French Lentils & Baby Bok Choy, Sugar Snaps and Garlic en Papillote

But the lentils are not in that "papillote".  We have a lentil recipe and a 
make up recipe this week ~ 

French Lentils

Per Nana~

This week's selection is a basic recipe for cooking  french lentils.  

I didn't find the green lentils so I used regular lentils, and with the 

exception of Cognac, everything else is in there. I prefer to chop the 

vegetables into small pieces as in a mirapoix.  I cooked the veggies a little 

bit and then added the lentils and the chicken broth.  I also added a bit 

of diced up ham to the pot.  For serving, a drizzle of extra virgin olive

 oil was used, and a dash of red pepper flakes.  The only thing missing 

was a loaf of french bread. This is one of our favorites and

 Hubby and I enjoyed it on a pleasant cool September day.

Per Tricia~

I did a side by side of two green lentils found locally, neither of which was

 the famed "du puy". The first were green lentils from Wegmans, which I

 had originally thought came close to fitting the bill (granted I realized 

they were likely not imported from France....) but when I showed them

 to Nana she responded that she didn't think they looked like the real McCoy. 

 I had come across some "organic French Lentils" in one of our local whole 

food markets but again I figured they would simply be a nice substitute. 

They were much smaller and darker than the others so I was intrigued.  

The verdict ? 

organic french on left, Wegmans on right

The lighter shade had a lovely aroma when cooking but became bland. 

All taste testers (Hubby, younger son and myself) agreed the smaller 

darker lentils were far superior and tastier, with a better texture. 

The others were more bland and mealy.  Ah yes, and Dorie's actual recipe. 

This basic lentil prep was of course delicious and she provided a few great 

suggestions for fill in. The actual prep I will be looking to streamline in

 the future and likely cook the additional veggies already chopped, rather 

than cooking them down and then chopping them after fishing them out 

of the draining lentils. I will also likely not pre-boil my lentils as I had 

nothing to skim off when doing so and would like to keep this easy recipe

 as easy as possible. I will be back at that market SOON for more of 

those green lentils and look forward to adding ham or bacon next time.

Baby Bok Choy, Sugar Snaps and Garlic en Papillote

Per Nana~

I am adding a make up selection this week, another "papillote", 

this time with baby bok choy, sugar snaps and garlic. 

Bok choy and sugar snaps were totally new vegetables to me. 

 I have eaten them in Chinese food but never purchased them for cooking. 

I actually had to research how to prepare both and found it quite interesting. 

I couldn't find baby bok choy so I bought one regular stalk and used the inner 

section whichlooked so tender.  I used the rest of the vegetable for a stir fry. 

The fact that this can be prepared ahead of time is a treat for anyone on a busy 

schedule. This was a delicious new recipe for us, one that I will definitely make again.

Per Tricia~

I also knocked out the Baby Bok Choy & Garlic en Papillote recipe 

to keep our double posts (we have a lot of make ups to do) in synch.

 Coming off last week's use of this cooking method I was more than happy 

to use it again. I have not prepared the bok choy at home before but was 

struck by how beautiful and tender it was, and will be looking for more recipes. 

We enjoyed this one but unfortunately I think mine got a bit too cooked 

so I likely did a disservice to the gentle texture of the bok choy.

 I will be revisiting the en Papillote method but not with this filling. 

Happy French Friday ~