Lively lentils

“Lentils are friendly – the Miss Congeniality of the bean world.” – Laurie Colwin, food writer, novelist and author of “Home Cooking”

The annual National Lentil Festival’s harvest-season hoopla will enliven downtown Pullman Friday evening and all day Saturday.

Foodies will find gratification at every turn, with an opportunity to eat from the 200-gallon “Big Bowl of Lentil Chili” on Friday evening, to try Lion’s Club lentil pancakes for breakfast Saturday morning, and to vote on the winners of the lentil cook-off taste test at noon on Saturday.

Lentil taste testers of legal age can clear their palates afterward at the microbrewery tasting, scheduled from noon until 5 p.m. Saturday in Pullman’s Reaney Park. Who knows, there might even be a lentil-based brew.

Besides all the food, the festival offers free activities and entertainment for children, plus live music, sports events, historic walking tours, an arts and crafts fair, and the ever-popular parade.

Lentils are friendly, it’s true – but so are the people who put on the lentil festival each year. The event is organized by the Pullman Chamber of Commerce but really depends on the good will of hundreds of Pullman citizens who help with the details.

The cook-off volunteers gathered on Aug. 1 at Lincoln Middle School in Pullman for a preliminary lentil cook-off. Thirty-nine judges tasted 87 lentil dishes, talking and laughing between mouthfuls of lentils and serious moments of contemplation.

This year saw the largest ever contestant turnout in the 12 years of cook-offs, so more than the usual number of cooks and judges were required. A grand prize of $1,000 for the cook-off winner undoubtedly explains the increased interest.

Dozens of volunteers prepared the recipes for the competition, and judges were outfitted with plates, score sheets, recipes and instructions. It was an impressive display of organization, not to mention culinary skill.

Lentil puree can be hidden in breads and desserts, which is why dishes like lentil chocolate cake are possible. This year’s submissions also included lentil crème brûlée, Plumber’s Pie (reminiscent of mincemeat), and Lentil Mint Macaroons. In various guises lentils can accompany almost any food, as an appetizer, main dish, or salad. Such versatility only enhances the lentil’s “Miss Congeniality” reputation.

But the lentil festival folks know from long experience that lentils are more than just easy to get along with. They actually taste good. That is why they added a new element to the judging criteria this year – “lentil presence” – making it less likely that future cook-off winning recipes will contain undetectable lentils.

The following are the top six recipes from this year’s competition, which will be prepared in large quantities and judged during the festival. The winners were: Deep-Dish Lentil, Tomato, Cheese Pie submitted by Wilma Page of Richland; Carleen’s Lentils by Carleen Reilly of Nine Mile Falls; Hotsy-Totsy Lentil Dip by Diane Tite of China, Mich.; Lentil Soup by Karen Whitehouse of Houston; Orzo Lentil and Feta Salad by Bret Whipple of Opportunity; and Lentil Fruit Bread by W. Geraldine Fouts of Westmoreland, Kan. The most creative recipe award went to the Garden’s Sweet Secret Crème Brûlée submitted by Helen Fields of Springtown, Texas.

The final cook-off competition will be Saturday from noon to 1 p.m. in Reaney Park. The taste testing is an annual tradition, and 400 lucky festivalgoers (the first in line) will judge the competition.

A cookbook containing all the submitted recipes will be available for $2 near the tasting.

Some cooks and judges have been involved every year for more than a decade; others are relative newcomers.

Nicole Flansburg has cooked preliminary recipes for two years and admits that so far her repertoire is limited to desserts.

“Last year I cooked something called Ooey-Gooey Lentil Surprise, which were really good, like chocolate rice crispy bars, and this year I did Oatmeal Chocolate-Chip Lentil Cookies,” Flansburg said. “It’s hard to mess up with chocolate and cookies.”

Flansburg, of the Pullman Chamber of Commerce, was recently named the chamber’s new tourism director. The job includes the position of lentil festival director, which will require about 20 percent of her work hours throughout the year.

“Except during July and August, when it is more than full time,” Flansburg laughed. “Thank goodness for all our fantastic volunteers.”

