French Fridays With Dorie - Roasted Salmon and Lentils

Late again for French Fridays with Dorie, as it's already Saturday night here as I'm typing up this post. The comforting thing though is, my fellow Doristas and other readers are so forgiving and I sure am not the first one (nor the last!) to be late in the history of FFWD. One of the reasons for this was that I'd spent a good part of the week scouring local stores to procure lentils du puy, or French green lentils, a key ingredient in this week's Roasted Salmon and Lentils recipe. Then Friday came...and went...and still no green lentils.

So this morning, I went out one last time to a speciality food store that stocks those difficult-to-get ingredients at the regular stores and.... nope, they didn't have the green lentils either. Normally, I would've settled for the more common (over here) red, yellow or black lentils, but I've read reviews swearing over the utter loveliness of these green lentils so I persisted in looking for them. Just as I was about to throw in the towel, I spotted a packet on the shelf printed with "Mélange Pour Soupe - Aux Légumes", a vegetable mix for making soup that consisted of lentils, split peas, barley and alphabet pasta bits made from wheat flour, spinach and tomato. Okay, there had to be a few lentils du puy in there....it would have to do!

Apart from the repeated boiling and straining steps involved in cooking the beans, the overall effort required to put this dish together was surprisingly minimal. I even managed to bake a set of muffins for my participation in Muffin Monday while this was on the stove. That was how easy it was!

I'm also quite used to throwing in a pinch of whole cloves when I cook my local dishes, so the one clove required in this recipe seemed to me rather piddly. In the spirit of compromise, I used three :). That still didn't have that much impact to the overall flavor of the dish that I was glad I hadn't stuck just one clove into the onion. Before the last boiling phase, I chopped up the softened onion but decided to leave the carrots in large chunks as they were. Yes, I can be inconsistent like that.... besides I was already thinking about the aesthetics of the presentation at that point. So annoying!

The seasoning for the salmon was very simple and in my mind's palate, bland. To make the fish portion a bit more interesting, I sprinkled paprika over it just before it went in for roasting and that worked to enhance the dish. Lastly, I snipped chives over the plate and drizzled olive oil over the salmon and lentils. Truffle oil? Oh, how I wish. 

This was a very hearty meal, especially since my base was also made up of not just lentils but barley, peas and pasta bits. Everyone at home loved it. Lentils du puy or not, I know this recipe willl be revisited again...soon.

If you're interested in this recipe of joining our FFWD online cooking group, pick up a copy of Around My French Table and you're all set for an amazing sharing experience every week. If you still don't believe me, click here to check out what everyone else who cooked this dish had to say about it. 

Have a great rest of the weekend, everyone!

International Incident Party: Lentil Hot Dog In Spiral Puff Shell

If I had my first hotdog as a child, I really can't recall the particular moment when. It wasn't because I was too young when it happened. More likely it was because my first hotdog experience took place when I was already in my teens, and probably over in some foreign land somewhere. Suffice to say, hotdogs didn't feature much in our diet in those days.

In the much processed world of today, that has certainly changed. Sausages, frankfurters, hotdogs, wieners... whatever you may want to call them, have become a staple in our freezers.

For this first International Incident Party of 2011, the theme is 'Hotdog'. It's fun and can be interpreted in many ways, as dessert or a savory snack. I originally thought of making a sweet a la Hotdog cupcake, but in the end, gave in to the stronger urge for something savory. My first foray into the creation of sausage-like things would begin with something vegetarian. Enter the Lentil Hotdog...

It wasn't a particularly difficult choice, as I'd been wanting to make something with the yellow lentil flour sitting in my pantry anyway. I wasn't quite sure how my recipe would pan out, whether the hotdogs would end up soft, soggy or worse, crumbly. As it turned out, the various spices worked wonders to give me a couple of flavorful hotdogs, and the lentils made them taste almost falafel-like but without any of the graininess. Without any casing, I wanted something that would hold the ingredients together once cooked and tapioca flour did the trick, it provided me a more 'cohesive' hotdog.

