Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Lentil Milanese

An Italian Delight...now made with lentils!!!

Spicy Lentil Candles was recently inspired (not by a reader comment, because no one ever makes them) but by a trip to the delightful restaurant, Mulberry's, in Lackawanna.  Mike ordered veal milanese and we thought to ourselves, "how can we do this with lentils?"  What follows are instructions for this delicious experiment.  Enjoy.

1.  The lentil portion starts with a lentil loaf with a few flavor modifications.  To capture Italian flavors, substitute the ginger with 4 cloves of minced garlic and the
2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro with 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley.

Make this loaf the day before so it is chilled and firm and will bread and fry well. 

Steaming carrots and cooking lentils for the loaf
Everything ready to be blended into a loaf

The baking loaf

2.  Prepare 3 pie plates for breading.  1 contains flour, 1 contains 2 beaten eggs, 1 contains seasoned bread crumbs.  Slice the cold prepared lentil loaf into 1/2 inch thick slices.  First dredge in the flour and tap off excess.  Next dip the loaf into the egg.  Finally dredge in the bread crumbs, pressing firmly until they adhere on all sides to completely coat the piece of lentil loaf.

Breading Process


All breaded and ready to go

3.  Fry the breaded loaf in olive oil until golden brown on both sides.  You'll know it's time to flip it when the golden color starts to be visible up the edges of the loaf.  Set the fried piece on paper towels to drain.

Hot fried loaves
 4.  Make the salad.  The dressing is very simple.  Just zest and juice a lemon, whisk in some olive oil and add salt and pepper.  Toss a handful of arugula per serving with the dressing and place atop the breaded and fried lentil slice.  Add some sliced cherry tomatoes, and shred some Parmesan cheese over top.  

2 comments:

  1. tender, tiny carrots...
    lentil glory galore...
    & those modeling hands!
    --I'm a hot fried loaf!

    ReplyDelete
  2. this is delicious, by the way.

    ReplyDelete