I lost a filling last week–fell out at the breakfast table.
Initial reaction:–Oh no! dentist visit(s), hassle, painful, waste of time–damn!
Then: Ouch! Jagged bit left causing pain, hard to swallow.
So—looking for something that slips down easily—I thought to combine these two recipes for dinner.
Result: Sigh! Temporary distraction. It worked—they melded deliciously and skipped down with ease.
Leeks in White Wine and Butter (from Delicious Dishes for Diabetics)
Simple and delicious!
Serves 4
4 large leeks (or as above 10 small leeks)–mainly the white part–checked for residue, then cut into cork-like tube-shape
salt and pepper
glass of white wine
3 tbsp water
50 g/2 oz butter
- Place the leek pieces in a shallow pan. Season with salt and pepper.
- Pour in the wine and water, then add the butter. Put on the lid and bring up to a simmer. Cook over a low heat for about 20 minutes – the leeks should be beautifully tender.
Lemony lentils (in Healthy Eating for Life)
Meredith tells me the first time she became aware of lentils, was at the age 35. They had not been part of her experience growing up in suburban Chicago! Much has changed–Indian restaurants are commonplace now in the US.
This recipe is hands-on for the first half hour or so, as it builds in the taste.
Then it chugs along on a low heat for 50 minutes as the lentils dissolve and the dal forms.
The finish involves sautéing a small amount of onion, garlic and dried red pepper to stir into the mix to “lift” it.
It is adapted from a recipe in Ismail Merchant’s excellent and quirky cookbook Indian Cuisine.
8oz red lentils–rinsed until the water runs clear
1 small onion–chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
a short stick of cinnamon
1tsp fresh ginger–grated
250ml/1/2 pint stock–I use organic vegetable stock cubes
250ml/1/2 pint hot water
1tsp cayenne pepper
juice and the shells of a lemon
to finish
2tbsp olive oil
1/2 small onion–sliced
1 garlic clove–chopped
1tsp salt
1 small dried red chili–chopped
Cook the onion over a low heat in the oil until it is opaque–about five minutes.
Add the lentils, cinnamon and the ginger and mix in.
Cook these together gently for about ten minutes, keeping the heat low and stirring from time to time to avoid them sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning.
A nutty aroma starts to rise from the darkening lentils, as they cook.
Add the stock and hot water, cayenne and salt.
Bring to the simmer.
Cook gently for a further ten minutes, then add the lemon juice and the empty lemon halves and stir it all together.
Cover the pan and continue cooking on a very low heat–use a heat diffuser if necessary–for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid sticking.
In a small frying pan heat the tablespoon of olive oil and add the sliced onion.
Let this color for five minutes over a medium heat.
Add the chili and the sliced garlic and continue cooking until the garlic begins to brown.
Add this to the lentils and mix it in.
I got to see the dentist yesterday and she rounded off the jagged bit and told me to come back for a crown fitting.
Oh no! dentist visit(s), hassle, painful, waste of time–damn!
Robin Ellis 
A crown? Bummer! Almost had to get one myself, but I had only “bruised” the tooth, not broken it. But I would take a crown over a root canal ANY day!! Good luck, Robin! 🙂
Gorgeous recipes, Thanks so much. I braise leeks at Thanksgiving, using the turkey “juices” and butter.
Sounds delicious.
Thank you Robin Poldark! Another of your lovely recipes, I shall be making it tomorrow! Hope your walking amidst spring flowers now instead of snow, although I do love to see snow, a rare sight here in Cornwall, and it did look beautiful in your photos! Hope your tooth is sorted now 😬
Regards Beryl
Thanks, Beryl.
Was just at mine today. 2 fillings! Got to get used to the new surface to that tooth.Just discovered nitrous gas! I no longer fear him at all!
Hooray–laughing gas!
Robin, I feel for you so much about the lost filling. Not only are they so expensive, but I am terrified of the dentist & have only ever been twice in my life.. My first experience at school was so horrific, I had to be dragged to the dentist by my husband when I needed my second attention under the dentists & I never felt a thing !! But I still detest them. I hope all works out for you.
🍀Shawdiane
>
Not pleasant–but one has to do what one has to do!!
We are not wine drinkers, is that a must for recipes?
Good luck on the tooth.
The alcohol evaporates but informs the taste. You can use stock instead though.
Oh dear Robin! Poor you. The same thing has happened to me twice now and I must admit to being rather scared both times. Thank goodness these things can be put right 😁
On a brighter note, thank you for the lentil recipe. I will really look forward to having a go at that. Looks like a great way to include more pulses in my family’s diet.
Hope you don’t mind me saying I thought you were brilliant in last week’s episode of Poldark! My hubby and I are off on a Caribbean cruise on Saturday so I hope I am not going to miss your next appearance. The recorder has been set.
Wishing you and Meredith a happy Easter, and a pain free trip to the dentist too! X
Thanks, Heidi–bon voyage!
