LaJunta Lentil Bake with Caramelized Carrots

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seymour
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LaJunta Lentil Bake with Caramelized Carrots

Post by seymour » Fri Feb 14, 2014 3:19 am

LaJunta Lentil Bake

Adapted from a Simply Colorado recipe, serves about 6. It's very cheap, easy, and healthy, using mostly dry or canned ingredients you already have on hand.

1 1/2 cup - lentils
4 cups - water (or less, it all depends on the size of your pot)
1 cup - beer
qty 2 - bay leaves
3 Tbsp - dry chopped onions, divided
1 tsp - dry ground sage
1 can - diced tomatoes (with seasonings or not, it's your call)
3 oz (1/2 can, typically) - tomato paste
1 1/2 cup - shredded white cheese, divided (just blend together whatever you've got)
1 Tbsp - grated parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp - flour
qty 3 - eggs
2 tsp - basil
1 tsp - oregano
1 Tbsp - bread crumbs (again, seasoned or not, your call)

Preheat oven. Combine lentils, water, beer, bay leaves, 1 Tbsp onions and sage. Bring to a boil, then simmer with lid ajar for 20 minutes or so. I used a nice, neutral Kolsch, but any kinda beer will do.

Meanwhile in a large bowl, combine all remaining ingredients except 1/2 cup cheese and bread crumbs. When lentils are done (if you've never cooked them before, the baggie always has basic instructions), stir them into the big bowl while still hot in order to melt everything together in a nice casserole consistency. Once thickened, pour it all into an oiled baking dish. Sprinkle remaining cheese and bread crumbs on top, hit it with a little cooking spray if you've got it, then bake at 350 F for 45-60 minutes, or until nice and golden brown.

Since you've already got a hot oven going, and some time to kill, let's make a nice side dish too:


Caramelized Baked Carrots

qty 6 or so - carrots
1 Tbsp - brown sugar (same stuff you use in Ditch Stout will suffice)
1 Tbsp - cooking oil
1 Tbsp - freshly grated orange zest (afterwards you might even finish peeling the orange segments to have with dinner too)

Peel carrots and slice diagonally in order to make the pieces as wide as possible. Scatter in oiled casserole dish and microwave awhile to soften. Meanwhile, using a cheese grater or zesting tool, scrape-off the outer skin of an orange. A lemon, clementine, grapefruit, etc, would work fine too. Stir the brown sugar and zest into carrot slices, adding a little more oil to coat if necessary. Cover and bake with your lentil casserole for the same amount of time. It's not an exact science, this'll be delicious at any stage.

Image
Making sure I've got everything before I go too far

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Simmering lentils

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Stirring-up the carrots

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Come and get it!

crafty john

Re: LaJunta Lentil Bake with Caramelized Carrots

Post by crafty john » Fri Feb 14, 2014 9:12 pm

That looks awesome mate, I bloody love lentils. I only know a handful of people that will eat lentils, they have a strange stigma attached to them here in blighty. I will definitely be trying it mate =P~ :D

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Re: LaJunta Lentil Bake with Caramelized Carrots

Post by seymour » Fri Feb 14, 2014 10:21 pm

Cool, let me know how it goes. Like you said, it's one of those things where if you don't say lentils, most anyone will like it. The texture is more like Mexican lasagna or shepherd's pie.

JimJiminy

Re: LaJunta Lentil Bake with Caramelized Carrots

Post by JimJiminy » Wed Dec 03, 2014 10:09 pm

Much like CJ I bloody love lentils. Made this for dinner tonight, and it was gurt lush, as we say round here! Cheers seymour.

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Re: LaJunta Lentil Bake with Caramelized Carrots

Post by seymour » Thu Dec 04, 2014 3:03 pm

JimJiminy wrote:Much like CJ I bloody love lentils. Made this for dinner tonight, and it was gurt lush, as we say round here! Cheers seymour.
Gurt lush, eh? Glad to hear it, and cheers to you too!

-Seymour

nursebetty

Re: LaJunta Lentil Bake with Caramelized Carrots

Post by nursebetty » Wed May 27, 2015 2:45 pm

My mouth is watering just reading the recipe
Can you add say pasta penne to this dish to give the texture a coarse feel?

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Re: LaJunta Lentil Bake with Caramelized Carrots

Post by seymour » Wed May 27, 2015 3:45 pm

Sure. Or better yet, use lots more beer and cook it down to a rich reduction sauce to serve over your penne pasta. Mmmm...

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Re: LaJunta Lentil Bake with Caramelized Carrots

Post by seymour » Wed May 27, 2015 3:48 pm

Oh, and if you're a clever vegetarian, you could use whole wheat penne, which combines with these legumes to become a perfect protein!

nursebetty

Re: LaJunta Lentil Bake with Caramelized Carrots

Post by nursebetty » Thu May 28, 2015 9:48 am

I was a vegetarian years back and then went back to meat
Mind you I eat mostly just vegetables or soup and eat Chicken every now and again

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Re: LaJunta Lentil Bake with Caramelized Carrots

Post by simple one » Thu May 28, 2015 10:34 pm

After the reviews, I will be making this too. Cheers lads/lasses.

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