black lentils with marinated beets + feta

Plans can be tricky. I really like to have them and I like to make them, but keeping them can be difficult. We’ve talked about menu plans which are notorious for needing flexibility. Things happen, people get tired, leftovers need to be consumed. I try to be open to change in our weekly menu and even build it in by having a free night or a night just for leftovers, however when we’ve got people coming to dinner, I really like to have a solid plan, which is to say, I need one to stay sane. Last weekend we had a flurry of visitors, all at the last minute which for me, is so much fun. I’m so happy that people feel like our house is a place where they can just drop in and crash for a night and they know they’ll be welcome. If you know me at all, you know that in these scenarios, I go a little overboard. I switch our toddlers room to a guest room (I set it up to function that way), I go into hyper clean mode and I always offer dinner.

Deciding what to make for dinner guests can be a whole thing for me. I want to make something a little impressive, but not too difficult to execute and it needs to be something that won’t have me stuck in the kitchen all night (although, let’s be honest, with a toddler, those kinds of meals are basically a thing of the past). I usually give it a lot of thought, almost always falling back on some of the dishes I’ve made over and over like a roast chicken or lamb meatballs, but when it’s last minute, I’ve got to just make something. Sometimes, these end up being my favorite meals. Having to just use what I have and forcing myself to get creative sometimes pays off and occasionally it doesn’t. This time, I’m happy that it did.

This lentil salad was my favorite dish from our meal this weekend. I had already roasted and marinated beets a few days prior so all I needed to do was cook some lentils. It ended up being beautiful and even better, delicious. The recipe will give you more beets than you need, but they’re so good you might just snack on them out of the container. Put them on salads, chop them fine and sprinkle them over toast slathered with ricotta or make the best veggie sandwich ever.

Note: The beets need to marinate overnight so you'll need to start this recipe a day ahead.

black lentils with marinated beets + feta // serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup black lentils, picked over and rinsed
2 cups water
3 medium yellow beets
3 medium purple beets
2 shallots, minced
olive oil
sherry vinegar
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
scant 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
6 ounces sheep’s milk feta, cut into 1/2” cubes
1/4 cup raw walnuts
dill for garnish

Preparation:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees with a rack in the middle. Remove the green tops from the beets and scrub clean under cool water. Place the yellow beets in the middle of a sheet of foil, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt. Wrap the foil up around the beets and secure at the top, making a packet. Repeat with the purple beets. Place the foil packets onto a sheet pan and roast for one hour. Remove the beets from the oven and let cool for about 5-10 minutes. Unwrap the packets and place each beet under cool water and rub off the skin. Set aside on a large cutting board, not letting the purple beets touch the yellow ones. You can use two separate cutting boards if you'd like.
In a small bowl, add a 1/2 cup olive oil and 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar. Add the shallots and season liberally with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Slice the beets into wedges and place in two separate air tight containers (otherwise the yellow beets will turn red). Divide the vinaigrette between the two containers and marinate overnight in the refrigerator. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before using.
Add the water and lentils to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and bring to a low simmer. Cook until lentils are cooked but still have a bite to them, about 20 minutes. Drain the lentils if there is still water in the pot and season with a small glug of olive and a splash of vinegar. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
While the lentils are cooking, toast the walnuts in a dry medium skillet over medium high heat for about 3-4 minutes. Be careful to not turn your back on them, they’ll burn quickly. Let cool and then chop coarsely or just break them apart with your hands.
Divide the lentils among four bowls and top with both red and yellow beets. Add feta, red onion, sprinkle with walnuts and dill. Spoon over some of the vinaigrette left in the beet containers.

I quit my job two months before our son was due. We had decided I would stay home with him until it made sense for me to go back to work. It was a decision we did not make lightly, especially because living on one income in the San Francisco Bay Area is just straight crazy. We live in the land of million dollar 900 square foot houses and everyone knows somebody who sold their three person start up for a whole lot of money. The weather is pretty much always perfect and within an hour we can be in San Francisco or on the beach in Santa Cruz. If that isn't enough, our dearest friends are here as well as half of our family. For many of our friends who have become parents in the last year, the weather just wasn't enough to keep them here and I can't say I blame them. It's certainly difficult to make ends meet, especially on one income.

When we were working out our one income budget, we knew we would have to adjust our lifestyle. Birthday dinners would be a pizza night at home instead of a fancy restaurant with six of our friends. Travel would be less frequent, if much at all and we would have to tighten the reigns on all of our monthly budget items, including the grocery bill. That was not an easy task for me. I love grocery shopping. Going to Whole Foods is therapeutic for me (although bringing a toddler along makes it less so). I can spend upwards of two hours walking the aisles, adding things to my cart that look interesting as well as executing a loose list of regular items. We cook a lot at home and we do our best to buy organic whenever possible, which includes the meat we buy and all of that adds up, fast. I started menu planning and making detailed shopping lists and did my best to limit waste. Overall, we have made it all work somehow and I'm so grateful I've had this time with my son. The next kid might not get that luxury. Sorry future kiddo, mommy does love you.

At the end of the week, I try to plan for meals that can use up what I have left in the fridge, so we tend to have some kind of stir fry, pasta or quinoa bowl. This week, we had a bag of frozen shrimp stuffed way back in the depths of the freezer and some bacon that needed to be used as well as a bowl of cooked quinoa and some herbs. I thought that all sounded like it would go pretty well together, and man, they really really do.

smoky quinoa with shrimp + bacon

serves four as a side dish

Ingredients:

2 cups quinoa, rinsed
8 ounces medium sized shrimp, thawed if frozen, shelled
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
pinch of red pepper flakes
5 pieces of bacon
1/4 cilantro, leaves only
1/4 cup diced red onion

For vinaigrette:

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
juice of one small lemon
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/4 cup olive oil

Preparation:

Bring two cups of water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Add quinoa and reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Transfer cooked quinoa to a large bowl.
In a medium bowl toss shrimp with the smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, cumin and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Set aside.
Cook bacon over medium heat in a large skillet until crisp. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. When the bacon is cool enough to handle, chop it into 1/2 inch pieces.
Wipe out the skillet, leaving a small amount of bacon grease in the pan. Bring the pan the medium high heat. Add the shrimp, and cook until starting to turn opaque, about two minutes. Flip the shrimp over and cook for 30 seconds. Turn the heat off and allow the shrimp to finish cooking in the residual heat of the pan, about one more minute.
Add shrimp, bacon, red onion, cilantro and 3 tablespoons of the vinaigrette (reserve the rest for another use) to the quinoa. Toss to combine and serve.