What We've Been Eating (and not just a Load of Lentils) - Ole!

So it all started with a crock pot of slow-cooked, plain old brown (sometimes called green) lentils. It Was A Dark and Stormy Night . . . actually it was in the midst of an October Nor'Easter when Cafe Drake HRV plopped a bag of dried lentils in the crock pot and prepared the legumes in a most basic manner. We scooped hot lentils on to sweet potato tortilla chips, doused with shredded Dry jack cheese and popped under the broiler for a couple of minutes. After broiling, our Lentil Nachos were perfected with freshly made pico de gallo, pickled jalapenos and carrots and a drizzling of crema (a thinner, Mexican version of sour cream; we make ours by adding a couple of tablespoons of buttermilk or cream to a cup of sour cream). Our rudimentary Crock Pot Lentils recipe (with multiple adaptations anticipated) begins with rinsing 2 cups (1 16-oz. bag) of brown lentils in water, draining and placing them in a crock-pot. Add a couple of peeled and chopped carrots, 2 diced onions and 1 can of tomatoes (14 oz. size and use all the juice). Stir in 2 cups of veggie or chicken stock along with at least 3/4 t. salt, a couple of grinds of black pepper, 1 t. ground cumin and smoked paprika to your taste. Cover and cook on HIGH setting for 3 hours or on LOW for 6-7. Add more salt if needed at the end of cooking.

above and below: our rather plainly spiced lentils were simmered for 15 minutes with an additional cup of veggie stock and raz el hanout for a later meal of Kosheri, Egypt's National Dish. How cool is it that it's also vegetarian? And spicy hot?! Previous Cafe Drake HRV posts on assembling kosheri with rice or pasta, lentils, tomato sauce, fried onions and fiery relish can be found here.

(above three photos) The lentils were lingering at Cafe Drake HRV, but like house guests who never grow tiresome, there were a few Good Times left in that original bunch. Lentils were spiced additionally with ground cumin and oregano, slathered on corn tortillas and re-purposed into quesadillas. Served with cabbage and cilantro slaw, roasted broccoli and poblano peppers and yellow rice.

Officially over lentils - this week at least - Cafe Drake HRV was still mysteriously craving Mexican meals after our delectable quesadillas. Free-range ground turkey snared our gaze at the butcher's, as do all things marked "Special" or "Sale, and we took a pound home to make super-easy Cheater's Homemade Chorizo. Assertive seasoning is the prime characteristic of chorizo sausage, so much that the traditional pork foundation is barely missed. You can fry the sausage in patties or just cook crumbled but we shaped ours into short, fat links and broiled, turning once, for about 8 minutes total. Make sure the turkey is cooked through of course but be careful to not overdo it; low-fat meats such as turkey dry out quickly and irredeemably. Make the sausage by mixing all of this well in a large bowl, using your hands: 1 lb. ground turkey meat, 3/4 T. or so of kosher salt, 2 T. smoked paprika, 1 t. minced garlic, 4-5 dried and briefly soaked Mexican chilies of choice (we mixed arbol and ancho - you can also use instead 3 T. dried ancho chile powder) blended to  paste with 1/4 cup cider vinegar, 1 t. ground black pepper, 1/2 t. ground allspice and 1 t. cayenne pepper. The easiest method is blending all the ingredients - except the turkey - to a paste in a blender or food processor and then mixing well with the poultry. Note: Soaking the dried chilies for 15 minutes in warm water before proceeding will yield a smoother, easily incorporated paste.

Roasted eggplant slices and grape tomatoes. The veggies pair well as a side dish.

Turkey Chorizo with roasted eggplant and tomatoes, brown rice, tortillas and poblano peppers.

Turkey Chorizo

The leftover turkey chorizo was added to a pot of dried pinto beans during the final 30 minutes of cooking and served as two additional meals at Cafe Drake HRV, above, with salad and tortillas and for lunch the following day with corn muffins and coleslaw.