I had a particularly delicious rice and lentil dish at a friend’s house recently. Our host before we sat down to dinner, apologized because she said she’d been running late and had rushed through preparing the meal.

It was a simple mujadara with about the same ratio of rice to lentils, and tons of crispy fried onions piled atop with specks of sundried tomatoes – maybe it was because I went in without any expectation, but it turned out to be the most spectacular mujadara I’ve ever had!

I told this to our host, who brushed me off, and modestly suggested it was the lentil, “Please… it’s not like you can really screw up lentils!” she said.

Weeks later when I felt like time had gotten away from me one evening, I tore into a bag of lentils remembering what she’d said.

I love simple hearty meals I can make on short notice, especially around this time of year as days get shorter; and I love it when I get to cook with wine – so these wine glazed vegetables and lentils were a no brainer.

Fragrant and saucy, it all comes together in a cinch and the combination of flavours are excellent!
There’s isn’t much fuss to it, the ingredients are modest, lentils and a few chopped up vegetables stewed in red wine; I save leftover wine specifically for this.

It gets even more flavourful with next day (and the day after…), so leftovers are great and it pairs well with a host of sides. I’d sometimes do quinoa and greens for dinner, or topped over rice or have it on toast for breakfast or lunch – it never gets boring.

[Tweet “Easy, simple, and deliciously flavourful lentil and vegetables! #vegan and #glutenfree “]