Author: alisahuntsman

A new home means a new garden, step one; building a compost corral

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Have I mentioned how much I hated to leave my garden when we moved?  It has been a difficult transition from fresh picked, home grown produce to just store bought.  On occasion, we pick things up at the farmers market but it is only open on Saturdays which means we end up at the store frequently, especially if we cannot find what we need at the market.  
For now, I spend my time watching the light in the yard and mapping out the beds for next year.  But as any good gardener knows, a garden is only as good as the soil in the beds and a good bed has lots of organic humus to feed the soil.  The first step in my plan was to build a corral for composting.  On one of my many recent trips to Lowe’s (no they do not pay me to say these things about them, and they have given me nothing!)  I picked up some easy to install no dig fence panels.  
True to their name, the support rods did not need to be dug in.  The only tool I needed was a hammer.  The fence went together pretty quickly and then it was time to start my first pile.
Since I was not removing the lawn first, I applied a heavy layer of wet newspaper first.  To start the first layer, I took a shovel full of soil from the area and sprinkled it on the paper.  To get a compost pile going, you need the micro organisms present to inoculate it.  One shovel full should do it.  To this I added a bucket of kitchen scraps-no meat or dairy products, a bunch of small sticks and a nice even layer of dried leaves.  The final step was to sprinkle another shovel full of soil over the top and to give it a good soak.  
As we work in the yard, we add leaves, sticks and grass clippings and in the kitchen, we keep a bucket to collect things like egg shells, coffee grounds and fruit and vegetable scraps which get added every time the bucket is full.  As we add the fresh, green ingredients, we make an effort to add lots of dried or brown ingredients.  It will take a good 6 months for this to be ready so hopefully, we will be able to get a good hot pile going!  
Be sure to check back and see the progress of my garden project.  It is my plan to convert most of our front yard to a garden with an area for a bee hive and if we are lucky, a chicken coop and a few hens. 

taming the wild beast; building a scratching post for cats

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When we packed up and moved from Nashville to Williamsburg, we took the pets with us.  Two of our cats were indoor cats but the third one, he was a wanderer and a hunter; converting The Captain to a life indoors has been tough.  If he sees a chance, he makes every attempt to get out.  The biggest problem we face is his need to sharpen his claws.  When he was going outdoors, he needed those claws to defend himself, not anymore.  Unfortunately, he still feels the need to sharpen them and it is taking a toll on things here.

 Our living room has a vaulted ceiling that is supported by columns.  He marked one pretty quickly.

If you thought cats could do damage to just soft things, think again.  This is a solid wood cabinet and look at the damage he has done to it.  At some point, I will have to sand that out but it will require a complete refinishing since it was stained at least 20 years ago.

 This is the door way to the bathroom.  He made quick work of the new paint on the jamb.


Here he is in our previous yard going to town on a black locust tree.  If you look closely, you can see the areas of the bark that he marked as they are a different color.

If we were going to live together successfully in this new home, I needed to give him something to call his own for sharpening his claws.  My decision was to build a box that would go around one of the support columns and then to cover it with a natural fiber rope to mimic the rough texture of the tree bark he was accustomed to.

After wandering the lumber aisle at Lowe’s, I asked one of the guys working there to give me some advice.  We settled on precut shelving made of pine which is a soft wood but more than capable of forming the frame of the scratching post.  If you visit Lowe’s, they sell 4′ shelf boards, a little longer than I wanted but in the end, it meant that I would not be stuck with a bunch of leftover wood.  Since the column is rectangular in shape, I chose two 4’x10″x1″ boards and two 4’x8″x1″ boards.

Have you ever heard the saying, “measure twice, cut once?”  So that I wasn’t going back to Lowe’s to buy more boards, I measured carefully before I drilled holes.  My plan was to make three holes and attach the boards at the corners by putting a screw completely through one board into the end of the board next to it.

 If you look closely at the photo, you can see how I joined the boards.  Once the box was assembled, I began to apply the rope.

My choice was a 3/8″ twisted sisal.
 Look at all of the fibers-nice and rough and barklike!

Initially, I used a staple gun to attach the rope.  It did not work very well, most of the staples would not go into the wood and I spent a lot of time pulling them out.  It was very frustrating!  On my next trip to Lowe’s, I picked up poultry staples.   They need to be hammered in but once they are in, they aren’t coming back out easily.  The staples would bend and go in so unevenly that some could be pulled out with my fingers.  In order for this to work, the cat needed to put his full 15 pounds behind the act of sharpening his claws without the staples popping out.

