Keep your finger on the French pulse
The French are rightly famous for their cheese, croissants and cassoulet, but we also owe them a heartfelt ‘‘merci beaucoup’’ for producing the world’s most beautiful lentils. Puy lentils – a specialty of Puy, in the Auvergne region – are the supermodels of the lentil world.
Not only are they pretty to look at, like unpolished slate speckled with malachite or pounamu, but they’re blessed with what culinary reference books call a ‘‘superior texture’’. This means that while they lose their looks when cooked, they retain their shape rather than dissolve into an amorphous mush.
Warm lentil salad with roast pumpkin and buffalo cheese
Serves 2-3 as a main course Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 30 minutes
Yes, it is entirely possible to have a lentil-based main course that feels like a treat rather than a chore.
Adding marinated buffalo cheese transforms this from humble supper to next-level luxury. If you can’t get your hands on any, try a fresh goat’s cheese or creamy feta.
Feel free to use whatever greens you like too – I’ve used baby kale, but you could use baby spinach, rocket, celery leaves, beetroot greens, or a mix.
❚ 500g peeled and de-seeded pumpkin, chopped into
2cm cubes (about 750g with the skin and seeds still intact)
❚ 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
❚ 1 cup Puy lentils (also called ‘French lentils’ or ‘Lentilles du Puy’)
❚ 2 cloves garlic
❚ 1 bay leaf
❚ 1 cup crumbled Clevedon Marinated Buffalo Cheese (or feta, or fresh goat’s cheese)
❚ 3-4 handfuls baby kale, baby spinach, rocket, or flat leaf parsley
For the dressing:
❚ A good pinch of flaky sea salt
❚ 1⁄2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
❚ 1⁄2 teaspoon brown sugar
❚ 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
❚ 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Put the pumpkin on an oven tray and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat, then season well with salt and pepper, and bake for around 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pumpkin is cooked and beginning to crisp up. Set aside.
While the pumpkin is cooking, wash the lentils and pick out any stray stones. Put the lentils, garlic, and the bay leaf in a pot and cover generously with cold water.
Cover and bring to the boil over medium heat. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, until cooked. Watch them carefully after 20 minutes so you don’t overcook them. Drain well and discard the bay leaf.
To make the dressing, pick out the cooked garlic cloves and squeeze the flesh into a small bowl or jar. Add the salt, mustard, sugar, and vinegar and shake well. Add the oil and shake again until well mixed.
Tip the lentils into a bowl and pour in about half the dressing. Stir well, then add the pumpkin, cheese and greens. Toss gently, then drizzle over the remaining dressing. Season well with salt and pepper before serving.
Braised lentils, sausages and spinach
Serves 4 Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 45 minutes
This all-in-one feast is an excuse to buy the best sausages you can find. If you’re constrained to supermarket snarlers, I recommend Harmony Organic French herb and bacon pork sausages, or L’Authentique pork and fennel sausages. A bit of baguette on the side is always a good idea.
❚ 1 tablespoon olive oil
❚ 8 pork sausages
❚ 2 onions, peeled and diced
❚ 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
❚ 2 carrots, peeled and diced
❚ 2 large sticks celery, trimmed and diced
❚ 2 sprigs thyme
❚ 1 cup French green lentils
❚ 3 1⁄ cups vegetable stock
2
❚ 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
❚ 3-4 handfuls baby spinach
❚ Finely grated zest and juice of one lemon
Set a large, heavy frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the oil. When it’s hot, add the sausages. Brown them all over – this is to colour them, not to cook them through. When they are sufficiently bronzed, remove them to a plate and set aside.
Return the pan to the heat and add the onions, garlic, carrot and celery. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft and starting to colour. Add the thyme, lentils, stock and mustard. Stir well and bring to a simmer, then nestle the sausages on top. Cover loosely with a lid or foil and let simmer for 25 minutes, until the lentils are cooked.
Stir through the baby spinach and cook for another five minutes. Remove from the heat and season well with salt and pepper, then fold through the lemon juice and zest. Serve each diner a scoop of the lentil mixture, with sausages on top.