French Lentil & Mushroom Patty
In my last post, I brought you my recipe for Cassoulet after my triumphant return from the southwest of France. Okay, “triumphant return” may be a stretch as I wasn’t over there fighting a war or liberating an oppressed peoples from occupation. However, I did successfully bring back some great ideas for new dishes, and I had a chance to recharge the old creative batteries. So stay tuned in the weeks to come for some new delicious vegan dishes. But for now…
My newest recipe isn’t really a French dish per-se. I did come up with the idea while strolling through an open air French market. I did originally make the dish in a French kitchen with French utensils. I did originally use French lentils, and I do use Dijon mustard (totally French). I even went as far as using fresh French rosemary that was growing outside our Chateau. So, for the sake of this argument, I am calling this one FRENCH LENTIL & MUSHROOM PATTIES.
Paired with a simple salad of mixed greens or some roasted vegetables, I could easily see this recipe on the lunch menu of some great bistro. Unfortunately, I never saw anything that closely resembled this dish, but if you close your close your eyes while sipping on a glass of chilled white wine, you can almost envision yourself in a street side French café. So head into the kitchen and bring a little French bistro action to the family. I will let you decide if you want to make it an authentic experience complete with cigarette smoke and a foreign language.
Ingredients Instructions Cook the barley and lentils per the directions on the package. Both of these ingredients normally call for boiling then simmering the items in water until tender. Both take about 30-45 minutes to cook. I normally use vegetable broth instead of water as it adds a bit more flavor, but I will leave this up to you. Also, I cook some extra because leftover lentils and barley are great to throw into salads and wraps. And while 45 minutes may seem like a long wait, I use this time to prep all my other ingredients. Plus remember that glass of chilled wine I was talking about earlier? Now is a great time to pour one for yourself. Cooking is hot work and you need to stay hydrated.
Now you will need your food processor, a mixing bowl, a skillet, and a cookie sheet. Take the oats and pulse them in the food processor until they resemble finely ground bread crumbs. Pour these into a mixing bowl. Chop your mushrooms, garlic, and chives. Pull the leaves off the woody stems of the rosemary. Over medium high heat add the oil to your skillet (you can use vegetable broth instead for a no fat version). Sauté the mushrooms and garlic until browned and tender, about 5-7 minutes. Toss in the cumin, rosemary, and chives and sauté for another 2 minutes. Add in the sherry and be sure to scrape all the browned bits off the bottom of your skillet. You have just de-glazed your pan and you will need to cook the sherry until most of the alcohol burns off, about 2 minutes.
When the mushroom mix is cool enough to handle, put it into your food processor and pulse until you get a nice chunky paste-like consistency (see photo). Add this to your mixing bowl. Now add in your cooked lentils and barley and Dijon mustard. Using your immaculately clean hands, give everything a good mix to combine thoroughly and then form into 4-6 patties. Place these patties on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or coated with cooking spray and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until the edges are browned. Flip and bake another 15-20 minutes until browned evenly on all sides.
Notes Cooking time includes cooking the lentils and pearled barley.
Cooked Mushrooms
As I mentioned, serve these patties with some roasted veggies or a simple green salad. Heck you could even make smaller, bite-sized patties and serve them as an appetizer. It is entirely up to you how you want to bring a little bit of France into your home. And while the cigarette smoke and foreign language is optional, make sure you don’t forget the chilled white wine…unless you drank it all while cooking dinner. In that case, crack another bottle and let the kids clean the kitchen. Longer Letter Later.
Love, Bob aka The Grassfed Carnivore
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