Soup Week 42 - Grandma Lou's Lentils

Grandma Lou is a good cook, and she has the lentils to prove it.

Grandma Lou (aka Louise McDougall) farms with her family near Moose Jaw. They have packaged their lentils, chickpeas and flax under the label of Grandma Lou's, complete with recipes.

I made Grandma Lou's lentil soup, but since I can't stand to follow recipes, I substituted chanterelle mushrooms for the potatoes and instead of celery, I used carrots (orange and yellow), then spiced it with a bit of cumin. Voila - délicieux!

Check out Grandma Lou's website for purchasing information.

A humbling experience

It's rather humbling when a chef decides to cook your recipe and it turns out way better in the chef's hands!

Chef Moe Mathieu and his sous chef Lindsay featured the lentil salad from my book Prairie Feast  at an event at the Saskatoon Farmers' Market yesterday. But he jazzed it up with extra lemon juice, a piece of Saskatchewan perch en papillote (in parchment paper), a drizzle of cucumber juice and by cooking the lentils in duck stock. (Like we all have duck stock idling in the frigo.)

The event was sponsored by the Saskatchewan Environmental Society as an opportunity to promote its upcoming Sustainable Gourmet dinner on October 2. I read from Prairie Feast, Moe and Lindsay cooked (well mostly Lindsay, as Moe is on crutches these days...) and we all ate very well.

Here's shot of Lindsay chopping cilantro. Did you know (according to Moe) that half the population likes cilantro and the other half hates it? I'm definitely in the like category!

Photos courtesy Judy Montgonery of the SES.

Lentil and Cucumber Salad

2 cups cooked lentils
1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro or parsley, chopped
1 cup cucumber, diced
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Dressing
1/2 tsp each cumin, coriander, mustard seeds and peppercorns
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp salt

To make the dressing, toast the whole seeds in a hot dry frying pan. Grind them to a powder in a spice grinder. Whisk the spices with the other dressing ingredients and stir into the lentils. Make this ahead of time so the flavours have plenty of time to mix and mingle. Just before serving, mix the lentils with the other salad ingredients.

PS: Lentils should be cooked until they are just soft to the bite. A nice middle ground between crunch and mush. Depending on the type of lentil, this will proabably take 20-30 minutes. The liquid can be water or stock (meat or vegetable), with a bay leaf or a sage leaf for flavouring.

Make the dressing while the lentils are cooking. After draining the water, mix the dressing into the warm lentils for maximum absorption of the flavours. Cool the lentils before adding the rest of the ingredients. At the end, Moe added a good dose of lemon juice for extra zing.

Soup Week 14 - Lamb and Three Lentil

This week's soup is Lamb and Three Lentil - brown, green and little red lentils. All grown in Saskatchewan, of course.

Technique:
Chop one onion, several cloves of garlic and a few carrots. Saute on medium low in a couple big glugs of canola oil until soft. While cooking, stir in dried crumbled sage and thyme.

Add the lentils - about two cups in total, maybe a bit more. Turn up the heat to medium. Stir lentils so they're well coated with onins and oil until they're shiney and starting to stick to the bottom of the pot.

Add a meaty lamb bone. Cover generously with water (I used homemade lamb broth). Boil, then turn heat down to a simmer for an hour to more. Skim the foam off the top a couple of times. Add more water as it cooks down. After a good simmer, turn off the heat and cool soup down. Remove the lamb; pull the meat off the bone, cut into small pieces and put the meat back into the soup.

Reheat the soup. Flavour with salt and pepper to you taste. Yummm.

Lentils win gold at Olympics

I hear that Saskatchewan lentils are a big hit at the Olympics in Vancouver! This might explain why the Saskatchewan pavillion is so popular.

Lentil burgers are on offer in the pavillion and extra goodies are being handed out at the pulse kiosk. (Pulse is the technical word to describe lentils, chickpeas, peas and beans.)


February 25 is lentil day at the Saskatchewan Pavillion with the addition of a Greek lentil salad.