The post took a lot more rope than I thought it would.  So far, I have wrapped it with seven 50′ coils and I still need at least 1 more.  The good news is that he will go to it and sharpen his claws.  We still need to work with him on this, he is not using it exclusively but he is using it.  If it means I will not be refinishing every wood surface and replacing furniture in the house, it is a success.  The down side, it is not a cheap project.  The rope is $9 per coil plus the cost of the lumber.  In my opinion, if it means less damage, it is cheaper than a new couch!

 The Captain in his former life in Nashville.  Doesn’t he have such pretty eyes?
His favorite seat-in the window looking out and dreaming of his escape…

Sloppy Joe’s on Homemade Buns

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Remember those buns from my last post?  This is probably my favorite way to serve them-split open and overflowing with tangy sloppy joe filling!  The buns can be frozen and so can the filling so make a full batch of both and split it-serve half and freeze half for a quick meal when you are short of time.

Smoky Sloppy Joe’s
adapted from Taste of Home
serves 4-6

2 pounds ground meat, turkey, beef or soy-or any combination of them
1 small onion, diced small
1/3 cup small diced celery
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1 small can roasted, diced green chilis
1 (14.5 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon steak sauce
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
fresh buns, homemade from my recipe, or purchased

Over medium heat, cook the beef or turkey until no longer pink.  Add the onion and celery and saute until soft.  Add the garlic and continue cooking for another minute.  Place the contents of the pan into a mesh strainer and drain off the excess fat.

Return the meat to the pan, add the remaining ingredients and simmer the mixture for 30-40 minutes.  The mixture will thicken, if it becomes dry, you can add small amounts of broth or water, but be sure to simmer it long enough to allow the flavor to develop.

For those of you using soy crumbles instead of meat, you will need enough to replace two pounds of meat.  Saute the onions and celery in olive oil until translucent.  Add the garlic and saute for another minute.  Add the crumbles and the remaining ingredients and follow the directions as written for the meat version.

Fluffy Sandwich Buns

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This recipe is a favorite of mine and I pull it out whenever I need fluffy buns that will stand up to the test.  What could that test possibly be?  Hamburgers, for one.  There is nothing worse than having a hamburger bun fall apart, disintegrate into pieces as you eat it; condiments and components falling onto the plate…Fear not, these buns will hold their own and remain intact until the last bite.

Mixing the dough is a quick process, and can be done by machine or hand-you choose.  You can make them with just plain flour or add some whole wheat as I have in this batch.  To shape them, it is best if they are all about the size of a lemon, roughly 3-4 ounces each.  Gently place your open palm on top and close your fingers around them so that your fingertips rest on the work surface.  Slowly roll the dough in a circular motion until the ball of dough tightens and forms an evenly round ball.

Place the prepared buns onto a baking tray that is liberally sprinkled with cornmeal.  Allow them to rise until doubled in size.

Doubled in size and ready to bake.
nice buns
by Michael McLaughlin
makes about 14 buns

1 1/2 cup buttermilk(or regular milk)

1 cup slightly warm water
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
about 5-6 cups unbleached all purpose flour or up to 2 cups whole wheat flour and 3-4 cups all purpose flour
In a mixing bowl, mix the buttermilk, water, butter, sugar, salt and yeast.  Allow it to stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the whole wheat flour and 2 cups of the all purpose flour and mix to form a somewhat sticky dough.  You can turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead this by hand or use a stand mixer, either way, continue to add flour as needed to form a soft dough.  Continue mixing until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.  Shape the dough into a ball and place it in an oiled bowl, coating it completely with oil, cover it and allow it to rise until double, about 1 1/2 hours.
To make buns, divide the dough into 3-4 ounce pieces or for those without scales, cut it in half, then in half again and continue this until you have about 14 even pieces.  Shape them by rolling into tight buns by placing the dough in your hands and moving in a circular motion on the table/counter top until the bun is smooth and no visible seams show.  Place the buns on pans that have been generously sprinkled with cornmeal.  Allow to rise until double and bake in a 400 degree preheated oven until golden all over.

puff pastry pizzettes; a tuesdays with dorie post

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How can you not love a recipe that isn’t actually a recipe?  These little pastries were simply a quickly thrown together snack to use up homemade puff pastry scraps; it is a crime to waste something that you put so much effort into preparing.  That said, I am afraid I just did not care for them.

