— Char Nolan

My solution to under 30 minutes, Char does come down to batch cooking, where I'm typically gonna have some number of things already kind of prepared or semi prepared, whether it's some beans that have already been sied, um, or some, some whole grains I might've already prepared, or even some like vegetables I roasted the day before and then maybe marinated or just have cold that I can use as a topper. But let's just say in this example, I have not batch cooked anything, right? I'm just, it's six 30, my kids are coming home, they're hungry. Um, I don't have a lot of time. I've got 30 minutes. So what I'll typically do is just my standard go-to dish, which I'll actually make also if I'm not really in a time crunch, just 'cause I love it so much. Uh, we actually had a variation of this dish, uh, for lunch here on set with the Rouxbe team. Uh, but my go-to is really just a vegetable lentil stew. Uh, I make a lot of this, um, I love red lentils, I love all lentils, but red lentils tend to cook fairly quickly and create just beautiful texture and richness within a dish. So for me, it's, I'll get my Instapot out, I'll take a, a large onion, um, whatever other vegetables I have, whether it's some bell peppers or some, some other things like that. Maybe some garlic. I'll put 'em in the pan with some oil if I want, or without oil. If I want to do a dried no oil saute, put in some red lentils, maybe a cup and a half or so of red lentils, um, and then top it with some veggie stock or some water, put it in there. Um, within about eight minutes, I'll have, you know, nice soft lentils. Um, if I'm in a hurry, I could release that steam out of the Instapot. If I'm not so much in a hurry, I'll just let it go more natural. But essentially I just want to cook those lentils until they're nice and soft and even a little bit broken apart. And then once I get that lid off and it's depressurized and it's safe to do that, um, what I'll do is I'll stir in some other green vegetables. So I'll finally chop some green beans out of the garden. I'll put in some kale or some spinach, some freshly cut tomatoes, all those vegetables that really I only wanna simmer or cook for just a few minutes just to brighten 'em up. I'm still wanting them to have some texture. Um, and I'll typically serve that with something like my mom's whole wheat pita bread. So very typical. I've got about two dozen pita breads here that she made for the casting crew here this week. Uh, but my mom is an amazing cook and she keeps our house really well stocked with these amazing, uh, whole wheat pita breads that she makes, um, pretty much every week. So we'll always have 'em in the freezer or we'll have fresh ones. And for me, honestly, char like that's a go-to meal. I have at least once a week some kind of a lentil dish with whatever vegetables I have. Some cooked with the lentils, some added in closer to the end. Um, typically lots of fresh herbs, so it depends, you know, where I'm going with the dish. I could add some cumin and some mustard seed or some modrus curry. I can also add like Marita or Chipotle pepper and cumin and some extra garlic and kind of take it to Mexico. Um, but really for me, it's just about having like comfort warm stew, and then that scoop of some, uh, whole wheat pita bread, uh, super easy, super comfortable, uh, for everyone to eat. Also great leftovers, no problem heating it up the next day, putting it over some, some brown rice or something else like that. So that's a pretty standard thing for me. I'll, I'll say,