My cooking tends to go all over the world. I like traditional British food, Thai, Chinese, Spanish, Indian. The list goes on. Despite living in France, I don't cook much French food. I'm not sure why. Perhaps because I don't eat much red meat and seafood is so expensive here. There are so many more options. I just need to explore them more!
But enter this warm lentil salad. It does have bacon in it (100g between two people so not much!) but you could miss this out to keep to make it vegan. It would be amazing with some crusty bread. I had mine with a green salad and some goat's cheese. This is one of those meals that is actually better if you let it sit for a bit for the flavours to mingle. It'll keep happily for a few days and is ready in around 30 minutes. Even better, it's a great standby store cupboard recipe. Lardons last ages in the fridge, but they're not essential at all.
Come to think of it, a poached egg would be lovely if you have the salad warm. The yolk would mix with the dressing to create a sort of mayonnaise. I'll definitely be trying that next time! Some lemon juice or cider vinegar would only make this better but I didn't have any in.
Without further ado, you'll need:
120g dried puy lentils
100g lentils
vegetable stock cube (I won't tell if you don't)
1 onion, finely diced
olive oil
dijon mustard
honey
salt, pepper, dried thyme (or rosemary would work too)
Place the lentils in a saucepan with plenty of water and bring to the boil. Drop in the stock cube and stir it in. Simmer the lentils for 20-25 minutes until tender.
Meanwhile, fry the bacon in a little oil until it releases the fat. Scoop out the lardons leaving the fat in the pan. Soften the onion in this fat on a low heat.
Once the lentils are tender, drain them and add them to the onions along with the lardons. Season with salt, pepper and dried herbs.
Dress the lentils with olive oil, plenty of dijon mustard and a bit of honey. Eat hot, warm or cold.