Flansburg is no stranger to hard work in the summer, though, as she comes from a farming background and is married to a lentil and wheat farmer.

Many imagine the fields around Pullman are covered with golden wheat, but in reality, the Palouse region also grows about a third of the nation’s lentil crop. Lentils are members of the legume family. They are seeds that grow in pods that ripen and dry on the plant before harvest.

About 200,000 acres of lentils are planted on the Palouse each spring and harvested in late summer, around the same time as wheat. Researchers are working on developing a “winter lentil” which, like winter wheat, would be planted in the fall and harvested in the spring.

Lentil cook-off judging coordinator Marge Muir explained that “a good many” locally grown lentils are exported overseas. “They are a very popular food worldwide, especially in the Middle East, India and Asia.” According to the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council, 70 to 80 percent of Palouse lentils and peas are sent overseas to more than 90 countries, usually packed in 100-pound bags and loaded on barges on the Snake River, then shipped down the Snake to the Columbia and on to the ocean.

Lentils have been a staple in those far-off parts of the world for a lot longer than they have been grown here on the Palouse. Lentils, peas and chickpeas have been found in Egyptian tombs that were built more than 4,000 years ago, and peas have been found in caves in Thailand that are more than 11,000 years old.

Lentils come in a variety of colors and sizes, and about 14 “classes” of them are grown on the Palouse, explained Todd Scholz, the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council’s director of research and information.

“Everything from small red lentils to large green ones, we raise them all,” Scholz said. Scholz personally favors a premium variety called Pardina, a small, brown lentil that is mostly exported to Europe and sometimes hard to find locally.

“Pardina was what my mother always cooked,” Scholz said. He also likes Beluga lentils, so-called because they are small and black, resembling caviar. The retail area of the council’s office at 2780 W. Pullman Road in Moscow, Idaho, sells premium lentils, as do some natural foods stores, including the Moscow Food Co-op at 121 E. Fifth St. It is an irony of our modern world, Scholz said, that most lentils for sale at grocery stores in the United States come from Canada, where they plant about a million acres of lentils each year in contrast to the United States’ total of about 500,000 acres.

Pullman resident Rebecca Phillips, who created an exhibit several years ago for the Whitman County Historical Society on lentil history, said “Lentils came to the Palouse in 1916, when J.J. Wagner obtained seed from Europe through a local Seventh-day Adventist pastor, and planted two rows on his land in Farmington, Washington. The 1917 crop was sold at 9 1/4 cents per pound, netting $130.”

Adventists had been advocating a vegetarian diet for about a century before those first seeds were planted, so it is possible the local pastor was very glad for the opportunity to introduce a new source of vegetable protein to the fertile Palouse hills. Recent research shows that health benefits from lentil consumption include reducing serum cholesterol, reducing coronary heart disease risk, managing obesity, protecting against cancer, reducing birth defects, and stabilizing blood sugar, according to the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council.

Lentils are commonly cooked in soup, but the lentil cook-off always demonstrates dozens of other ways to use this economical, local and easy-to-use legume. Here are a few tasty recipes to try. Or what the heck, make up your own recipe. It’s never too early to prepare for next year’s cook-off.

Carleen’s Lentils

From Carleen Reilly of Nine Mile Falls

1 cup dry lentils

3 pieces of bacon, pepper-topped

1/4 onion, chopped

1/3 cup molasses

1/2 cup ketchup

6 ounces brown sugar

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Fully cook lentils according to package directions, approximately 20-30 minutes. Sauté bacon and onion together until bacon is semicrisp.

Mix molasses, ketchup, brown sugar and red wine vinegar together, then add mixture and bacon and onions to lentils.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 11/2 hours or in a slow cooker for 1 to 2 hours.

This is a great summer dish to accompany hamburgers or hot dogs, with other side dishes such as potato salad, chips, and coleslaw.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving (based on 6): 295 calories, 2 grams fat (less than 1 gram saturated, 6 percent fat calories) 9 grams protein, 63 grams carbohydrate, 3 milligrams cholesterol, 8 grams dietary fiber, 312 milligrams sodium.