The recipe is from Baking with Julia and was contributed by Michel Richard and it truly does call for the use of scraps from previously prepared puff pastry recipes.  The recipe, which really isn’t much more than a guidline, instructs you to place cherry tomatoes halves onto two inch rounds of dough and to top it with a little goat cheese before popping it into the oven to bake.  Honestly, as soon as I saw cherry tomatoes and goat cheese, I knew I was in trouble!

Sad but true fact, this Italian girl only likes cooked tomatoes if they are in the form of tomato sauce, otherwise, I avoid it like the plague.  Yes, I am that person who will pick the tomato chunks out of soup, don’t get me started on goat cheese, I have never been able to eat it!   However, in the spirit of following the “recipe” as it is written, I topped my little squares with a rosette of goat milk cream cheese from Trader Joe’s. If you shop there, they sell it with the cream cheese and it tastes just like regular cream cheese, at least pretty close to it.  With the cherry tomato halves in place, into the oven they went.

But that was just too simple.  Out of curiosity, I cut up some curried roasted vegetables and made a few squares.  Brussels sprout halves and thick slabs of kabocha squash were pressed into the cheese and baked along side of the tomato bites.  All in all, about 15 minutes of work for a few quick bites to give my husband a treat-he works so many hours that I really have become a kitchen widow.

Well, all is not lost, I have a lot more puff pastry dough in the freezer which means I will have scraps to work with again at some point and next time, I’m going with chocolate, or caramel, or maybe chocolate and caramel…

What I had to do to get that shot.  Yes, on the landing in the middle of the stairs but look at that window!  It let’s in the most amazing morning light and none of it was direct.  It is taking time to figure it all out but I have a feeling that I will be spending a lot of time on the stairs with my camera and a plate of food!

To see what the other bakers came up with, be sure to visit the Tuesdays with Dorie website and if you have a copy of the book, Baking with Julia, bake along with us as we bake our way through the book.  If that isn’t enough for you, we will also be baking from Dorie Greenspans new book, Baking Chez Moi starting in November.

chocolate peanut butter cake; another birthday, another version

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Yes, I’ve posted this cake before so why post it again?  Because this time, it’s different; the cake is a vertically positioned roll rather than the standard stacked layers.

Every year, I bake cakes for my girls on their birthdays or as close as I can get to the actual day.  Last year, I made this cake for Alix but made the traditional stacked layer version and the link to that post with the complete recipe is here.  For this version, the only thing I changed was the cake.  Because I was planning on rolling the cake up, I chose to make a sponge-like cake so that it would be easier to work with.

For those of you who are interested, please visit the link to read the full history on this cake.  It is one that I am proud of and probably the best cake in my first book, Sky High.

The cake recipe worked out fairly well.  It was not hard to roll but I do think that because I made this in stages, the cake dried out a little and some cracking occurred.  In the future, I will make my frosting ahead of time so that the cake can be rolled up while it is still fresh.

So the shape was not perfectly round, but most of that was hidden in the frosting/glazing.

 This version made a 6 inch round cake and would easily have served 8 people.  We snacked on that cake all week by slicing little slivers at a time.  Don’t worry, even though the slices were thin, this cake packed quite the punch in flavor and it was so rich that we didn’t attempt thick slices.

 Don’t you just love the vertical stripes?  This was so much fun that I will try this again with other cake recipes.  It looked like a regular cake on the outside, my daughter expected stacked layers and surprise, surprise!

 Honestly, with this configuration, the ratio of frosting to cake is very different.  With this method you get more frosting which is great for frosting lovers.

 Creamy peanut butter frosting and dark chocolate ganache-heavenly!

To make the stacked layer cake, visit the original post.  To make this version, the adjusted recipes follow.

Chocolate-Peanut Sponge Roll Cake
Cake recipe is adapted from Chocolate Cloud Roll recipe in The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum, frosting and glaze recipes are from Sky High

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
6 eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup roasted peanuts
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
peanut butter frosting, recipe follows
chocolate glaze, recipe follows

Preheat the oven to 350.  Line a half sheet pan (17 inches x 12 inches) with parchment and spray grease, set aside.  Melt the chocolate and set aside.

To grind the peanuts, place them in a food processor with a tablespoon of sugar and pulse until finely ground.  Do this carefully so that you do not make peanut butter.  Whisk the yolks with 3 tablespoons sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Fold the chocolate and peanuts into the egg yolks.  Sift the cocoa over the top of the batter and gently fold in, set aside while you prepare the whites.

