Iceberg to Arugula

On any given day I can pratter on endlessly about certain foods: gelato that makes my taste buds pirouette in anticipation, stinky cheeses that stop just short of making me wince or plump, sweet blackberries just plucked from creek fed beds on a hot day.

Today? It’s lentils.

Lentils you say?? Aren’t those a bit uhm….boring in comparison? Allow me to backpedal a bit. I like beans and we eat them fairly frequently in our house in soups, dips and stews. Most of the time, I use the canned varieties for the sake of speed in pulling a meal together. However, I do find that beans cooked from the dried (or fresh) state tend to have better flavor and texture than the canned ones. However, dried beans need to be soaked for a time before using and even the quick soak method can be longer than I want to wait when I’m making dinner on a busy weeknight. (Though if you do happen to have the time check out the dry bean cooking tips over at Kitchen Therapy).

The lentil has something great going for it that beans don’t: they are the Speedy Petes of the legume world. From a nutrition standpoint, much like beans, lentils have a lot going for them. They’re loaded with folic acid and fiber (trust me, your heart LOVES that!)

There are several varieties of lentils, some of which are pictured above (red, French Green and brown). Like beans, lentils themselves have have a very mild flavor. The magic happens when they are cooked with other ingredients, they take on the flavors of the rest of the dish. Since they are small and lens shaped, they also contribute welcome texture to many dishes and in true speedy fashion, there is no soaking required. Just add them during the cooking process as you would pasta and cook until tender. Before using lentils, spread them out on a white dish towel or plate and remove any non-lentil interlopers such as tiny stones or other grains.

During the winter months, I like to keep my freezer stocked with hearty soups and stews to help get dinner on the table quickly during the week. This Lentil Soup is generally camping out somewhere near my Ben and Jerry’s stash. I like to serve this as a dinner entree with fresh fruit or salad and a really good loaf of bread with garlic spiked butter.

Lentil Soup

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 carrots, trimmed, peeled and sliced

2 ribs celery, trimmed and sliced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

2 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes

2 tsp dried thyme

1 cup dry lentils (any kind will work)

4 cups low sodium beef or vegetable stock

1 smoked ham hock (optional)

1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1. In a large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat and add onions, carrots, celery, garlic and thyme. Cover pot. Stir occasionally and if vegetables begin to turn brown, stir and reduce heat to medium-low.

2. When vegetables are tender, add tomatoes, stock, lentils and ham hock (if using)

3. Stir soup and turn heat up to high until soup is boiling, then reduce heat and simmer until lentils are tender, about 30-40 minutes.

4. Remove soup from heat and extract the ham hock if using. Cut as much meat from the ham hock as possible, cut into bite sized pieces and add back to the soup.

5. Add salt and pepper to taste and stir in Balsamic vinegar.

Makes about 8 cups. Freezes well (use within 3 months).

I love to write about food, hence the blog. I also love reading the words of truly talented food writers. “Truly talented” in my opinion means going beyond recipes: I crave the works of writers who make me see, smell, feel and taste the food just with their words. This is the type of writer I aspire to be. 

Truly good food writing celebrates food not only as art, but as something that is worthy of eating mindfully (that is, paying attention to each bite with deep enjoyment). Generally this level of food writing focuses on higher quality foods. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not referring to only foofy foods like Foie Gras and Caviar. I’m also referring to foods that are thoughtfully prepared or harvested- the lustily perfumed peach left on the tree until perfectly ripe, a buttery roasted chicken or even a moist, tender herbaceous meatloaf.

Think about it, it’s much more likely that such talented prose would be applied to a thoughtfully prepared dish than to a Big Mac. Not to pick on the Big Mac or McDonald’s for that matter, but fast food is so ubiquitous in our culture that to write an essay extolling whatever virtues the “two all beef patties” might have would frankly be sort of comical. It could be done…. but why?  Do you typically eat a fast food burger slowly and thoughtfully dissecting the flavor and texture of each bite? Or do you cram it down your gullet as fast as you can because that’s what you eat everyday and (OMG) you only have a 30 minute lunch break?

Some of my favorite food writers include Madhur Jaffrey and Ruth Reichl (who can make me drool over sea urchin even though this is something I’d never normally consider eating.)  

Over at Dianne Jacob’s Blog “Will Write For Food”, she offered a 150-word food writing challenge to her readers entitled How Sensuous Can You Be? 

Here’s my entry:

Horizontal shards of heat rose from the road as the brutal sun mercilessly bleached everything the color of sand. Parched and exhausted, I slipped inside the cool thick stucco walls seduced by the perfume of warmed olive oil and herbs.

