Lentil Ragout with Farro, Cranberries, Carrots, Ginger, Mint & Blood Oranges

This dish reminds me of a lingering winter that finally gives way to spring. I suppose it’s the combination of winter cranberries and citrus melding with the spring carrots and mint. It’s one of my favorite dishes.

Ingredients  –  Serves 8

• Cranberries, fresh or frozen, whole 1 1/2 cups
• French lentils, 1 1/2 cups rinsed, pick through, rinse again
• Farro, pearled, 1 cup rinse, pick through, rinse again
• 2T honey, maple syrup or organic sugar
• 1 sweet potato (1 1/2 cups peeled and cubed)
• 2 carrots, washed and diced (2 cups)
• fresh ginger – 1 inch peeled and grated
• 1t cinnamon
• 3T dried orange rind (grind in coffee grinder)
• 3T fresh mint, minced and used as garnish
• 4 Moro Blood oranges

Preparation:

• Combined washed cranberries with rinsed French lentils and rinsed farro with 4 1/2 cups of water in large pot. Bring to a gentle boil, turn burner down and simmer for twenty minutes to twenty-five minutes.
• While ragout simmers, peel sweet potato, wash carrots and dice into 1/2 inch pieces.
• Peel ginger and grate using micro grater.
• Add carrots, sweet potato, ginger, cinnamon, ground orange rind, honey (maple syrup or organic sugar) and let simmer until done (an additional 10-20 minutes.) I prefer my vegetables al dente, so I simmer the carrots for ten minutes. Generally the lentils and farro  (pearled farro variety) are done at the same time.
• While carrots and sweet potato simmer, grate orange peels, wash and mince mint.  Cut oranges in half and juice.
• Serve ragout in bowls and top each one with the juice from half an orange, 1t of grated peel, 1/2t minced mint and fresh ground pepper.

Kitchen tips

• I add the orange juice after cooking the ragout because adding during the cooking process dilutes and dulls their juicy sweet flavors and the raw state preserves the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
• You can substitute brown rice for farro. Both grains are sweet and meld perfectly with the cranberries’ tartness and the blood orange juices.
• During the fall and winter holidays, I generally buy several baskets of fresh organic cranberries and freeze them. Cranberries make wonderful additions to soups, salads, and ragouts.
• When I juice an organic orange, I first remove the peel (using a vegetable peeler) and either save it in the refrigerator, freeze it or leave it out on a plate to dehydrate naturally.  I like to use orange peel (fresh or dried) as much as I like to use fresh ground pepper. Because this is an expensive spice, this habit pays off.
• I use a paring knife and peeler for strips of orange peel, a zester for curls and a micro-plane for small slivers.  I store the dehydrated orange peel in a glass jar and generally grind the peel in a spice grinder right before I use it.

Enjoy!