lentils in red wine and garlic mashed potatoes

These lentils are a fabulous wintry dish that are an old favourite of mine. Melbourne’s weather is all over the place at the moment ranging from 6 to 22 degrees, and I snuck this dish in on one of the colder nights. It comes from The Savoury Way by Deborah Madison. Her food is simple and tasty, though usually vegetarian rather vegan. I had stopped making this dish last year as the finishing of the sauce really needs butter. 🙁

Enter Half Pint Vegan Dairy Butter! It behaves beautifully like butter,  and the emulsified red wine and butter sauce is delicious.

I like to make this with the little french type green lentils as they remain whole, but it can also be made with ordinary brown lentils which will cook more quickly, but you need to make sure they don’t fall to pieces.

I usually eat this with some mashed potato or soft polenta.

When I was little, my dad sometimes made the mashed potatoes to go with our dinner.

We loved it when dad was in charge because he added about four tons of butter, so that the finished potatoes were yellow (this is in the days when we only had white potatoes!)

I have really high expectations of mashed potatoes after that decadent richness and really didn’t believe that mashed potatoes with olive oil could be this good.

Well I am so happy to find that they are.  These are the most creamy luxurious mashed potatoes I have eaten since giving up butter.

Sometimes I’ve also been adding just a smidge of truffle oil or a grating of vegusto parmesan to up the luxury a notch. But they are great as is and excellent with the lentils.

lentils in red wine

 

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prep time

15 mins

cook time

1 hour 30 mins

total time

1 hour 45 mins

 

author: quincesandkale

cuisine: vegan

serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 cup of small french puy type lentils
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• a pinch of dried thyme or a small fresh branch
• a pinch of dried marjoram
• 2 bay leaves
• a big handful of chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste or a few sundried tomatoes
• 11/2 cups red wine
• 2 cups water
• 1 or 2 tbs vegan butter
• salt
• red wine or sherry vinegar

instructions

1. Soak the lentils in very hot water while you prepare the rest of the ingredients
2. In a large saucepan heat the oil and fry the onion, garlic, herbs and half the parsley until the onon colours slightly and softens
3. Add the tomato paste/sundried tomatoes
4. Add the wine, bring to the boil and simmer for a minute to drive off the alcohol
5. Drain the lentils (discarding the soaking water) and add to the pan with the 2cups of water and some salt to taste.
6. Cover and cook until the lentils are tender but not falling to pieces.
7. If there is a lot of liquid remove the lid and turn up the heat to reduce it but not completely. You need some liquid left to emulsify with the butter and also if you over reduce it it will taste too strong.
8. Stir in the butter, the remaining parsley and a dash of vinegar and salt to taste.
9. Serve with polenta, mashed potato or toast.

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mashed potatoes

 

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author: quincesandkale

serves: 2 big serves

ingredients

• 500g floury potatoes peeled and cut into even chunks ( I love dutch creams)
• 4 cloves garlic peeled and squashed but not broken up
• 3 tbs olive oil
• salt

instructions

1. Boil the peeled potatoes with two of the whole garlic cloves in some lightly salted water
2. While the potatoes are cooking put the other two garlic cloves into the olive oil in a small saucepan over a very low heat for 15 minutes. Make sure the garlic doesn't burn. Remove the garlic.
3. When the potatoes are really tender, drain (save the cooking water) and return to the dry pan over low heat to dry out for a bit.
4. Add the garlicky olive oil and mash until there are no lumps. Add as much cooking water as needed to get a good consistency.
5. Taste and season with extra salt.
6. If you want some extra zing you can add truffle oil, or grated vegan parmesan (such as Vegusto piquant)

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