Sunny Side Up Nutrition

A cooking, nutrition and family feeding blog to simplify your life

Lunch

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15 Minute Lentil Ragout

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When was the last time you packed lunch for your kids? For me, the date was March 15, 2020. Then, last week, when my 13 year old started back to school in-person/hybrid, I went back to packing lunch. I’ve grown used to making lunch at lunch time, or simply setting out items for my kids (ages 13 and 17) to reheat or leaving them to scrounge around the kitchen to put together lunch on their own. It’s going to take awhile to get used to post-pandemic schedules. On my daughter’s second day back to school, I realized a few minutes before she needed to leave that I’d forgotten to pack her lunch! Because I happened to have a batch of my 15 Minute Lentil Ragout and rice on hand, I was able to reheat it and fill a thermos in just a few minutes!

If you’re like me, you’re always looking for simple, new lunch ideas. I thought I’d share the recipe with you, since one of my go-to lunch items is lentils and rice and having a batch on hand saved me last week.

This quick and easy Lentil Ragout has a hint of summery tarragon and a splash of Champagne vinegar to add brightness to the dish. It tastes great over rice or farro. Sometimes, I top it with grated cheese or toasted pecans or a poached egg. The ragout also makes a great side dish for my Mustard Roasted Salmon.

You can see here just how easy it is to make my 15 Minute Lentil Ragout! Don’t want to chop the onion, celery, carrot and garlic? You can buy them pre-chopped at most grocery stores.

Do you feel stressed about packing lunches? Try our simple lunch packing formula:

Simple lunch packing formula

Would you like more tips to de-stress your lunch packing routine? You can purchase our E-book: Your Ultimate Stress-Free Guide to Packing Lunches here.

If you love lentils, you’ll love my Lentil Salad recipe that also uses the Trader Joe’s steamed lentils.

What’s your favorite lentil recipe? 

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15-Minute Lentil Ragout

This tarragon and Champagne vinegar infused lentil ragout takes only 15 minutes to make. It tastes great paired with rice or farro and it makes a great Thermos lunch.

  • Author: Elizabeth Davenport

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 celery stick, diced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1 small onion, diced

1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped

1 teaspoon Red Diamond Kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon

1 container of Trader Joe’s steamed lentils

1 1/2 cups water or vegetable or chicken stock

1/2 teaspoon (or a splash) of Champagne vinegar

Freshly ground pepper

Instructions

  • Peel and dice the carrots, onion and garlic. Dice the celery.
  • Add olive oil to a medium sauce pan. Add the chopped veggies and turn the heat on to medium.
  • Add 1 teaspoon Red Diamond Kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon.
  • Stir the ingredients together and sauté for 5-10 minutes or until the veggies begin to soften just a bit.
  • Add the package of Trader Joe’s steamed lentils to the pan. Break them apart with a spoon. 
  • Add freshly ground pepper.
  • Add 1 1/2 cups water, turn the heat up to medium high and bring to a low boil. Cook for 5 minutes. 
  • Add 1/2 teaspoon of Champagne vinegar (or white wine vinegar). 
  • Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.

Notes

Serve over cooked rice or farro. The lentils are also great topped with grated cheese or your favorite toasted nuts or a poached egg. 

Easy, Cheesy Pasta with Sausage, Sage and Kale

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We haven’t had many nice cold days here in Alexandria, VA this winter. I love cold weather, in part because I love making cold weather dishes like this Cheesy Pasta with Sausage and Sage. It seems like a good idea to share it now, before the weather warms up for Spring. The pasta is coated with a velvety blanket of cheesy goodness. Who doesn’t love cheese?! The sausage is sliced and then browned to give it nice crispy edges and to flavor the dish. Add some kale at the end, to give the dish some color and texture and you’ve got yourself a delicious pasta!

Leftovers make great lunches and snacks!

