Lentejas
Lentejas is the pot most Spanish households actually cook on a weeknight, usually built around chorizo for its smoke and fat. Smoked paprika supplies the smoke here, and a hard sear on the tomato paste supplies the savoriness that would otherwise come from cured pork. Potato is traditional, not a filler: mashed partway through cooking, it thickens the broth the way a roux would in French or Cajun cooking, using starch instead of flour or fat. A short pour of sherry vinegar at the end does the job salt usually does, waking up the whole pot right before it lands on the table.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Brown lentils
- 2 Bay leaves
- 1 Yellow onion, diced
- 2 Carrots, diced
- 1 Bell pepper, green, diced
- 4 cloves Garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp Tomato paste
- 1 1/2 tsp Smoked paprika
- 1 cup Canned crushed tomatoes
- 2 Potatoes, peeled, diced small
- 1/2 tsp Black peppercorns, freshly ground
- 1 tbsp Sherry vinegar
Method
- Rinse the brown lentils and combine them with the bay leaves and 6 cups (1.4 L) water in a large pot. Bring to a boil, skim off any foam, then drop to a bare simmer while you build the sofrito.
- Sweat the onion in a wide pan with a few tablespoons of water over medium heat until translucent, about 8 minutes, adding more water whenever the pan goes dry.
- Add the carrot and bell pepper and cook another 8 minutes, until the carrot has softened and the onion has turned deep gold. Stir in the garlic and cook 1 minute, until fragrant.
- Push the vegetables to one side and drop the tomato paste into the bare spot. Let it sit and darken to brick red before stirring it through, 1 to 2 minutes. That caramelization is where the savoriness comes from with no meat in the pot.
- Stir in the smoked paprika for 30 seconds to bloom it in the residual heat, then pour in the crushed tomatoes. Simmer 5 minutes, until the sauce pulls together and smells rounded instead of raw.
- Scrape the sofrito into the lentil pot along with the diced potatoes. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the lentils and potatoes are tender and the broth has thickened, 30 to 35 minutes. Mash a few potato pieces against the side of the pot partway through; the starch they release thickens the stew with no flour needed.
- Fish out the bay leaves. Off the heat, stir in the sherry vinegar and black pepper. Taste before reaching for salt: the toasted paprika, tomato, and vinegar usually carry the dish on their own.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 300 calories, 15 g protein, 13 g fiber, 90 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
