Lentil Stew

Used red lentils, chicken stock and instead of bacon, chunked up some leftover ham to add to the soup. Added a generous splash of Pinot Grigio at the end of cooking. Also garnished the soup with some croutons on top. This soup was quick and easy, comforting on a rainy night.

Used marinated sirloin tips instead

This is very good basic recipe which is so close to what I've done for years except no bacon - occasionally I will use chopped pancetta or prosciutto but none of these are actually necessary, the olive oil (evoo is what I use). One could add some smoked sausage if one chooses but, again, it's a choice, not a necessity.

The first time I used green [regular, not french] lentils and it took a while, but the second time I used red lentils and it whipped up fast and had an amazing taste and texture. The bacon adds more than enough flavor, no idea what others are referring to below. Anyway, I loved this! Plus, not using measurements makes me feel like a chic, effortless, soup-making woman. :D

Excellent recipe, the kind I like where you can fiddle as needed (depending on what's in the fridge). Easy enough - mine took about 40 minutes to cook-to-tender. Funny how some folks are so picky about quantities: rough guidelines, eyeball & imagination are all you need.

Chris’s characterization of this recipe as “Hemingwayesque” is right on! That’s what I like about it. Rather than telling the reader the Right Way to make a dish, he offers ideas that you can use to create it your own way. I find this approach refreshing, but I can see that it could be a problem for cooks without a lot of experience.

Another option is to add a teaspoon or so of Toasted Sesame Oil to the oil base sans bacon for those of us who are vegetarian. Adding raisins and unsalted toasted cashews half way through the cooking time add a nice substance to hearty lentil stews, too.

Excellent lentil stew whether as is or with the addition of other flavourful ingredients such as a rosemary twig or chopped dehydrated porcini mushrooms - but no more than that if you want to preserve the character of this dish. I used thick-sliced bacon instead of the thinner regular-sliced bacon: this helped maintain the bacon flavour throughout the simmering stage. And I used beef broth for an overall richer taste. Bottom line: Easy to prepare, great for a week night or weekend after-ski!

Quick, delicious and hearty. I added the carrots a bit into the cooking to preserve their body and sweetness. As I cook for a vegetarian, I used vegetable broth instead of chicken and stirred in a teaspoonful of smoked paprika - it mimics the bacon smokiness - toward the end of cooking. Served it with some crusty bread with butter and a green salad. Perfect for a winter meal!

How much is a slab of bacon (a pound? a half pound?)? How many cups of lentils (one? two?)? How many cups of stock per cup of lentils? This is a very Hemingway-esque list of ingredients and directions!

Till tender? I'm looking up lentil recipes to get an idea of cooking times.

I’m not sure what lentils Mr Bittman uses to get this cooked in 10 minutes, but my French green lentils took more like 40 minutes. In that time a lot of the flavor of the vegetables & meat had faded away, so it then needed more spicing up. In the end I thought it pretty good, but not special. Next time I would probably remove the vegetables & meat from the pot prior to cooking the lentils, then add them near the end. Additions: ham, parsnip, jalapeño, pimenton, & at the end some sriracha.

I made a vegetarian version with dried mushrooms and tomato paste like Glenn, and it's really good. I used the mushroom reconstitution water along with stock, and added some orzo pasta to cook at the end. Topped with a light shaving of parm and some lemon zest.