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FOOD

braised leeks and lentils with arugula and yogurt – smitten kitchen

jackminion Apr 30, 2026 0

Heat your oven: To 350°F (175°C).
Prepare your leeks: Leeks are notoriously sandy. First, lop off any parts of each leek that are darker than light green. Trim the root ends. Peel back layers of your leek until you no longer have visible dirt that cannot be rinsed. Thoroughly rinse off any remaining dirt or grit. Wipe down your counter and knife (lots of dirt and grit there), and then slice the white and pale green parts into 1-inch rings.
On the stove: In a large (3 to 4 quarts) ovenproof pan with a lid (I’m using this) — or, if you don’t have one, just use a wide, deep skillet for the stovetop part and transfer it to a baking dish for the braising part — heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add leek slices and season lightly with salt and pepper; cook until browned underneath, about 4 to 5 minutes, then flip each leek and cook until browned underneath on the second side, 3 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle pan with sliced garlic, then dried lentils. Gently pour in broth, using it to “rinse” any lentils off the tops of leeks and into the pan so they cook evenly. Scatter with lemon zest and scallions, and season as needed with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cover pan with a lid. Transfer to the oven.
In the oven: Cook leeks and lentils together for 40 to 45 minutes, or until leeks are soft and lentils are tender. [Different lentil varieties might need more or less time.] There will be a little liquid broth in the pan.
While the leeks and lentils cook: In a small bowl, combine plain yogurt with 1 tablespoon of juice from the lemon, 1 minced or microplaned clove of garlic, and salt and pepper to taste.
In a large bowl, whisk 2 tablespoons lemon juice with 3 to 4 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss arugula with dressing; it’s more than it needs and most will land at the bottom of the bowl. Don’t worry, we’ll use it too.
To finish: Take the braised leeks and lentils out of the oven. You can finish the dish right in your pan — dolloping it with the yogurt sauce and scattering the arugula on top. Pour the remaining dressing over the dish to give the leeks and lentils extra zip. Or, you can arrange this on a plate to your taste — shown here with the yogurt swooshed across the plate, a piece of toasted sourdough, and everything else piled on top.
More things you could add/zhuzh this up with: Toasted hazelnuts, thinly sliced fennel, and/or parmesan shaved with a vegetable peeler in the salad. I was tempted to add some cumin to the lentils and yogurt, perhaps some sumac on the salad, but resisted to keep it simple. You could definitely give the lentils some heat with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon mild or regular red pepper flakes with the broth. And this is fantastic with a poached egg on top; it’s been my lunch all week.
Note: This is tagged gluten-free, so of course, if you’re using toast, yours should be too.

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FOOD

Cottage Cheese Wraps

jackminion Apr 30, 2026 0

There was a point a couple years back when the algorithm decided I needed to know about cottage cheese wraps. They looked so tasty! They were everywhere! They seemed to be a breeze to make! You pool a quick-blended mixture of cottage cheese and eggs onto a rimmed sheet pan and bake until golden on the bottom. Pile on a bunch of fillings, roll up tight, and enjoy. I was on-board. It’s a great concept, a satisfying meal, and endlessly adaptable. I’m still not sure where the concept originated, but I’ve learned a number of tips and tricks related to making these wraps (and favorite fillings) that I’m going to share today. The deep dive.
Cottage Cheese Wraps
Cottage cheese wraps are a breeze to make, but you do have to be mindful of a couple details the first few times through the process to avoid issues:

Don’t over-process the mixture in your blender. 15-20 pulses does the job, resulting in a smooth batter.
Yes, you need to use parchment paper.
Spread the batter across your sheet pan gently, to a uniform thickness. Too thin, it is more likely to crack.
Bake until the wrap is very golden on the bottom, this is right around 30 minutes in my oven. This is the color you’re after, or even a bit darker!
After removing from the oven, let the wrap set for a bit. Roughly 3-5 minutes is about right. It’s less likely to break apart as you’re filling and rolling.

The Ingredients
To make the wrap component of cottage cheese wraps you need three things: cottage cheese, eggs, and a bit of salt. You can accent from there with abandon. I tend to spice my batter with whatever spice blend I’m fixated on at the time, but herbs, peppers, and pastes are also favorites.

