Don't lose your momentum

It is difficult to conquer a hill on a bicycle when starting from the bottom, as opposed to the top of another hill. Much the same is it difficult to blog about dishes I cooked a week ago. Here we feature two dishes in one entry, both made a number of days ago. My first attempt at making gumbo can be seen here. I feel satisfied with it, but would prefer to use better sausage the next time around. I'm curious about trying a gumbo z'herbes, which I feel I might make in the coming days when fortifying dishes are demanded to help us fend off the ills of winter.



In days beyond, I decided I'd finally use some lentils that have been sitting tidy in my pantry for many cycles. I thought that partnering them with barley would make an interesting dish, and a little inspiration from recipes pointed me in the direction of pressing them over caramelized shallots and then baking them in the same dish used to make the former. This came out with an interesting texture, but felt a little dry and could certainly benefit from more salt. The toasted walnuts would add a nice texture contrast if the beans were to be a little more mushy, which I'll shoot for next time. Dustin pointed out that toasted walnuts taste like popcorn. He was right. I'd never noticed.