Spicy Lentil Dish, healthy lunch with friends…

OK, maybe the 2.5 bottles of good white wine was a little excessive for the three of us, but we are not counting. On M O D everything goes.

My super chef buddy Marley arrived before my assistant and friend Kathy, so we ate sticks of celery and carrot while we waited and sipped on a lovely Chardonnay. The lunch was a spicy lentil and vegetable dish. The girls loved it. It is such a good feeling when you put out an experimental dish which your friends love. I will write it up for the book.

The lentils were cooked first with salt, cayenne pepper and turmeric, and then the veggies were done separately. Red onion (for the quercitin), garlic for all its numerous health properties, ginger for digestion, and then celery and green and red pepper. (Loads of vitamin C there.) After a little sauteeing, we added diced carrots and aubergine (unpeeled and cut up into chunks, salted and left to sweat in a colander, rinsed and patted dry). Broccoli was steamed lightly (still bright green) on its own and sprinkled with lemon and ground black pepper. To the cooked vegetables, I added salt, turmeric, cayenne pepper, ground cumin and coriander to taste. Add the lentils and gently mix through. Another yum dish. We ate it at room temperature.

After the wine was drunk (and the empty bottles lined up), we changed to water in the wine glasses and I must have had at least 4 or 5 glasses. Water is such a wonderful thing. My two friends had filter coffee and I stuck to water as I had already had my one cup of coffee for the day. That is another gold star for me:)

The interesting thing is that although I had not eaten for 16 hours, I was not racing to stuff my face. The raw carrots and celery were a great appetiser and we really enjoyed them. So much so that my chef buddy said she was going to start keeping the same in her fridge. Amazing how we don’t even think of it until we try it. It is a recent advent in my fridge, but I think this is something I might just continue. Yes I will. I like juicy and crunchy.

You know what I find so nice, is that if I eat my first meal at noon, it doesn’t have to be breakfast. Hence the Lentil Stew. I don’t have to constantly be deciding what I want for breakfast. Hey, the lentils were great and my tum was ready for them. And I am full, sated, happy, replete – all those things. I know I can go without food for the next few hours, but just in case, I have almonds soaking in the fridge. The soaking helps to break down the enzyme inhibitors and is therefore more digestible. Try it, you might just like it.

The supper planned is pork fillet, cut into slices, browned and set aside. Sautee onions and garlic in the pan until lightly browned. Add cream and Dijon mustard to taste and add back the pork slices. Simmer until done. This will be served with baked sweet potato and a garden salad.

I will tell you how it goes…