We like to keep things simple here at Sunny Side Up. This recipe allows you to do exactly that! It has just 8 ingredients and can be made in about 30 minutes (really)! Cheesy Pasta with Sausage, Sage and Kale is a favorite in my house. Admittedly, there are 2 of the 4 of us who eat around the kale. A dish that everyone likes is definitely a win! Plus, it reheats beautifully, so the leftovers work well packed in a thermos for lunch the next day or reheated for a snack. We’re definitely big fans of using leftovers for lunches (and snacks).

Making the pasta and a few variations

One of the nice things about this dish is it’s versatility.

  • Try a different kind of sausage. Do you prefer spicy sausage or sweet sausage? (I haven’t made it with spicy sausage because I’m a bit of a spice wimp).
  • Deglaze the pan with white wine – After removing the sausage from the pan, deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup of white wine and reduce by 1/2. Then add the 1 1/2 cups chicken stock. Doing this will give the dish some brightness and depth of flavor.
  • Use rosemary instead of sage.
  • Add spinach, or arugula or other greens instead of the kale.
  • Try a different kind of cheese that melts well. (I’ve only made this with Fontina or Fontal cheese).
  • Add white beans to make the dish even heartier.
  • \
1. Slice the sausage. 2. Brown the sausage. 3. Remove the sausage from the pan and reserve and chop the onion, garlic and sage.
Grate the cheese. A great job for older kids.

I typically serve this with my Favorite Everyday Salad and a baguette (if I have one). Let us know if you make this! We love to hear from our readers!

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Pasta with Sweet Sausage, Sage, Kale and Fontal Cheese

Cheesy Pasta with Sausage, Sage and Kale

A tasty and hearty pasta dish that’s ready in 30 minutes.

Recipe adapted from Simple Pleasures: Home Cooking from the Gotham Bar and Grill’s Acclaimed Chef, by Alfred Portale and Andrew Friedman.

  • Author: Elizabeth Davenport

Ingredients

Scale

1 box pasta, cooked aldente

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 package mild Italian sausages ( about 6 sausages), sliced in half lengthwise and then sliced crosswise

1/2 small onion, peeled and diced (about 1/2 cup diced onion)

2 gloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

1 generous Tablespoon fresh sage leaves chopped

1 teaspoon salt 

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

1–2 cups of kale, removed from stems and then torn and rinsed 

2 cups (about 8 ounces) Fontal cheese (or other mild cheese that melts easily). 

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat a large pot of well salted water over high heat for the pasta.  

While the water is coming to a boil, begin making the sauce. Slice each sausage lengthwise. Then place the  slices cut side down and slice the lengthwise pieces. The slices will look like half moons.

Over medium high heat, heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a sauté pan large enough to hold the pasta and sauce. Add the sliced sausage and brown stirring occasionally. Once the sausage is browned, turn off the heat and put the sausage in a bowl and set aside.

Return the pan to the stove and turn the heat to medium. Add the diced onion and sauté for about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and sage and sauté for a few more minutes. Add 1 teaspoon salt.

Reserve about 1 cup of the pasta cooking water.

Add 1 1/2 cups chicken stock to the pan and bring to a simmer. Allow the stock to simmer for about 5 minutes or has reduced by half. 

Once the water comes to a boil, add the pasta and cook until aldente. (I cook the pasta just a few minutes less than the package directions). When the pasta is cooked drain it and reserve about 1 cup of the pasta cooking water.

Rinse and tear the kale. Add it to the sauté pan along with the browned sausage you set aside earlier. Allow it to simmer for a few minutes or until the kale turns bright green. 

Turn off the heat under the sautè pan. Add the cooked pasta and the grated cheese and stir. Scrape the bottom of the pan periodically to catch any cheese that might stick to the bottom.

Add some of the reserved pasta water and stir again. Add a few turns of freshly ground pepper. Taste and adjust add more salt and pepper if needed.

Optional – Serve with some additional grated cheese.

Notes

* Cook the pasta aldente because you’re adding it to a sauce. The cooked pasta will absorb the sauce and may become too soft if you cook it as long as the package suggests. I just cook the pasta a few minutes less than the directions on the package.

** You can use more or less kale (or another green). 

*** You can use less cheese if you prefer.