I developed this recipe after having lunch over at my Auntie’s one day. When I asked what’s for lunch, she said, “it’s sort of a lentil mélange”. It was basically a rustic lentil stew and was so cozy, it has now become a regular at my house.
Like all of the foods I make with beans, my preferred cooking method is the Instant Pot. This recipe is incredibly versatile and I invite you to change it up however you like. If you want to think of a French countryside while eating it, add some dried Herbes de Provence. If you have celery that’s on it’s way out, throw it in there. You don’t have bay leaves? No worries, I forget to put them in most of the time anyways. Let me know what you like to put in yours! Mélange is just a fancy word for medley so you really can’t go wrong with what you put in it, especially if it sounds good to you.
Slices of toasted crusty bread, really complete this meal.
Lentil Melange (Lentil Stew)
Print Pin RecipeIngredients
- Splash of olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 2-3 carrots in 1” chunks
- 2-3 cloves garlic rough minced
- 1 c green or brown lentils
- 2 c rough chopped cremini mushrooms
- 1 c diced tomatoes or 1 can diced tomatoes
- 3 c vegetable broth (use a little more cooking liquid if cooking on the stove)
- 1-2 bay leaves
- salt + pepper to taste…needs quite a bit of salt
- A few big handfuls of fresh spinach or ripped pieces of kale
Instructions
- Soften onion in soup pot or in the instant pot on sauté.
- Add garlic, carrots, mushrooms, or any other hearty/root vegetable you choose and continue to cook, stirring periodically for another few minutes. If adding mushroom, I recommend adding more olive oil to help soften the mushrooms as they can take a while to release their moisture and the added oil seems to help.
- Add tomatoes, broth, salt + pepper, and bay leaves (or any other herbs you choose to use.
- If cooking in an instant pot, cover and pressure cook on high for 10-12 minutes with natural release. If cooking in a soup pot, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, and cook 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lentils are soft.
- Turn off heat, add spinach or kale, and stir to wilt.
Notes
Cook time is 30-45 minutes with pressure cooker, about an hour on the stove
This recipe also keeps pretty well in the freezer. If you plan to freeze, I’d recommend adding spinach to each individual bowl and freeze the lentils without the spinach added. I’m personally too lazy to do this and just throw my leftovers in a good size jar to freeze and add more fresh spinach after reheating, if I have some on hand. Kale freezes and reheats reasonably well.