Whip the egg whites until foamy.  Add the cream of tartar and continue whipping until peaks start to form.  Gradually add the sugar as you continue to whip and whip until the peaks are almost completely stiff.  Do not take them as far as they will go, they need to be just a little soft at the bottom of the bowl.  This will allow the air bubbles to expand in the oven; taking the mixture to the stiffest point will not allow for the bubbles to expand and can actually make the cake collapse.

To finish mixing the batter, fold 1/4 of the whites into the batter to lighten it and then gently fold the remaining whites in.  Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a pick inserted into the cake comes out clean, about 15-18 minutes.  Allow the cake to cool and use immediately.

Cut the cake into three equal strips, lengthwise.  Spread 1/2 cup of frosting over one strip and begin rolling it up from one short side.  Spread another 1/2 cup of frosting over the second strip and place the rolled cake on top of the layer at one short side and roll it up.  Repeat this with the last strip.  Place the cake onto a flat plate and freeze until very firm.  Ice the outside of the cake with the remaining frosting and freeze it to firm up the frosting.

Decorate the cake by spreading small amounts of glaze over the top so that it slides down the side of the cake in large drips.  Chill to firm the ganache.  Keep cake refrigerated but do set it out at least 30 minutes before serving for the best flavor.  To get neat slices, dip the knife in hot water, wipe it dry and slice it with the hot knife, clean the knife between slices.  Top with mini peanut butter cups just before serving, if desired.

Peanut Butter Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temp 
3 ounces unsalted butter, at room temp 
4 cups confectioners sugar, sift after measuring if lumpy 
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter 

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.  Gradually add the confectioners sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl often.  Continue to beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the peanut butter and beat until thoroughly blended.

Chocolate Glaze
5 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped coarsely
2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/3 cup half-and-half

In the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over simmering water, combine the chocolate, peanut butter and corn syrup.  Heat, whisking often, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

Remove from the heat and whisk in the half-and-half, beating until smooth.  Use while still warm.

Early Fall at the Williamsburg Farmers Market

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Visiting the Williamsburg Farmers Market has become a favorite thing of mine.  Every Saturday morning I head to the Historic District to walk the market held in Merchants Square and it is such a beautiful setting.  It truly feels like a community event, almost like a neighborhood block party held in the middle of the colonial village.  The farmers and producers selling at the market each week are usually the same but sometimes, they skip a week so be sure to check the website as it is updated weekly.

There is nothing worse than going to a market and discovering that the venders are simply reselling produce they bought.  This market is a producers only market and all venders are subject to management approval before they can sell at the market.  Honestly, this is the perfect way to know your food.  Want to know about the vegetables or seafood, ask the person selling it; they work for the farm and can tell you just about anything you might need to know.

Fresh beans waiting to be shelled
 Beautiful eggplants

 It wouldn’t be fall without hard squash; Cushaw and Blue Hubbards as well as Butternut and Acorn.

 Not only do you get the vegetables freshly picked, you get the name of the variety.

 Amazing sheep milk cheeses from Everona Dairy.

The folks at Bacon’s Castle Supply love to talk about their peanut farm.  We asked about the bouquet hanging and got a lesson on how the plants produce peanuts.

 And of course, heirloom pumpkins
 Peppers love the hot, dry weather of late summer and early fall and are plentiful at the market.
 Sweet potatoes are a fall favorite too

 Being so close to the Chesapeake Bay means oysters are plentiful too and these are Crassostrea virginica the native species.  King Corrotoman Oysters brings them in fresh but be sure to check the schedule, they do not come every week.

 Everywhere you go, signs of fall.  Love the use of persimmons in this bouquet.

 Radishes are a quick crop to produce and it is easy to see why farmers would offer them for sale; they are so colorful.  Did you know that radishes are just as good roasted as they are raw and the greens are pretty tasty when cooked too!  Click here for my recipe for roasted radishes and wilted greens.

Mountains of Tuscan kale just waiting to be sauteed or added to salads and it has me dreaming about my new garden next spring…

This post is participating in the Virginia Bloggers Friday Favorites linkup.  Be sure to check out the links posted by other members and visitors to the website.

sunny side up pastries; a tuesdays with dorie post

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Well, we made it to Virginia.  It was a long drive that took two days and numerous stops.  If anybody asks, traveling with three cats and a dog is not any easier than traveling with kids.  Trust me, I have done both of these things and can honestly say that I really hope to never do that again.