Cottage Cheese: For this recipe I always use low-fat cottage cheese. Typically 1.5%-2% I’ve found that different brands of cottage cheese impact the thickness of the batter, sometimes it is more runny than other times. If you feel like your batter is regularly too runny, use 2 eggs instead of 3. If you feel like your batter is too thick use 3 eggs in place of 2. I find two eggs usually gives me a nice consistency that is easy to pour and work with on the pan.
Eggs: Good quality, large.
Accents: Some favorites include chopped chives (pictured), chopped serrano chile, a couple pieces of turmeric plus freshly ground black pepper, madras curry powder, toasted onion powder.

Cottage Cheese Wrap: Variations
The variations here are endless. A few ideas to flavor the wrap component:

Furikake: add a couple teaspoons of citrus furikake to the wrap mixture prior to baking.
Turmeric & Black Pepper: add 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric and a few cranks of freshly ground black pepper to your batter.
Double allium: Add some good onion powder along with a bunch of chopped chives to your batter.
Za’atar: add a teaspoon or two of za’atar to the batter. This goes especially well if you use labneh as a spread filling.
Olives: Finely chopped black olives work well here, just make sure to chop them extra fine, and stir them in after blending.

Cottage Cheese Wrap Filling Ideas:
My goal when I make these is: one wrap meal. I’m going for an all-in-one situation. Filling the wraps with something green is usually where I land.

Kale Salad: I like to stem and chop a half bunch lacinato kale. Massage with 1-2 teaspoons of good-tasting vinegar, and 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil, and a bit of salt until it collapses, add some avocado, toasted seeds, cherry tomatoes, etc. and use for your wrap filling.
Broccoli and Winter squash: Pictured below is a wrap smeared with chive-flecked labneh, and topped with simple oven-roasted broccoli, thin crescents of delicata squash, sliced green onions, and a smear of sriracha. Calabrian chili paste is a good alternate here on the spicy front. Also, a few toasted pumpkin seeds. To roast the vegetables, toss them in a bit of olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and roast in the 350°F / 176°C oven until golden brown. You can do this at the same time you are baking the cottage cheese mixture. It’s the wrap also pictured in the lead photo.
Labneh: Use a smear of labneh (homemade labneh is the best!) across the wrap before adding other fillings and rolling. You can see labneh used as a spread in the lead photos here.
Chili crisp
Roasted cherry tomatoes
Pesto
Pan-blistered artichoke hearts

More Cottage Cheese Recipes

Cottage Cheese Muffins
Cottage Cheese Pancakes
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Continue reading Cottage Cheese Wraps on 101 Cookbooks

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FOOD

sidecar – smitten kitchen

jackminion Apr 30, 2026 0

If there’s anything that’s been consistent about this site in its near-20 years of beaming (babbling?) hypertext to servers and back to you, it’s that I’m very bossy when I get into something new, especially cocktails. When I fell in love with Porch Swings, I wanted you to as well. Ditto for Blood Orange Margaritas (but only when in season), a Perfect Manhattan era that spanned over a decade, Boulevardier that has been woven into almost every year since, and a Slushy Paper Plane phase last year. This past winter and spring still, it’s been Sidecars, 1920s-era cocktails with about as many conflicting stories as my kids regale us with when they didn’t do their homework.

In the one I find the most amusing, an American army captain in World War 1-era Paris would apparently roll up to a bar in a motorcycle sidecar — I have many questions including: who was the driver? — and became a regular at Hôtel Ritz Paris or possibly Harry’s New York Bar, depending on who is telling the story. The captain would order a mix of cognac, orange liqueur, and lemon juice and eventually, bartenders named the drink after his particular vehicular quirk.

In other origin stories, bartenders serve the drink with a little extra leftover from the cocktail shaker poured into a second glass… that they called the sidecar. Again, maybe it’s true, but I’m a skeptic, albeit a bemused one. I’m far more interested in its taste. I saw it referred to as the French cousin of a margarita, and honestly, I get it — it’s strong (from cognac), bright (from lemon), and slightly sweet (from orange liqueur) but balanced, as daisy drinks often are. Typically the sidecar is served with a sugared rim which I find completely unnecessary for taste (it is sweet enough) but cannot resist the way raw sugar gets a golden glint to it and include it here. We all need a little extra sparkle sometimes, right?

P.S. My cookbooks are on sale through the wonderful, independent Porchlight Books and if you order any one, two, or three of them, they will include a Mother’s Day card signed by me (and occasionally my 10 year-old). Order by Monday 4/27 to get the gift(s) in time for 5/10. [Smitten Kitchen Cookbook Sale]

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