Lentils with roasted red peppers and feta
Tender lentils warmed with sweet roasted red peppers, smoky paprika, garlic and spinach, finished with a splash of vinegar and salty feta, a protein-packed dinner for two in 35 minutes.
- 35 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 2
- About $3.20 a serving
- 590 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 1 cup lentils, brown or green, rinsed
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ¾ cup roasted red peppers, sliced
- 2 cups baby spinach
- ½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 3 cups water
- ¾ tsp salt, divided
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Each serving has about 590 calories, 31 g protein, 69 g carbs and 23 g fat, and costs about $3.20 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
- No feta cheese? Goat cheese works.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the lentils, water and of salt in a and over high heat.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
20 to 25 minutes, until tender but not mushy. .
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Medium heatTimer: 22 min
Dolly’s tip: Taste one at 20 minutes. You want tender lentils that still hold their shape.Heat the oil in a large over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute, .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heat
Add the peppers, smoked paprika and oregano and cook 2 minutes.
Medium heat
Add the lentils, vinegar and ½ teaspoon salt and cook 3 minutes, stirring, until hot.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Stir in the spinach until it .
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Medium heat
Spoon onto plates and top with the feta and parsley.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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