A young waiter appeared as I strained to adjust to the dim interior. He offered cool wine and dark sultry comeliness. The wine, lusty and sanguineous swirled seductively in my glass yielding tendrils of deep black cherry, caressing my nose. Raising the glass, I allowed the liquid to languidly bathe my tongue.

Unable to understand the language of the menu, I merely pointed. Soon, plump, chewy twists of pasta arrived at my table bathed in a pool of steaming brodo. The pasta resisted slightly at first, but then yielded its soft, buttery cargo and there it was… the very definition of al dente!

Pasta, for me, was never the same.

This entry recounts an experience I had in Italy a few years ago at a little hole in the wall family restaurant just outside the walls of the Vatican. The tortellini dish was very humble, but triggered a deeply visceral wow moment for me. The food we eat permeates our bodies and ultimately is assimilated to become part of us. Frankly, other than sex, I cannot think of anything more deeply intimate. Great food writing honors that.

How sensual can you be? If you love good food writing, give Dianne’s contest a try. Deadline is Jan 16th.

Okay, so who wants to eat a meal at a table full of Registered Dietitians?

Anyone?  Hello????

(Crickets chirping off in the distance)

If you read my last post, oh so long ago (yeah, I know, my New Year’s resolution is to try to get back to posting weekly), I had a recipe for Vanilla Custard French Toast with Butter Pecan Syrup. I had many comments from friends, family and readers about how this looked good but complained because it was not “healthy” or “Dietitian-y” enough.

So that got me thinking: those of you who are not RD’s. What do you suppose it is we dietitians eat?

I was speaking recently with some RD colleagues of mine about how many of the culinary and “foodie” glitterati (including Julia Child, Michael Pollan and Alice Waters) have expressed subtle to overt distain for dietitians at one time or another. 

At it’s most basic, the job of an RD is to help foster optimal health via advising the public or other healthcare professionals on consumption of nutrients. That said, consulting with an RD is the best way to help you eat better. However, the unspoken pervasive misconception is that healthy eating means you must sacrifice flavor and enjoyment of your food. It’s the “if it tastes good, it’s not good for you” mentality. Dietitians are guilty by association.

This line of thinking has always really bugged me as I happen to be both a flagrant foodie and Registered Dietitian. So today I’m going to toss my two cents into the stock pot.

Years ago when I was a hospital dietitian, I would eat lunch with the rest of the RD’s in my department. Usually the group of us would take up most of one cafeteria table with maybe 1-2 chairs left over. On occasion, someone from another department might join us though this was very rare. This did not go unnoticed by the group of us as we speculated the thoughts of our fellow colleagues in the lunch room:

1. They were afraid that their lunches were not healthy enough and would not measure up….because of course as RD’s we MUST be eating boiled tofu balls and wheat grass right????

2. Good luck trying to find a salt shaker on THAT table!

3. The fear that we would be heartlessly callous, criticize and berate the unfortunate guest’s lunch choices: “OMG…. what a crappy lunch, do you even have a clue that you are not even REMOTELY meeting your needs for Molybdenum???? Fool!!!”

What were we really eating? Foods just like everyone else, pizza, spaghetti, sandwiches, salads and soup and on occasion (gasp!) cookies or ice cream!

So, can I speak for all RD’s here? Of course not, but the majority of the ones I know (and I know quite a few!) eat very normal healthy diets.*  Typically these RD’s:

1. DON’T eat the same amount of calories everyday. To be frank, that’s just not natural.

2. Don’t obsess about the fact that they ate a calorie laden meal. They enjoy it wholeheartedly the way it was intended to be enjoyed and move on. As an aside, I happen to love ice cream and my husband is well aware that I occasionally have a torrid affair going on with not one man but two….Ben and Jerry.** 

3. They know how to prepare simple tasty meals and prepare meals at home more often than they buy them. Check out Cooking Healthy Across America by the American Dietetic Association Food and Culinary Professionals Practice group for ideas.

4. Find delicious and inventive ways to work fruit, vegetables, whole grains and beans into their diets.

5. Realize that the best “diet” is the one you can comfortably live with for the rest of your life.

A good dietitian can help you walk the line of balance and eat not out of fear but out of abundance and variety. Want to eat better but don’t know where to start? Find one of us here today.

*When I use the term “diet” here I am not referring to weight loss. Diet is simply a term referring to the typical way one eats.

**Nope, didn’t get paid for saying that.