French Mushroom and Lentil Bourguignon over Smashed Potatoes
The elegant savory dish that made want to use wine in cooking more!
Ingredients
- 5 large Portobello caps cut into large chunks
- 1/2 c French lentils
- 12 baby potatoes thin skin
- 1 T corn starch
- ¼ c parsley chopped, for garnish
Vegetable base
- 3 T olive oil
- 2 small yellow onions cut into large chunks, do not separate the chunks
- 7 medium carrots cut into large chunks
- 6 ribs celery quartered (cut in half and sliced lengthwise)
- 1 oz dried porcini mushrooms
- 5 sprigs of thyme stems removed
- 2 bay leaves
- juice of ½ lemon
- 1 t sugar
- 1 t salt
- 1 T tomato paste
- 2 Knorr vegetable bullion cubes
- 2 c dry wed wine pinot noir
- 3 c water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake the baby potatoes for 25 minutes and allow them to cool.
- Prepare the vegetables as described above.
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Sweat the onions in the oil for 5 minutes.
- Add the rest of the Vegetable Base ingredients into the pot and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat, cover and continue cooking for 1 hour. Add the french lentils. Continue cooking ½ hr. Monitor occasionally to ensure that there is enough water in the pot to serve as a sauce at the end. Add additional water if needed. After the stew is done cooking, take out the celery stalks and bay leaves.
- Liberally season the mushrooms with salt and pepper to taste. Heat 4 T of butter in a very large sauce pan on medium high and sear the mushroom chunks until nicely browned. Remove the mushrooms and put them in the Vegetable Base after cooking has been completed.
- Mix the corn starch with 4 T of water to dissolve. Add to the Vegetable Base, stir to combine, and heat the Vegetable Base until the liquid becomes saucy.
- With a bottom of a frying pan, smash the baked potatoes hard enough to flatten them. Heat ¼ c of cooking oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Fry the smashed potatoes about 3 minutes per side. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.
- Serve the Vegetable bean sauce over the smashed potatoes. Garnish with parsley.