Amanda Olekson of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers reports: "We have recipe booklets and a lentil brochure with information on the health benefits of lentils that we are going through like crazy, as well as a sheet listing where you can buy lentil based products and lentils in Canada."

Here's a picture from the lentil kiosk at the Olympics. Go Lentils!

Brad Wall likes chickpeas

Brad Wall has publically divulged his passion for chickpeas. And so he should, seeing as he hails from prime chickpea growing country. In the latest issue of PulsePoint magazine, the premier of Saskatchewan divulges his family's favourite chickpea recipe: Mediterranean Chickpea Salad. I made it and it's delicious (although, given the season, I substituted fresh herbs for dried). Read all about it here.

"Saskatchewan chickpeas are Number 1," declared the Premier (at least, that's what I think he was saying at the moment this image was shot).

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The same issue of PulsePoint included an article about my love affair with pulses, including sample menues. You can read it here.

Local chickpeas and lentils

I've just discovered a neat little shop on Central Avenue in Sutherland which stocks a good supply of Saskatchewan-grown lentils and chickpeas under the label Kashmir Valley. The store is called Medina Foods and Halal Meats. (Halal food is prepared according to Islamic law). It's small but friendly and full of things you won't find in a regular grocery store. As for Kashmir Valley, it's packaged and sold by Diefenbaker Seed Processors of Elbow. Medina Foods is at 800 Central Avenue (the NW corner of Central and 108th).

LENTIL SPROUT WRAP

We got back from vacation five days ago, just long enough to grow a batch of lentil sprouts. We didn't have a lot of food in the fridge (I was too busy to shop, if you can believe that!) so I created this easy and healthy sandwich filling with Saskatchewan ingredients we had on hand.

2 tsp minced onion
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp plain yogurt
1/4 tsp each cumin and coriander
dash of salt and a few grinds of pepper
1/2 cup lentil sprouts
3 hard cooked eggs, chopped

Mix everything together. Serve in a whole wheat wrap. (Note: we made 3 wraps with this amount of filling.) To grow your own lentil sprouts, see the instructions here.

Fresh greens - GROW YOUR OWN LENTIL SPROUTS

Is it -30 again?!#%? I might go crazy if not for that spot of green growing in my kitchen window. Sprouts are an excellent way to get fresh greens in the dead of a Saskatchewan winter. It takes about 5 days to grow a batch of sprouts. Here's a batch of lentils on Day 1: Soak for a couple hours in a jar of water. These are ordinary brown lentils purchased from the grocery store.

Day 2: Sprouts are rinsed and drained twice a day.

Day 4: nicely sprouted

Day 5: Eat!

Got a pulse?

Here's Chef Simon Reynolds cooking up a hill of beans at the annual Pulse Days in Saskatoon.

(Pulse is the name for a class of edible legumes including beans, chickpeas, lentils and dried peas.)

Can you guess these muffins are full of beans?

What did I learn at Pulse Days?

▪ Saskatchewan is the world's second largest producer of pulse crops.

▪ India is the only country that grows more pulse crops than Canada.

▪ India is also Canada's biggest pulse customer.

▪ Indians are eating fewer pulses than before.

▪ Canada is looking for new markets for our pulses.

▪ Have you had your pulse lately?

Pulse facts - with recipes

In case you were wondering...

Here are some facts about the recent travels of Canadian pulse crops, most of which were grown in Saskatchewan:

• Pulse crops include peas, dry beans, lentils and chickpeas. (Pictured: product from Diefenbaker Seeds)


• About 25% are used here at home. Brand names for processed beans, lentils and chickpeas include Primo, Unico, Clic and Heinz.


• The remaining 75% of pulse crops travel to more than 170 countires.


• 90% of split peas go to India. Top countires for the remaining 10% are China, Cuba, Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, U.S., South Africa, Pakistan, Columbia and Belgium.


• 50% of dry beans go to the U.S. and U.K. The remaining top ten customers are Angola, Italy, Dominican Republic, Japan, Portugal, Greece, Chile and Mexico.


• 50% of chickpeas go to the U.S., U.K., Italy, Pakistan and Spain. The next top five are Jordan, India, Columbia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Chickpeas go to about 60 countires.


