Puy Lentil and Cabbage Salad (Cooking with Beans, Grains and Pulses by Nicola Graimes)

1 c puy lentils
(puy lentils are darker than brown lentils and retain their shape and texture better than your ordinary brown lentil. They are also more expensive and found at whole foods type markets. This isn't a fancy dish so you decide which to use).
6 1/4 c water
1 garlic clove
1 bay leaf
1 small onion, peeled and studded with 2 cloves

Rinse the lentils in cold water and place them in a pan with water and 1 garlic clove, the bay leaf and the clove studded onion. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes. Drain and discard the onion, garlic and bay leaf.
(OK, here's what I did: I thought, what a waste of an onion, and a garlic. So I put in some dried onion and garlic. (no clove studding) When I drained the lentils I tried to retain the garlic and onion bits. I thought it tasted just fine).

1 TBS olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 TBS fresh thyme leaves (1/2 to 1/3 as much dried)
12 oz cabbage, finely shredded
(I used a bag of pre-shredded cabbage- they are usually around this many ounces anyway- that had carrot bits and red cabbage as well. This seems to be the only way I personally get this recipe done. I don't have the patience to shred the cabbage the other way and it does need to be smaller pieces. The first time I tried this recipe I tried with red cabbage and that was a bad idea. It makes it too tough).
finely grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
1 TBS Raspberry Vinegar
salt and ground black pepper to taste
(I didn't have exactly these seasonings on hand so I used some raspberry vinaigrette dressing that was in the fridge as well as a little more olive oil drizzled in and some red wine vinegar. The first time through I thought it was too dry and so made mine a little more juicy).

Crush the garlic cloves. Heat the olive oil in a large pan. Add the red onion , garlic and thyme and cook for 5 minutes, until softened. (The cookbook doesn't say what temperature. I think I have been doing mine a bit high because I've been scorching the pans). Add the cabbage and cook another 3-5 minutes, until just cooked but still crunchy. Stir in the cooked lentils, lemon rind and juice and the raspberry vinegar. Season to taste and serve warm. (The next day, cool, it is still just as tasty. This is a big batch, (serves 4-6 and is very filling) you might want to half it.

Experimenting with Baked Beans

I heard someone saying how their grandma made real baked beans and I thought I would try my hand at it, to see how hard it was. I have actually always used canned beans in recipes, I have never made beans from scratch.

1 lb dry navy or soldier beans (I used a 1/2 & 1/2 mix of kidney and black beans)
1/3 c molasses
1/3 c cider vinegar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 c brown sugar ( I omitted)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 large white onion, quartered (I used 1/2 and chopped it)
1/4 lb bacon, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks (I used 1/2 regular bacon, 1/2 turkey bacon).
Bread for serving

Place the beans in an ovenproof pot or dutch oven. Add enough water to cover by 3 inches and let stand for at least ten hours. Drain the beans and return them to the pot. Add just enough water to cover the beans. Bring the beans to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently until the beans are softened, about 1 hour. Add water as necessary to keep the beans barely covered. Meanwhile whisk together the molasses, vinegar, mustard, brown sugar, pepper, and 2 TBS water. Drain the beans. Place the onion in an empty pot. Top with beans, then bacon, then the molasses mixture. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Cover the pot tightly and bake until the beans are tender and the bacon is falling apart, and the liquid is thick and bubbling, about 6 hours. Check the beans the last hour of cooking. If they appear to be drying out, add more water. (See there was water in the pot, it just was too liquid and sat at the bottom of the pot instead of coating the beans nicely and evenly).

The Result: It was too dry, though the beans were tender enough. Maybe I overcooked it by 1/2 an hour. Maybe I should have used a crock pot instead of cooking it in the oven. Oh, that was another first. I had never used one of my stove top pans for the oven as a "dutch oven." Maybe it was because the sugar helps to make a glaze and I omitted the sugar so the sauce was more like water? At any rate- Matt came up with a plan to rescue this dish (did I also mention there was way too much of it?) We put it on rolls and melted cheese on top.