Old World Spanish Lentil Stew
While stocking up on one of my favorite ingredients, lentils, the other day, I came across pardina lentils. I didn’t know what they were at the time, but grabbed them anyway, later learning they are Spanish lentils, somewhat smaller and greyer than your basic brown lentil, that keep their shape, similar to French lentils. In fact, after having eaten them I can say they are somewhat like a cross between brown lentils and French lentils. I’m sure I would have found something to do with them, but I decided to just make the recipe on the back of the package, and it turned out well.
Old World Spanish Lentil (Pardina) Stew
adapted from the back of the Goya package
8 ounces pardina lentils
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
2 large or 4 small cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp thyme
4 cups vegan “chicken” broth (or veggie broth)
1 link vegan chorizo
Note: I didn’t have any soyrizo on hand, but I did have Italian-style vegan sausages. So I used those and to the spices above added: 1 pequin pepper (a very hot dried pepper), 1/2 tsp ancho chili powder, and 1/2 tsp smoked paprika.
Bring a soup pot to temperature over medium heat. Add some olive oil, then add the onions and green pepper and cook until soft.
Add the garlic and spices and cook for one minute.
Add the tomato sauce and cook for another minute.
Slice the chorizo thinly:
Add the broth, lentils, and chorizo.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes or until lentils are soft, then remove the bay leaf.
Serve!
An easy, quick, cheap, filling, simple meal. Good for the 106th straight evening of thunderstorms we’ve endured. Seriously, I love thunderstorms, but this is getting ridiculous. Last weekend I got on the pool, but I still haven’t gotten in the pool. I floated around on a raft last weekend, reading, but when I stuck my arm in the water, it went numb almost instantly from the cold. Fortunately, although it’s been stormy nearly every day, we did get a few warm days so the water temperature is rising, but the forecast just calls for more thunderstorms and cooler-than-normal temperatures, all of which is wreaking havoc on the pool and driving me crazy! I’m battling algae, which has never been a problem for me in the past, but it’s hard to take care of the pool when there are storms every single night and pool maintenance requires sticking a long metal pole into a large body of water, which I think is a recipe for exactly what you are NOT supposed to do during a lightening storm. Sigh. Hello, summer? Come in, summer? Where are you, summer?
kibbles Said,
June 11, 2009 @ 9:05 pm
What chorizo is that? It totally looks weird. When I saw the ingredients I imagined chorizo more like the one here: http://ieatfood.net/?p=97
(Which is very delish and could only improve the soup)
kibbles Said,
June 11, 2009 @ 9:05 pm
What chorizo is that? It totally looks weird. When I saw the ingredients I imagined chorizo more like the one here: http://ieatfood.net/?p=97
(Which is very delish and could only improve the soup)
kibbles Said,
June 11, 2009 @ 9:07 pm
Hah, well that proves I look at pictures before I read. Nevermind me! 😀
kibbles Said,
June 11, 2009 @ 9:07 pm
Hah, well that proves I look at pictures before I read. Nevermind me! 😀
Jes Said,
June 11, 2009 @ 10:22 pm
Can I give you some of our summer? I’m sick of it already! We’ve had thunderstorms too, but the heat won’t give up. Which means that any kind of lentil stew is officially on my “hold until cooler weather magically appears” list. But this recipe does look pretty darn good!
Jes Said,
June 11, 2009 @ 10:22 pm
Can I give you some of our summer? I’m sick of it already! We’ve had thunderstorms too, but the heat won’t give up. Which means that any kind of lentil stew is officially on my “hold until cooler weather magically appears” list. But this recipe does look pretty darn good!
Erin Said,
June 12, 2009 @ 10:28 am
Not trying to be the vegan police here, but I bought that same TJ’s sausageless sausage because it was 50 cents cheaper than Tofurkey but didn’t read the ingredients till I went to open the package, and it had eggs. Maybe it’s different at different TJ’s?
Anywho, that lentil recipe sounds great. You can’t really go wrong with that flavor combination!
renae Said,
June 12, 2009 @ 11:23 am
Erin, ugh, I just checked the package and you’re right! I must have been completely asleep at the wheel when I was at Trader Joe’s because my friend found milk in a box of crackers I bought from there the same day (fortunately before I ate them so she scored a whole box of crackers to take home). I’m usually so neurotic about it, I don’t know what got into me that day! Thanks for pointing it out – now I have to see if I can pawn 4 egg-filled fake sausage links off on someone else before they go bad!
Jes, yes PLEASE send your Atlanta summer this way! I’m guessing Virginia will get around to having a summer just as you arrive in a couple of months…
Kibbles, I certainly should have gotten the chorizo as apparently not only was what I used not appropriate for the recipe, it wasn’t even vegan!
Courtney Said,
June 12, 2009 @ 4:35 pm
I *love* lentils, and those are the lentils I always buy! That is so funny–I didn’t realize they were any different than any other lentil…I always thought they were just your basic brown lentil. I just buy ’em cuz they are the cheapest (yes, I am cheap)!
Anyway, the soup looks delish…hopefully we will have a cool enough day around here to make it soon! I would gladly give you our summer weather too…
Courtney
Courtney Said,
June 12, 2009 @ 4:35 pm
I *love* lentils, and those are the lentils I always buy! That is so funny–I didn’t realize they were any different than any other lentil…I always thought they were just your basic brown lentil. I just buy ’em cuz they are the cheapest (yes, I am cheap)!
Anyway, the soup looks delish…hopefully we will have a cool enough day around here to make it soon! I would gladly give you our summer weather too…
Courtney
Lisa Said,
June 12, 2009 @ 5:52 pm
I love lentils too. I just made galumpkis with them last night.
We also need summer up her in PA. It has rained and/or been overcast for weeks on end. I cannot get my pool clear and it is driving me INSANE!
Josiane Said,
July 10, 2009 @ 10:45 pm
I have never seen Pardina lentils, I’ll be curious to try them if ever I come across them. I’ll try that stew no matter what, though: it looks delicious, and very filling. Just the right thing for fall/winter, or… for cooler-than-normal summer evenings! 😉 I hope summer finally came, and you can enjoy it!
belén tapia Said,
August 16, 2009 @ 4:26 pm
Hi, I’m from Spain and I have to say that they look really good!
Maybe you will like my mom’s trick, since that is not chorizo however you look at it, you can fry half an onion with a teaspoon of sweet ground papriKa and half of a teaspoon of spicy ground paprika, of course in olive oil. You have to be careful not to burn the paprika so add it after the onion is already cooked and stir for a minute. Then add it to the lentils and let it cook for half an hour.
renae Said,
August 16, 2009 @ 6:16 pm
Hi belén, that’s a great idea – thanks for taking the time to share the tip. I’ll definitely try that next time!
belén tapia Said,
August 16, 2009 @ 4:26 pm
Hi, I’m from Spain and I have to say that they look really good!
Maybe you will like my mom’s trick, since that is not chorizo however you look at it, you can fry half an onion with a teaspoon of sweet ground papriKa and half of a teaspoon of spicy ground paprika, of course in olive oil. You have to be careful not to burn the paprika so add it after the onion is already cooked and stir for a minute. Then add it to the lentils and let it cook for half an hour.