Bread and circuses

Check this out.

Tonight's dish was, in fact, laganophake, a stew of lentils cooked in red wine that originated in ancient Rome. I didn't have any panem (or libum, sort of a holy sacrificial cheesy bread) with which to serve it. Rice worked just fine. I am also nearly out of green vegetable, so I used enough parsley--which contains all those nutritious goodies that other green foods contain--to nearly qualify this as a parsley tabbouleh.

As for the circenses: PLACE (a.k.a. Pretending Longitudinal Access to Care Exists) today was totally rad, dude, to use another ancient expression. I'm with a pediatric endocrinologist who is conveniently located in Schwartz Health Care Center. Today, I saw such nifty things as a boy with Prader-Willi syndrome (giving me the opportunity to show off the fact that I actually knew what that was), a toddler with an unfused anterior fontanelle, and a little girl with precocious puberty.

Back to food. Here's the recipe, heavily adapted from the original at the blog Tasty Trix.

Laganophake


1 cup lentils
1 large onion, sliced thinly or chopped
2 cups water
3/4 cup red wine
1 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp dill
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
pinch each of thyme and oregano (or chopped fresh thyme and oregano for garnish)
1 cup fresh parsley
salt and pepper, to taste

Saute the onions in some olive oil until soft, then add the spices (minus the fresh parsley and, if you're using them, fresh thyme and oregano) and fry for about 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add the lentils, water, and wine. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook, covered, for 45 minutes or until the lentils are soft and tender. Season with salt and pepper. Toss with the chopped fresh parsley. Enjoy with bread or rice. Be careful not to spill anything on your toga.