Robin,
Modern dentistry is not painful. (unless you are in pain when you go in). Whether it’s a filling, a root canal, post and crown, extraction, even an implant- with modern equipment the only thing that should hurt when you are in the chair is the prick from the novocaine.
Hope all goes well, and there is enough tooth left so that it can be saved with a crown. . But if it needs to be extracted, I’d recommend an oral surgeon, not a general dentist. The oral surgeon has more specialized equipment, and besides, that’s mostly what they do.
Best of luck.
Myrna
Thank you, Myrna. My dentist seemed confident that it would take a crown. Good advice about an oral surgeon–thanks.
Hi, we live near La Rochelle. Am enjoying Poldark, just wish I could access iPlayer here. Am trying out your leek and lentil recipes tomorrow, the dishes look delicious!
Good luck with the recipes, Anne–bon chance!
Don’t feel alone, Meredith, in regards to lentils! I moved to Providence RI when I was 24 and somebody handed me a hot dish of something dark and mysterious, but very fragrant on a freezing wet lunchtime in a local lunch counter. ‘what’s this?’ Said I, and when I heard it was lentils, almost pushed it away but the aroma brought me back. I’ve been a fan ever since! The blend of stock, carrots, onions and plenty of garlic was just heart warming. I only recently had red lentils — there’s a middle eastern spot near us that makes it into an unbelievable soup.
Thanks for the recipes! I anxiously await the reincarnation of that irascible dog, Dr. Halse, stateside!
Nancy N
The leeks sound marvelous. Can’t wait to try it. Being of Welsh ancestry, I should have eaten leeks all my life but never have done so! My sympathy over the crown – the first time I had one done I behaved so badly I bought the dentist an expensive bottle of scotch by way of apology.
That’s funny, Elizabeth–I’m sure he/she was thrilled.
Hello Robin,
Your post reminded me of Pam Ayres poem “Oh I wish I’d looked after me teeth”, part of which goes:
“If I’d known I was paving the way,
To cavities, caps and decay,
The murder of fiIlin’s
Injections and drillin’s
I’d have thrown all me sherbet away.
So I lay in the old dentist’s chair,
And I gaze up his nose in despair,
And his drill it do whine,
In these molars of mine,
“Two amalgam,” he’ll say, “for in there.”
I had a “Robin” recipe day in the kitchen today but in two very different ways….
1) Lunch was pasta with your wonderful pesto sauce, the one you did on YouTube. I probably used too much garlic but it was delicious – and who cares what others think! Actually one can never use too much garlic…
Dinner was “fast track fish fillet”, sustainable hake in this case, accompanied by “sautéed broccoli” and your recipe for “lemony lentils”. My fillings remain intact thank goodness, but I will remember this lovely dish when next they are not.
Yum and thank you for all four recipes.
2) Our resident robin, who taps on the window when his feeders are empty, reminded me this morning to soak some dried mealworms for him. They look disgusting whether wet or dry but our robin loves them hydrated and mixed with suet and sunflower hearts. He kindly shares with the bluetits but not with his rival robin whom he sees off most aggressively.
Methinks however that this is probably not a recipe for your next book Robin?
Good luck with the crown.
Sallie
Thanks Sallie–I have not seen two robins on our bird table yet. The finches though are out in force.
I’ve just started receiving your emails/recipes and will definitely try this one. My husband has Type 2 diabetes but he’s also a vegetarian who doesn’t eat fish either – so this will be ideal. I’m a lazy cook and tend to get frustrated trying to think up something different to serve him – but I’m hoping you’ll have more vegetarian recipes up your sleeve that will help me.
By the way, although I was unsure about the re-making of Poldark when I first heard about it, I have to say I’m really rather enjoying it – for the scenery and excellent acting skills, of course! Also, it was clever how viewers heard your voice for a good few seconds before the camera panned to you – your voice is so recognisable that I’d have known it was you even without all the spoilers and TV interviews. My husband came home a couple of nights ago with a couple of the original Poldark series so that we can re-watch the longer versions and compare. He told me he’d bought them for me but as we were 14 years old when it first aired I have a sneaky suspicion he wants to re-watch Angharad Rees playing Demelza!
There are a good number of delicious vegetarian recipes in both books–Delicious Dishes for Diabetics and Healthy Eating for Life.
Thank you Robin. I promise you that I’ll buy your books in the next day or so and try your healthy recipes. I really do need to look after my husband’s health better than I have been doing. He eats too much cheese, pasta, rice and potato I think, so it will be interesting to do some recipes using healthier alternatives like lentils and pearl barley.
I’ll let you know how I get on – although with Meredith’s photos to follow surely I can’t go wrong can I?
I eat wholewheat pasta (Sunday night!)–we prefer its nuttiness now. Basmati brown rice and sweet potatoes. Potatoes have a high glycemic value and I avoid them but sweet potatoes are fibrous and take longer to convert to sugar in the body. They are also delicious.