• 45% of lentils go to Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Egypt and Columbia. The rest go to 92 other countires.


• In 2007, this export was valued at more than $1.3 billion.

These stats come from the January 2009 edition of Pulse Point, magazine of the Saskatchewan pulse industry. Read the full article here.

I also have an article in this edition of Pulse Point on the fabulous cherry chickpea chocolate. Read it here. There's also a page of recipes -- I'll definately be trying the mixed slaw with apples and lentils.

Newspaper Column - MUSHROOM AND LENTIL SOUP

Published in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, 15 September 2008.

Eating locally can cut the miles on the food we eat, but it certainly hasn’t cut the mileage on my car. There is no “one stop shopping” for local food, so filling the larder requires some creative logistics and more than one trip. For instance, for a couple of weeks in August, I was a regular at the STC bus depot in Saskatoon. I was there to pick up a relatively rare and coveted commodity: chanterelle mushrooms from the woods near Nipawin. About sixty pounds in all, most of which I resold to family and friends.

For a couple of years, I drove to La Ronge to search for wild mushrooms. Given that I wasn’t all that successful, the STC method provided a lot more mushrooms for a lot
less miles. In the past, I have driven into the country to pick sour cherries at a u-pick farm, but this year, my friend Judith went to France for a month and invited me to pick her cherry tree while she was gone.
However, I did get down Valley Road once to pick strawberries and twice for wild saskatoons. My family owns a piece of prairie on the Saskatchewan River where, after picking our fill of saskatoons, we shared a picnic on a high bluff with spectacular views.

In recent years, I’ve been to a fish farm, a spice farm, a salt mine, a bison ranch, a blueberry festival and a flour mill. I don’t mind driving all over God’s green acres in the pursuit of food. It’s a lot more fun and a lot more scenic than a trip to the grocery store, and it’s great to meet the people who produce the food I eat. There is a growing controversy about food miles and the assumption that closer is always better for the environment. Food that is shipped in large quantities in fuel-efficient trucks might emit less greenhouse gas than something produced locally and brought to the city once a week in an old gas-guzzling jalopy.

On top of that, the distance travelled is just one factor in the equation. Other processes can contribute to the carbon footprint such as whether the food is produced organically (less fossil fuels) or refrigerated for a long time (more fossil fuels). To illustrate this point, a study found that grass-fed lamb raised in New Zealand and shipped to England had a smaller carbon footprint than grain-fed lamb raised in England. Another researcher calculated that it takes less fossil fuel to fly beans from Kenya to England than to grow them in England, in part because Kenyan farmers work the land by hand, not big machines, and fertilize with natural manure (synthetic fertilizers are made with fossil fuels).

So, in terms of the environmental footprint, is it better to buy local greenhouse lettuce in winter or imported organic lettuce grown in warmer climes? I’m not sure, and frankly, I’m not counting.

There are other good reasons to eat locally. Local food is usually fresher, healthier and tastes better. I meet the people who produce my food and ask questions about how it was grown or raised, what’s been added to it, where it was butchered or when it was picked. Every dollar I spend stays in the local economy supporting farm families. It also encourages local processors, which creates jobs in the community, and it builds a sense of interest and pride in what Saskatchewan agriculture has to offer here at home and around the world. And every now and then, I have an excuse to jump in my car, get out of the city and go for a little drive.

If you’re interested in local food and environmental issues, check out the annual Sustainable Gourmet Dinner Oct. 4 in Saskatoon, where I’ll be a guest speaker. Details are available here.

Curried Mushroom and Lentil Soup
1 tbsp canola oil
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp ginger root, minced
1 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp dried thyme
2 cups Saskatchewan lentils
8 cups chicken stock or water
Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a soup pot. Sauté the onion, garlic and ginger until soft. Add the mushrooms, curry powder and thyme. When the mushrooms begin to wilt stir in the lentils, coating them well with the oil and spices. Cook, stirring until all the moisture has been absorbed. Add the chicken stock (or water). Simmer until the lentils are cooked, about an hour. Add more liquid if the soup gets too thick. Season with salt and pepper to your taste.

