KOAB Recipe Exhange: Favorite Pareve Side Dishes

Hooray it’s Friday! Welcome to my 2nd little kosher recipe exchange. Today’s theme is pareve side dishes. Selfishly, I am hoping for some serious inspiration from you guys, because I’ve been rather stuck-in-a-rut lately when it comes to my side dishes.

As for my contribution to this exchange, I wanted to share with you today a great lentil and fennel recipe that I discovered earlier this summer while googling for ideas to use up some of the fennel we got in our CSA. This recipe went over extremely well paired with salmon for two different Shabbat crowds, so I feel good about passing it along to you. Hope you enjoy it!

Puy Lentils & Fennel Salad

Ingredients:

1¼ cup French green/Puy lentils (these are harder and firmer than the regular lentils – I find mine at Whole Foods)

1 bay leaf

salt & pepper, to taste

1 carrot, finely diced

1 medium onion, finely diced

1 bulb of fennel, finely diced, fronds reserved

Vinaigrette ingredients:

1 tablespoon red wine or balsamic vinegar (or some of each)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard

To prepare:

Rinse and sift through lentils to remove any stones or broken pieces.

Cover lentils in sauce pan with water by 3 inches or more. Add bay leaf. Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes until lentils are tender. Watch water level and add more if need be. When cooked, drain remaining water and remove bay leaf.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil to sautee carrots, onion and fennel. Also whisk together the vinaigrette. Toss lentils, sauteed vegetables and dressing. Season with salt & pepper, to taste.

Garnish with fennel fronds and serve room temperature.

B’tayavon!

Pretty please, share your favorite side dishes, too. Can’t wait to read them all!

P.S. My recipe was inspired by two different recipes — this one and this one.

Comments

  1. This is not really a recipe, but it is pretty much a constant side dish on my shabbat table — potato burrekas. We use the sabra’s frozen, and we order them from the coop for a bit cheaper than we could buy them in the stores. I serve them with mushroom sauce — saute some finely chopped onion, add a little flour or cornstarch, add a heaping spoonful of dried mushroom soup mix, and 1-2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, stirring, then remove from heat. We like ours thick. The total cost is probably around $6, which isn’t too bad.

    • @WG – I haven’t had bourekas since we left Israel. I miss them! Thanks for the Sabra brand rec, as now I will look for them when I place my coop order this weekend. My “adopted” family (on Kibbutz Lavi) used to always make potato bourekas with mushroom sauce. But they’d usually serve them as a starter.

  2. Sorry I missed this week. I have a recipe I will post later. Things are getting a little crazy around here and my blog reading always suffers 😉

    • @Amanda – What? My little blog isn’t your first priority in life?! Seriously, hope all is well and that it’s a good crazy not a bad one. I’ll look forward to your recipe whenever you get a chance. (Any preferences for the theme this week? I’m thinking dessert!)

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