Ham + Lentils = great comfort food!

This recipe is based on the traditional French "petit salé aux lentilles". However, I changed the ingredients to make it easier and also a bit cheaper: I used red lentils and ham steak. It's a great unique dish, ideal for winter days.

Serves 2
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Difficulty: *

Ingredients:

- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 pound ham steak, cut into small cubes

- 1 cup red lentils

- 2 cups water + 1 chicken or vegetable broth cube (Knorr) OR 2 cups liquid broth

- 1 small onion, chopped

- fresh parsley, chopped
- pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the chopped onion and the cubed ham. Cook until caramelized.

Rinse the lentils and add them to the saucepan. Stir in the lentils and mix.

Add the water + broth cube or the liquid broth.

Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to low. Cover and let cook for about 25 minutes. Check and mix the preparation from time to time. If the liquid is absorbed too quickly, add some. Add pepper.

This dish will be already salted because of the ham and the broth. I would recommend to check the seasoning and to add salt only if necessary.

Remove from the heat, top with the chopped parsley and let stand for 5 minutes. Serve.

Eggplant and Celery Stew - Easy Vegetarian dish

This stew is a vegetarian dish with can be served with rice. For the story, I wanted to make an Indian Eggplant curry but since a dinner was planned at an Indian restaurant at the end of the week, I decided to use my eggplant in another dish. Celery is a vegetable which is rarely used: it's a pity in my opinion because its taste is very aromatic. I personally use both the stalks and the leaves, the latter being even more aromatic.

Serves 2
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes to 1 hour
Difficulty: *

Ingredients:
- 1 big eggplant
- 1 onion
- 4-5 celery branches, with leaves, chopped - Separate the leaves from the branches
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 cup vegetable broth (more if needed, depending on the consistency)
- salt
- pepper


Cut the eggplant into medium size squares. Sprinkle them with salt and let stand while you prepare the other ingredients.

Chop the onion very finely, cut the celery stalks into small pieces, crush the garlic cloves and cut the celery leaves roughly.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large sauce pan and add the onion, garlic and celery stalks. Cook for 5 minutes.

In the meantime, rinse the eggplant squares and pat dry. Add them to the sauce pan. Stir and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Let cook for 5 more minutes.

Add the tomato sauce, the heavy cream and the vegetable broth. Add the celery leaves to the stew.

Cover and cook on low heat. Check after 15-20 minutes and add broth if the preparation sticks to the bottom of the sauce pan or is too thick.
There should not be too much liquid but it shouldn't be dry either.

After 45 minutes to 1 hour, the eggplants should be very tender. Adjust the seasoning and serve hot with jasmine rice.

French Stuffed Cabbage for the last days of Winter

Comfort food is really something that I enjoy cooking. It is synonym of cosiness, fireplace, family and wool socks among other things.
Well, I don’t have a fireplace… but it is always a pleasure to eat a slowly cooked and delicious meal when it is cold and rainy outside. That’s my way of getting better in middle of the winter.
Last week-end I prepared a French recipe that my mom does a lot in winter time. In French, it is called “Chou farci à l’auvergnate”. It could be translated as “French Stuffed Cabbage“.

Serves 4
Preparation: 1 hour
Cooking time: 2 hours
Difficulty: **

Ingredients:
- 1 green cabbage
- 1 pound ground meat (you can use pork, veal, beef or a mix of these three – I have a preference for pork or veal)
- 2 onions
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley
- 2 carrots
- 1 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup stock (vegetable stock is preferred)
- salt and pepper
- 2 long bacon strips and 2 long pieces of cooking string
(optional)

Mix the meat with the onion finely chopped, the garlic and the parsley. Season to taste.
Prepare the cabbage: remove the leaves that are damaged or don’t look good. Without detaching the leaves, try to cut and remove as much stalk as you can. This part is harder and it is better to remove it.

Place the cabbage in cold water in a large saucepan. Heat slowly until water is boiling. Remove the cabbage, drain it and let cool down a little bit.
Open delicately the cabbage, unfolding the leaves, one after the other; make sure you do not detach them. When you reach the core, remove it, chop it and add it to the meat mixture.

Fill the cabbage with 3/4 of the meat mixture. Fold back some leaves and place small amounts of the remaining mixture between the leaves, delicately closing the cabbage for it to have its initial shape.


Optional step: Cross the 2 pieces of cooking string (X-shape) and place the bacon strips on top. Place the cabbage in the center, cover with the two bacon strips and then tie up the cabbage with the string.
This step might seem complex but it is simple when you so it.
Place the butter and olive oil in a saucepan (large and tall enough for the cabbage). Add the chopped onions and the carrots thinly sliced.
Place the cabbage on top and add the stock.


Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to low.
Let cook for about 2 hours, making sure the vegetable bed does not stick to the bottom of the saucepan. You can completely cover with the lid the first hour and then half cover for the time remaining.

Et voilà! Cut into quarters and serve hot.