Hot Dawg... this is lentil!

So many ideas floated around in my head on the type of bun to serve this veggie hotdog in. Eventually, I settled on something closer to home... the currypuff (it's the Asian version of empanada). Why not encase the hotdogs in a spiral currypuff shell (minus the curry)? I had made some chocolate currypuffs before, and the spiral shells were really fun to make. Quite addictive too, if you succumb to the visual allure of the spirals. These lentil hotdogs with the ends sticking out of the spiral shells looked like a tropical version of a regular hotdog. They go very well with a sweet and spicy chilli-garlic dip.

Thank you to Penny of Jeroxie.com for being our wonderful IIP host once again. I wonder what the rest of the party goers made? I'm going to check them out and you really should too!

Lentil Hotdogs in Spiral Puff Shells

Lentil hotdogs
Makes about 8 hotdogs
Ingredients:
5 tablespoons ground almonds
250g/9 ounces firm (not silken) tofu
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons mild vegetable oil (I used grapeseed oil)
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 teaspoons smoked sweet paprika (or 1/4 tsp chilli powder)
1-1/2 teaspoons caster sugar
1 teaspoon fresh garlic, sliced
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground fenugreek (or mace)
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup + 1 tablespoon lentil flour
1 teaspoon tapioca flour (or arrowroot flour)

Method:
1. Crumble the tofu into the blender. Measure the soy sauce into a measuring cup and add enough water so the mixture equals 100ml (6-1/2 tablespoons). Add this to the blender.
2. Add remaining ingredients to blender except lentil and tapioca flours. Blenderise until completely smooth. Empty into a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the 2 flours and mix until evenly combined. You’ll have a soft dough.
4. Divide dough into eight pieces (depending on what sized hotdog you want). Roll each piece into a hotdog shape and ensure you don’t roll them longer than your steamer! Wrap each hotdog in parchment paper and then in aluminium foil. Lightly twist the ends together.
5. Bring water to boil in a pot that has a steamer insert. Arrange wrapped hotdogs in your steamer insert with the seam side down. There is less chance of the hotdogs bursting the foil if they are packed tightly in the steamer. You can arrange four dogs on the bottom, then another four at a 90 degree angle on top.
6. Steam for 45 minutes over gently simmering water. If you’ve arranged your hotdogs in two layers, switch their positions halfway through the cooking time (bottom ones on top and top ones on bottom). Turn heat off and let cool.
7. To cook, simmer unwrapped dogs in water for 5 minutes. These can be frozen for future use (leave them wrapped in parchment/foil, and place in a plastic freezer bag).

Spiral Puff Shells
Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
Extra oil, for frying

Method:

1. Put 2 cups of flour in one big bowl and 1 cup of flour in a small bowl. Water dough: In the big one add 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, 1 tbs sugar, 1 tsp salt. Mix thoroughly then add about less than 1/2 cup of cold water little at a time to make a smooth but firm dough. Oil dough: In the small bowl, gradually add up to 1/3 cups of vegetable oil and mix to make a dough soft enough to spread.

2. Roll the big water dough into about a foot rectangle and place the smaller oil dough on the top upper half of the bigger dough. Make sure there is a 1/2 inch border along the 3 edges of the oil dough.

3. Fold water dough in half covering the oil dough completely and seal it, making sure no air is trapped inside.

4. Shape the dough by pressing and rolling a rectangle (approx 30 x 10 inch). The dough should be thin enough to roll into a log.

5. When rolled, slice off the uneven tip of the log and slice the next one into about 1 inch thick. Flatten the spiral dough with a rolling pin and carefully roll it into a round shape. Wrap the spiral shell over the hotdog, pinching the edges flatly, then crimping to close. Leave the two ends where the hotdog stick out open.

6. Deep fry in vegetable oil until golden. Place them on paper towels to absorb excess oil and serve.