creators of Createculture.org, and Amy, his culturally adventurous and very pregnant wife.

Artistic Biscuits: Artist's Statement

I've been devastated for the past few months, maybe longer, by what I consider a state of artistic paralysis. I have sketchbooks of all shapes and sizes, but for the most part, they remain empty, even when I carry at least one of them with me at all times. I've tried switching from pencil to pen, from plain paper to Canson, and still: pages as naked as a jaybird.

I have, however, been notably creative in instituting obstacles and excuses for my lack of output:

I have to clean the apartment first.
I'm getting off in four stops.
I'm not having a good drawing day.
I just can't draw anymore. (part one)
Maybe I could never draw? (part two)
I can't think of a thing on Earth to draw.

I've always loved to cook, never resisting the temptation to alter a recipe to my whimsy. The other day, while concocting a recipe for biscuits with cracked pepper and Muenster cheese, (here's my recipe, which I photographed and posted on animator Jene Wallace's food blog, Fill The Belly) I recognized an artistic rush, similar to how I feel when I achieve "the spark of magic" on a pencil drawing that qualifies it as particularly remarkable.

What's magical and liberating about art is that it can manifest itself in any form; a simple statement, but one I forget all too easily. To be art doesn't necessarily mean to be made of oil, marble, metal, or any of the other traditional materials you can buy at an over-priced art shop.

So, I've decided to start a new "series": The Artistic Biscuit Project. Each recipe will be inspired by something, for example: a word, historical reference or figure, holiday, etc. If they are delicious, I will say so. If they are disgusting, I will also say so. If you choose to make any using my recipes, please give me your feedback!