Today I went to the local Farmers Market and picked up several bunches of chicory leaves. This is the season for chicory, and it looked so inviting that I had to buy it. (It’s not pretty and it was rather dirty, but it called to me nonetheless.)

The chicory I bought is grown near my home in the middle Galilee, and it looks like the varieties called Catalogna and wild chicory. It was full of soil so I washed it well using the instructions for “Cleaning leafy greens and other dirt-filled veggies” on the Food Prep Tips page.

Chicory is very nutritious, so it’s a worthwhile green to learn to work with. Once I got it home, I had no idea what to do with it so I asked Spirit for a yumtrititious recipe. Since it’s cold outside, I wanted to make a warm dish, and I was hungry so I wanted a recipe that I could make in under an hour. Here is the recipe that Spirit gave me. Thanks, Spirit!

The recipe has two parts: the chicory part and the lentil-hazelnut part. I’ll present the instructions for each part separately, but I made them at the same time.

Makes 4 cups 

Ingredients for the Lentil-Hazelnut mixture

1/2 cup green lentils, sorted and washed

1 1/4 cups water

1 tsp turmeric

1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts

1/4 tsp mustard powder

1/8 tsp black pepper (in most of my recipes I use white pepper, but here I wanted a stronger pepper taste)

 

Steps

1. In a small pot, bring the lentils, water and turmeric to a boil, then lower the heat. Cook the lentils for 20-25 minutes until the water has evaporated. The lentils should be a bit chewy and not soft. (Add 1-3 Tbsp water during the cooking to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pot.)
2. Mix in the chopped hazelnuts and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Stir regularly to keep the mixture from getting too stuck to the pot.
3. Turn off the heat, then add the mustard powder and pepper.
4. Set pot aside.

Ingredients for Chicory saute

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 medium size onions, chopped

7 cups (packed) chopped chicory

1 1/2 tsp cardamom

1 tsp coarse salt

1/4 c milk substitute (I used rice-almond milk)

Steps

1. In a large pot, saute the onions in olive oil until the onions are soft (5-6 minutes).
2. Add the chicory and saute 7 minutes.
3. Stir in the salt and cardamom, then add the milk substitute and stir until the milk is completely mixed in.
4. Remove from heat and add the lentil-hazelnut mixture.