We closed on our house two weeks ago and have moved in.  Now the only thing to do is finish unpacking and I am actively looking for ways to get out of that task.  Making a batch of tiny little pastries was just the diversion I was looking for!

If you recall, I am part of a group of people baking their way through the wonderful book, Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.  We have been at it for quite a while now and having missed the last few months, I am happy to be back at it.  For our first recipe in October, we chose the Sunny-side-up Apricot Pastries which first required making a batch of puff pastry or mille feuilles in French and both recipes were contributed to the book by Michel Richard.  To see Julia and Michel make these recipes, watch the video by following this link!

Michel’s recipe for the dough is a little different than most.  He instructs you to make a soft dough in the food processor and then rest it in the fridge before incorporating the butter.

my new house has lots of light but it also has walls the color of butter.  Nice and neutral I suppose but the make taking photos tricky.  The light always seems to be a bit on the yellow side.

 Puff pastry is one of those recipes that seems so intimidating but in truth, it is a simple recipe that just has a few rules that should never be broken.  Follow those rules and you will have a skill envied by those that think it is a difficult item to make.

 Seal the butter into the dough to make sure that it does not ooze out during the rolling process.

Flour is your friend; use lots, it is easier to brush off flour than to scrape the dough off the table.

Bakers trick, mark the dough with your finger tips; one indent per roll/fold.  Michel’s recipe calls for making the folds two at a time.  This means that you roll the dough out, brush off the flour, fold it and repeat the process.  Be sure to rest it in the fridge between steps so that the butter does not get too soft and the gluten can relax.

 Four down, two more to go!
 Done!!!
 The view from the kitchen.
 My begonians traveled well and are liking the new window.

 The book calls for poaching apricots and cooking a batch of pastry cream.  Both of those ideas did not appeal to me.  We had some Cortland apples on the counter and I thought apples and frangipane sounded better.

 Although I have no idea which boxes contain what, I do know where all of my cutters are.  Priorities people, priorities!

 My half sized pastries with a tiny scoop of frangipane and a few slices of apples.
 Learning to shoot in this house is going to take some time.  The light is lovely but those walls…

 Just out of the oven.  The frangipane spread more than pastry cream would have but I like the flavor combination.

 We have a skylight and it lets in so much light.  Now I just need to learn to work with light from overhead!

 So far, I am liking my new place.  The neighbors I have met are all very friendly.  The only one with a problem is The Captain.  Remember him?  Our outdoor cat?  Well, he is now an indoor cat and let’s just say we are both adjusting to (his)life indoors…

Be sure to visit the Tuesdays with Dorie website to see how the other bakers did with this recipe.

a touch of fall; coconut sugar cookies

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sugar cookies are something that never go out of season.  for a baker, they are the equivalent of a blank canvas just waiting to be transformed into tasty works of art.  the dough is also flexible enough that the ingredients can be manipulated with substitutions and it will still be easy to roll out.

for this batch i replaced the butter with coconut oil and the result was a crispy, flaky cookie with a rich coconut flavor.  since it is now fall, i thought a few swirls of fall colors in the dough and a leaf cutter would be a nice way to try out my new kitchen and oven.  by using toothpicks, it is easy to add little dabs of color to the dough.  do this carefully, as you can see, the red i used overpowered the orange and yellow and made the dough look a bit cherry red instead of marbleized fall colors.

marbleized coconut sugar cookies
makes about 24 large cookies
7 ounces coconut oil, at room temp and solid
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour, plus more for rolling the dough
paste food colors and tooth picks
leaf cutter
place the coconut oil into a mixing bowl with the sugar, vanilla and salt.  with the mixer on medium-low, combine the ingredients completely but take care not to mix too long.  coconut oil responds to friction quickly and will melt with a lot of mixing.  add the egg and mix to combine.  add the flour and mix the dough until it is combined.  
scrape the dough out onto a clean tray or large platter to prevent the colors from staining your counter top or cutting board.  to color the dough, dip the toothpicks into the food color and dab it onto the dough.  the more you add, the more the colors will mix and homogenize so do not try to add a lot.  wearing gloves if you do not want to stain your hands, gently knead the dough to distribute the colors.  add more color if you like, and knead it in.  do not knead it excessively or the colors will blend to form a single tint.  place the dough on the tray in the fridge to set for about 10-15 minutes to make rolling it out easier.  preheat the oven to 350.  line several cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpats.  
to roll the dough, refer to this previous post which illustrates the use of dowels.  roll the dough, cut out the leaves and transfer them to the prepared trays.  bake the cookies for about 14-16 minutes.  the cookies should be lightly browned around the edges.  allow the cookies to cool completely, store air tight.