Delivery service - LENTIL AND CUCUMBER SALAD

There was a bit of a bottleneck at our house this week. Marc Loiselle dropped by with a bag of Red Fife Wheat, just as Al Bennett arrived with 20 dozen eggs and a whole bunch of ground beef. I had to do some tricky rearranging in the freezer, because the next day Karen Dale delivered six chickens. Well, I could only get five into the freezer, which meant we had chicken for supper. I just love it when the grocery store comes to me!

LENTIL AND CUCUMBER SALAD
2 cups cooked lentils
¼ cup green onions, thinly sliced
¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped (or parsley)
1 cup diced cucumber
¼ cup crumbled feta cheese

Dressing
½ tsp each cumin, coriander, mustard seeds and peppercorns
2 tbsp vegetable oil
½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
½ tsp salt

Mix together the lentils and other salad ingredients. Dressing: toast the whole seeds in a dry frying pan. Grind in a spice grinder or mortar. Mix with the other dressing ingredients and stir into lentils.

Week 50 - SPICY LENTIL AND WILD RICE SOUP

Saskatchewan Menu of the Week – 27 March 2006

Breakfast – Yogurt with cherries
Lunch – Leftover homemade pizza
Dinner – Spicy Lentil Soup

SPICY LENTIL SOUP
Nothing chases away the end of winter like a cracking fire and a pot of soup! I used lentils from the Cerridwen Farm at Medstead, wild rice from La Ronge, and tomatoes from my own garden (frozen last fall). I also used my own paprika (which I made by grinding several hot Hungarian peppers) and coriander seeds. The lemon peel isn’t from Saskatchewan, of course, but I pickled it myself.

2 cups crimson lentils
1 cup wild rice
1/4 cup canola oil
1 stalk celery, cut into a small dice
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 large carrots, peeled, cut into a small dice
10 roma tomatoes (thawed and peeled)
3 tbsp. tomato paste
several cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp. paprika
1 tbsp. cumin
1 tbsp. crushed coriander seeds
salt, pepper, cayenne pepper to taste
10 cups vegetable stock (or water)
1 piece pickled lemon peel (or fresh peel) - optional
plain yogurt
fresh chopped cilantro

Rinse the lentils and wild rice. Soak covered in water for one hour. Drain.

Heat the oil in a soup pot on medium heat. Sauté the onions, celery and carrots. When they are soft, add the garlic, tomatoes and tomato paste. Cook lightly, stirring, about 5 minutes. Stir in the spices: paprika, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.

Add the drained lentils and wild rice. Cook, stirring, as the grains soak up the liquid and absorb the flavour of the spices. When the grains are hot and starting to stick to the pot, add the liquid. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Lower the heat, cover the pot and simmer until the grains are cooked, about 45 minutes.

Before serving, remove the lemon peel and add more spices as necessary to create the level heat that you like. Ladle soup into bowls, top with a dollop of plain yogurt and sprinkle with chopped cilantro.

Cerridwen Farm

In the last 20 eyars, Saskatchewan has become one of the world's leading producers of lentils, chickpeas and split peas. The problem is, most people in Saskatchewan don't eat lentils, chickpeas and spilt peas. In fact, many pulse farmers don't eat the food they produce! It's shipped right off to markets overseas.

This is the experience of Cerridwen Farms of Medstead. The bulk of their organic pulse crops are sold in British Columbia in areas populated by immigrants from the South East Asia sho eat pulses every day. I put in a big order through Canada Post, which was delivered right to my door

Pronounced CARE-i-den, the name is a Celtic word referring to the moon and the harvest. The farm is a collaboration of the Dank and Haubold families. They sell many other products, including stoneground flours and mixes for pancakes and muffins.
306-342-4945.

Prairies North - LENTIL ANTIPASTO

Prairies North - Summer 2005.

I like to buy food in unlikely places. Recently, I bought pinto beans at a flea market. I bought wild rice in a gas station. I’ve purchased frozen fish fillets from the trunk of a car. Why? Because sometimes good Saskatchewan foods are not to be found in the grocery store. Sometimes, you have to get it from the source.

