Lentils are a hit and miss food around here. We’ve had some amazing lentil dishes and some barely edible ones. This one fell into the former category! YAY! In fact, I think it will become a regular favorite!
A little blurb about it from the publisher:
“Twenty-five years ago, Doris Janzen Longacre compiled the first MCC-supported cookbook. Full of recipes and suggestions on how to eat better and consume less, it addressed the concern that North American were doing the opposite — consuming more and more food made up of wasteful calories and unnecessary packaging. More-with-Lessbecame an international kitchen resource for generations, an easy to read compendium of simple recipes to combat careless eating and thoughtless eating.”
And you can read more about it by clicking here.
Now on the the recipe :)
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Honey Baked Lentils
Combine in Dutch oven or saucepan:
1 lb. (2 1/3 c) lentils
1 small bay leaf
5 c. water
2 t. salt
Bring to a boil. Cover tightly and reduce heat. Simmer 30 minutes. Do not drain.
Discard bay leaf.
Preheat oven to 350.
Combine separately and add to lentils:
1 t. dry mustard
1/4 t. powdered ginger
1 T. soy sauce
1/2 c. chopped onions
1 c. water
Cut in 1″ pieces:
4 slices bacon
Stir most of the bacon into the lentils and sprinkle remainder on top.
Pour over all:
1/3 c. honey
Cover tightly. Bake 1 hour. Uncover last 10 minutes to brown bacon.
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Soooo yummy! The only tweaks I made were that I left out the ginger, used a dollop of dijon mustard instead of mustard powder, and decreased the water to 1/2 c. so that I could bake it for a shorter time because I pre-cooked my bacon. My husband isn’t a huge fan of pork bacon in general and likes it very well done when he does eat it. Turned out perfectly! My toddler even loved it! :) Pantry success! And honestly, it would have still been fabulous without the meat!
Two questions: Did you soak the lentils? and also… How do you think it would have tasted without the honey… or could you suggest a non-sweet alternative? Mike doesn't like beans (although he doesn't know that I sneak it into lots of dishes to stretch meat :-) and he doesn't care for "sweet meat," which this kind of seems like it might taste like. But I do have a bag of lentils in my panty I'd love to try out!
Nope, no need to soak, though I did let them cook a little longer than 30 min. since I wasn't going to bake for an hour.
As for the taste – it really wasn't sweet! I don't like sweet meat either – not a fan of glazes or of sweet and sour sauce or anything like that. They tasted smoked more than anything! I would go light on the honey and use a tad more soy sauce then it calls for. :)
There's also an alternative version in the book that omits the honey – it says to replace all of the ingredients in the second set (soy sauce, ginger, etc.) with 2 T. sugar, 1 t. oregano, and 2 c. tomato sauce. So basically – use ketchup instead. lol. ;)
Hi! I found you from Mckmama's blogfrog. Do you know how I could make this without putting it in the oven? I don't have a dutch oven, and I don't think I have any oven-safe dishes large enough to hold it. Do you think I could just keep it on the stovetop?
Hi there! Glad you found me! I used a 8×8 glass pan – it doesn't really make as much as it looks like it will b/c lentils don't expand much.
That said, I'm sure you could use the stovetop if you had a heavier pan (so that it heats evenly – not just burn the bottom) with a tight fitting lid. The purpose of baking is to set the ingredients together and to allow the lentils to soak up the water, etc. You wouldn't be able to brown the bacon at the end so I'd pre-cook it. It may not look the same as mine but I don't think you'll hurt anything as long as you keep it on low heat and check it frequently. Let me know how it turns out!