lentils with pasta, a family recipe

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while growing up, i did not experience much in the way of exotic or ethnic food.  my mother stuck to the basics and although the meals were usually simple, they were also prepared from scratch and memorable.  her stuffed cabbage, meatloaf and scallopini come to mind but nothing stands out more in my memory than the few recipes that my great-grandmother taught her to make.  of course, tomato sauce with meatballs tops that list but lentils with pasta is a very close second.

perhaps it is just that i am in a new city and away from everything i was accustomed to.  maybe it is a touch of homesickness even though nashville was not my hometown.  what ever the reason is, i chose to make a pot of lentils with pasta the first time i decided to cook a meal in my new kitchen.

lentils are so flexible in the kitchen; they can be so many things.  personally, i have used them as a meat substitute in a vegetarian burger, in soups as both a garnish and the main ingredient and in countless recipes that were side dishes served with other items.  in this dish, they are the star.  the ingredient list for this recipe is short and you can choose to keep it that way or you can add to it if you like.  while i generally prepare this so that the result is a protein packed vegan dish, you could easily change that simply by swapping out the vegetable broth for one made with meat or poultry.   go ahead, make a batch, put it in the fridge and eat it all week long, it holds up well and can even be frozen and served later on a day that you just need a little comfort food.

a few notes about the recipe:  my great grandmother typically used tubettini, or little cut tubes, when she made this but you can use what you wish.  in the past, i have used ditalini, tubetti and even elbows but this time, i used acini de pepe which is shaped like little balls.  the lentils need to be cooked first and you can use whatever liquid you like to simmer them in.  for my family, this has always been a meatless dish but feel free to use whatever broth you like, or plain water if that suits you too.  keep in mind that lentils usually cook pretty quickly with a ratio of 1:2, lentils to liquid.  however, if the lentils are older, they will require more liquid, and this time, mine took almost 4 full cups of broth to get soft.  when my mother makes them, she will actually saute the onions in a little lard but i always use olive oil since i do not keep lard in the house but you can use whatever fat you like; a little smoky bacon fat might be a nice addition.  my lentils with pasta always seem a little more heavy in tomatoes than my mother’s but i like that.  this time around, i used my last pint of homemade tomato puree from the pantry but you could easily used a can of crushed or pureed tomatoes.  and finally, if you are lucky enough to have basil in the garden, cut a few sprigs and simmer them with the lentils, just remove them before mixing in the other ingredients.

nana’s lentils with pasta

1 cup green or brown lentils
2-4 cups vegetable broth or water, see notes above
1 can tomato puree or crushed tomatoes, 14.5 ounces
1 cup small pasta, see the notes above
1 medium onion, diced small
1 clove garlic, minced
1-2 tablespoons olive oil

place the lentils in a 4 quart sauce pot with 2 cups of broth and the tomato puree.  bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the lentils until they get very soft.  add additional broth as needed to keep the lentils from getting dry or scorched.

bring a quart of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta until it is al dente.  drain the pasta, toss it with a little olive oil to keep it from sticking together and set it aside until the lentils are ready.

saute the onion in the olive oil over medium heat until translucent, add the garlic and continue to saute for a few minutes more.  the longer they cook and soften, the better;  crunchy onions just do not improve the texture in the final dish.  turn the heat down if needed to keep the garlic from scorching.  small amounts of broth can be splashed in to prevent it from burning and will deglaze the pan and add some extra flavor.  set this aside while you wait for the lentils to cook.

the lentils should be allowed to absorb most of the liquid that you cook them in which is why you do not add the full 4 cups of broth at the start.  start with 2 cups and add more, half a cup at a time as needed.  however, if you get the the soft stage and still have a bit of liquid in the pot, you can drain some off but leave it a little on the moist side so that the pasta can absorb it as the dish sits.  otherwise, it will be really dry.

using the pot that the lentils were cooked in, add the onions and the pasta to the lentils and stir to combine.   season the dish with salt and pepper as desired.  serve immediately or let it sit for a day-the flavor will get even better!