The other day, the postman knocked on my door with a package.

"It’s a heavy one," he warned me.

"I know," I said. "It’s lentils."

He gave me a curious look as I heaved the box into the house. I ordered the lentils through the mail from Cerridwen Farms at Medstead, which is north of the Battlefords. The Dunk and Haubold families are producing organic lentils, peas, wheat, barley, and flax, plus they sell mixes for pancakes and muffins using ingredients off their farm.

I am a big fan of their lentils and split peas, which I buy in bulk about once a year through the mail. Sure, it might be easier to buy them in a grocery store, but then I could not be assured they’re from Saskatchewan. My goal is to eat foods from Saskatchewan whenever possible – to buy locally, support the farmers directly, and spend my food dollar close to home.

It’s a struggle for Cerridwen Farms. (Pronounced CARE-i-den, a Celtic word referring to the moon and the harvest.) They sell their products locally in grocery stores in Medstead, Glaslyn, Spiritwood, and Rabbit Lake, and they ship to stores in Nelson and Cranbrook in British Columbia.

The problem is, there just aren’t enough people in Saskatchewan to form a solid customer base for organic foods, and for lentils in particular, which are not part of the traditional prairie cuisine. It’s too bad we don’t eat more lentils here. That fact is the whole world is eating lentils from Saskatchewan. Since it started as an experimental crop in 1980s, Saskatchewan has become one of the world’s largest producers of lentils. Most of the harvest is shipped to countries like Columbia, Egypt, India, Sri Lanka, France, and Spain.

"In the lower mainland of BC, there is the cultural mix of people who are more into peas and lentils," says Dave Dunk. "Lentils as a rule don’t sell well locally, and that’s basically because in our culture, lentils haven’t been a big dish in the past."

Well, it’s time to change that, one dish at a time. Here is a recipe from Italy for lentil antipasto. Antipasto means "before the meal" so this dish would be served as an appetizer with crusty bread and a platter of marinated vegetables, cold meats, and Italian cheese.

Lentil Antipasto
1 cup lentils
2 sprigs of fresh oregano
4 slices bacon
2 stalks celery, finely sliced
1 red onion chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
more fresh oregano, chopped

Cook the lentils in boiling water with the oregano sprigs until the lentils are just tender to the bite (15-20 minutes). If you don’t have fresh Saskatchewan oregano, used dried. Drain and rinse the lentils, discarding the oregano.

Cook the bacon until it starts to crisp. Drain on paper towels and crumble. Mix all the ingredients together. Season with salt and pepper and more oregano to taste. Serve at room temperature on a bed of lettuce leaves or spoon onto fresh bread.

Week 3 - FOUR GRAIN SOUP

Saskatchewan Menu of the Week - April 30.

Breakfast - Two scrambled eggs and toast with honey.
Lunch - Yogurt, apple and cheddar cheese.
Dinner - Four Grain Soup with crusty buns.

Saskatchewan Four Grain Soup
This is a superb soup for a cool day. My recipe doesn't call for meat, but you can add cooked sausage or shredded beef to make a heartier soup. Conversely, if you want a vegetarian soup, replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock or water.

1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, diced
2 tbsp canola oil
1 spt dried thyme
1/3 cup wheat seeds
1/3 cup lentils
1/3 cup wild rice
1/3 cup pearl barley
1 can tomatoes (I used 12 roma tomatoes from my freezer, thawed)
6 cups chicken stock
Salt and pepper

Sauté the onions and carrots in canola oil until softened. Add the crumbled thyme. Stir in the wheat, lentils, wild rice and barley, coating the grains in oil. Turn up the heat to medium high and cook, stirring frequently, until the moisture is absorbed and the grains begin to stick to the pot.

Add the tomatoes and stir to incorporate. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the grains are soft, about 45 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Sources: Wheat from my family farm; wild rice from La Ronge; pearl barley from Daybreak Scheresky Mill; lentils from Cerredwin Farm; carrots from the Sakatoon Farmers' Market; my own garden thyme and tomatoes; homemade chicken stock.