Lentil and Corn Salad

From Doris Fleming of Houston

1 can (19 ounces) drained and rinsed lentils (approximately 1 1/2 cups cooked lentils)

1 sweet red pepper, chopped

2 cups cooked corn kernels

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped green onions

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1/2 cup feta cheese

Dressing:

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon each granulated sugar, salt, and pepper

1 tablespoon each water and vegetable oil

In a bowl, combine lentils, red pepper, corn, celery, onions, basil and feta.

Dressing: In small bowl, whisk together vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper. Whisk in water and oil. Pour over salad and stir to mix.

This can be made ahead. Cover and refrigerate for up to one day. Delicious as a side dish served with grilled chicken or as a dinner salad.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving (based on 6): 179 calories, 6 grams fat (2 grams saturated, 28 percent fat calories), 8 grams protein, 26 grams carbohydrate, 11 milligrams cholesterol, 7 grams dietary fiber, 288 milligrams sodium.

Appaloosa Bread

From Ariel Agenbroad of Moscow

1/2 cup dry red lentils, rinsed

11/2 cups apple juice or cider

2 tart Washington apples

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup pecans or walnuts

2 large farm-fresh eggs, beaten

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

2 tablespoons plain yogurt

2 cups unbleached flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ginger

1/2 cup dried cranberries or golden raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottoms of two 8-inch loaf pans.

Combine lentils and juice in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower heat, simmer, and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, or until tender. Drain if necessary.

Core, peel (if desired) and chop apples, and toss with the vinegar to prevent browning. Chop nuts.

Beat eggs, sugars, oil and yogurt. Whisk flour with soda, salt and ginger and stir into egg mixture until just combined. Stir in apples, lentils, nuts and dried fruit. Be careful not to overmix the batter.

Pour into prepared pans and bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until sides begin to pull away from the pan and a knife or toothpick inserted near the center of the bread comes out clean.

Cool and slice. This bread freezes well.

Serve with whipped cream, butter, or cream cheese. Vary the nuts and dried fruits to your taste.

Yield: 2 loaves

Approximate nutrition per 3.5-ounce serving: 258 calories, 10 grams fat (1 gram saturated, 35 percent fat calories), 4 grams protein, 38 grams carbohydrate, 27 milligrams cholesterol, 2 grams dietary fiber, 167 milligrams sodium.

Yummy Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Lentil Cookies

From Micah Selk of Endicott, Wash.

2 1/2 cups oatmeal, quick or old-fashioned

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup lentil puree (see note)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 (12-ounce bag) jumbo semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place oats into food processor and process until powdered. Use small amounts at a time if using blender. Combine oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.

Beat shortening, peanut butter, and sugars until light and fluffy; add eggs one at a time, and add lentil puree and vanilla. Beat until combined. Add dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips.

Form heaping tablespoons of mixture into golf-ball sized balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten with a fork. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on sheets 1 minute. Remove cookies to wire rack to cool.

Note: To make lentil puree, combine 1/2 cup lentils and 1 cup water, bring to boil and simmer on low about 45 to 60 minutes until easily mashed. Cool.

Yield: Makes 4 dozen cookies

Approximate nutrition per cookie: 137 calories, 6 grams fat (2 grams saturated, 39 percent fat calories) 3 grams protein, 19 grams carbohydrate, 9 milligrams cholesterol, 1.5 grams dietary fiber, 76 milligrams sodium.

Lentil Pizza

Recipe courtesy of the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council

1 cup lentils

2 cups water

1 pound bulk pork sausage

1 (29-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon basil

3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

2 (12-inch) pizza crusts

1 cup sliced, fresh mushrooms (optional)

3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cook the lentils in the water for 30 minutes, drain.

In a skillet, brown the sausage, stirring until the meat is separated. Pour off the fat, add lentils, and mix thoroughly.

In a bowl, combine the tomato sauce and seasonings.

Spread each pizza crust with half of the sauce. Top with the sausage-lentil mixture, mushrooms and cheese. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Yield: 2 (12-inch) pizzas

Approximate nutrition per serving: Unable to calculate due to recipe variables.