ITEMS
Lettuce Mix
Potatoes
Red Beets
Mirepoix
Harvest Gold Lentils
Dozen Eggs
PRODUCERS
Terra Greens Produce - Manhattan
Lifeline Produce - Victor
Western Montana Growers Cooperative - Missoula
Root Cellar Foods - Belgrade
Timeless Natural Food - Ulm
Willow Bend Produce - Livingston & Three Hearts Farm - Bozeman
We're working to include recipes that require few additional ingredients aside from staples and seasonings, since running to the store isn't that simple right now. Find more recipe ideas linked below!
Gold Lentils - These lentils are decorticated, meaning they've had their outer shell removed, making them quick-cooking (10-15 minutes). They'll lose their shape when cooked, so they work well for soups, stews, curries, and dal, plus they can be incorporated into things like pasta sauce or even brownies and cookies. Gold lentils and red/crimson lentils can be used interchangeably.
Mirepoix - the fancy French word for a mix of diced onions, carrots, and celery. It's generally used as the base for soups, stews, pasta sauces, etc. Even if a recipe only calls for onion and carrot, or onion and celery, or even just onion, use the mirepoix! A few extra vegetables aren't going to hurt a thing. It also freezes well.
Golden Lentil Soup
1 Tbs oil - olive, vegetable, canola, avocado, whatever you have
2-3 C Mirepoix - start with about half the package and add more as desired
3-4 garlic cloves, minced (sub
6 C vegetable or chicken broth
1 1/2 C Harvest Gold Lentils, rinsed and picked through
2/3 C corn, canned or frozen (optional)
1 C potato, diced to about 1/2 inch
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp curry powder (see notes for substitutes)
1/8 tsp cayenne, or to taste
~2 Tbs lemon juice - sub white wine vinegar
Salt and Pepper
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add mirepoix and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and translucent, 7-10 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add broth, lentils, corn, potato, and spices. Bring to a simmer and cover for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the lentils and potatoes are both tender. Blend the soup briefly with an immersion blender, regular blender, or mash with a potato masher (work in batches and cover the lid with a towel if using a regular blender to prevent a burning soup volcano). No need to make it perfectly smooth - just blend it enough to thicken the broth. Add the lemon juice (use some zest, too, if using a fresh lemon) or vinegar and stir. Taste, adjust seasoning and serve. (Serves ~4)
Notes: • Broths vary considerably in their saltiness, which is why the recipe doesn't specify an amount. You may need to add more salt, up to 1 tsp or more, depending on your tastes and the broth you're using. • The corn adds a little sweetness to the soup, but isn't essential! Neither is the potato. Soup is wonderfully adaptable, so use what sounds good to you. • If you don't have curry powder, you can find recipes online to mix up your own, or experiment with the spices you do have: equal amounts of ground turmeric, coriander and cumin, plus a pinch of cayenne/ground chili powder is a good place to start.
Stewed Beets
Serves 4-6.
2 lbs beets, tops and tails removed, peeled, and cut into 1-inch pieces
3 Tbs oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 bay leaf
1 C canned tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 C water
Prep the beets as above - it will be messy, don't wear white. Put the oil in a large pan (preferably a pan with higher sides, not a skillet, because the hot oil will splatter when you add the liquids). Heat over medium-high, when it's shimmering add the cumin seeds and bay leaf, then a second later add the beets, spices, tomatoes, salt and water. Stir and bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 30-40 minutes or until they're tender. Serve as a side, on top of rice or other grains, with any kind of bread, or however sounds good to you.
Spice variations: If you don't have/like the above spices, here's a few other combos you could try. Keep the beets, tomatoes, oil, salt, and water. Measurements may not be same as above, keep tasting and adjusting as it cooks - dill, garlic, cumin, basil - ginger, cardamom, clove, coriander - caraway, garlic, thyme, parsley.
Other Recipe Ideas
Here's a recipe for dal (Indian stewed lentils), which we shared in November. Sub golden lentils for crimson lentils, and it works with lots of different
Easy Potato soup - a regular in our house!
Timeless Natural Food has a number of good recipes for their products, like these lentil chocolate chip cookies and lentil brownies, both of which would work with the Harvest Gold Lentils.
A couple more beet recipes: Simple grain salad with roasted beets and onions and Marinated Beets and Shallots (yep, they're very similar) for a green salad.