Photo courtesy of William Morrow.
I took one look at the cover of Sophie Dahl's new cookbook, Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights, and felt instantly envious. I'd love to be a glowy, photogenic British former model (with a writerly pedigree, no less) perched amid a scene right out of Anthropologie, with a pile of adorably dappled squash to her right and a cheery vintage thermos to the left. Right. Once I got over my knee-jerk envy, I fell in love with Dahl's grounded tone and homey yet stylish sounding dishes - the culinary equivalent of shabby chic design. Her Paris Mash sounds like my ideal home alone meal — a tussle of puy lentils, red onion, garlic, spinach, and herbs — while Monkfish with Saffron Sauce is an easy dinner party entree. Dahl's fairly loose instructions aren't great for the novice cook, who might need more explicit help, but the recipes are all straight-forward and manageable. The book is divided by both season and type of meal, which makes finding the perfect breakfast for persistent winter months a breeze — porridge with apricots, manuka honey, and creme fraiche sounds perfect right about now. Full Paris Mash recipe after the jump.
Paris Mash
Paris Mash was so named from when I used to visit my great friend, the brilliant artist Annie Morris, in her apartmnet on the Rue Guisarde in Paris when we were both about ninetween. We would go late to the local supermarket and buy a strange mixture of Puy lentils, salad, garlic, onions, and herbs. I suppose it was like a stone student soup, originally made from whatever was in the fridge. The mas would be cooked willy-nilly, accompanied by a lot of red wine,a nd ususally us gazing stupidly at an assortment of pretty French boys, but for some reason it was always utterly delicious.
3 cups of Puy lentils
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
½ cup of red wine
1 cup of spinach
1 cup of vegetable stock
1 tablespoon of crème fraîche
2 handfuls of mâche (lamb’s lettuce)
A generous handful of both fresh parsley and cilantro
Salt and pepper
Place the lentils in a pan and add just enough water to cover. Simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes, then drain. In a large pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil and add the onion. Cook on a low heat for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the lentils with the red wine and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the spinach with about a ½ cup of vegetable stock and cook for another 5 minutes. If the liquid gets low, add some more stock or a bit more wine as the consistency should be slightly soupy.
Paris Mash was so named from when I used to visit my great friend, the brilliant artist Annie Morris, in her apartmnet on the Rue Guisarde in Paris when we were both about ninetween. We would go late to the local supermarket and buy a strange mixture of Puy lentils, salad, garlic, onions, and herbs. I suppose it was like a stone student soup, originally made from whatever was in the fridge. The mas would be cooked willy-nilly, accompanied by a lot of red wine,a nd ususally us gazing stupidly at an assortment of pretty French boys, but for some reason it was always utterly delicious.
3 cups of Puy lentils
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
½ cup of red wine
1 cup of spinach
1 cup of vegetable stock
1 tablespoon of crème fraîche
2 handfuls of mâche (lamb’s lettuce)
A generous handful of both fresh parsley and cilantro
Salt and pepper
Place the lentils in a pan and add just enough water to cover. Simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes, then drain. In a large pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil and add the onion. Cook on a low heat for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the lentils with the red wine and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the spinach with about a ½ cup of vegetable stock and cook for another 5 minutes. If the liquid gets low, add some more stock or a bit more wine as the consistency should be slightly soupy.
Stir in the crème fraîche and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Put the mâche in at the end and cook for a few minutes. Roughly chop the herbs and scatter them on top. Season to taste and serve as is.
The joy of this is its complete easiness, and that you can play around with it, tasting throughout the process. Serve with some warm sourdough bread to mop up the juices.
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