For me personally, lentils are one of the things that I really love but do far too rarely. Somehow I always think that they are much too time-consuming to prepare and often the association of a winter stew comes to mind. There are such wonderful recipes for spring and summer lentil salads!
Nice that I remembered it again and found a really fantastic salad for the new recipe of the week.
It's originally made with mozzarella, pancetta and oregano, but since we're French I used whatever I could get my hands on. If you look at the original recipe in Valentina's cookbook, you will see that my variant has become quite a freestyle, but this also shows once again how wonderfully flexible you are with salads and how easy you can turn them into individual creations according to your mood can transform.
Admittedly, this salad is a little more elaborate than, say, melon and ham, but it's really worth it - it combines just about all the flavors we love and makes you happy all round.
Ingredients for 4 - 6 people:
- 250g lentils (I used our wonderful green Lentilles du Puy )
- 6 figs (fresh or semi-dried depending on the season)
- goat cheese. For lovers of somewhat spicier, drier cheeses we recommend the Crottin , for friends of the younger, milder, fresher cheeses we recommend the ashed Sainte-Maure .
- rosemary (fresh or dried)
- thyme (fresh or dried)
- Fleur de Sel
- Honey, eg our liquid, aromatic thyme and rosemary honey
- olive oil
- Balsamic vinegar (I used our fine sweet and sour Merlot vinegar from Spain)
- Allspice d'Espelette
- 5 - 6 slices of Bayonne ham
- juice of half an orange
- arugula
- Fresh basil
Preparation:
Put the herbs in a large saucepan with 1.5 liters of water and bring to the boil. Add the lentils to the boiling water, cook for 30-40 minutes and then strain through a sieve. Pick out the herb stalks.
Mix the lukewarm lentils with salt, 2-4 teaspoons of honey (depending on taste), 6 tablespoons of oil and 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and Piment d'Espelette and keep lukewarm.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, place the ham slices on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for about 10 minutes until crispy. If necessary, dab off excess fat.
Quarter the figs, place in an ovenproof dish or place on a baking tray, drizzle with a little olive oil, honey and orange juice and then bake on the top rail for 10 minutes. If you're lucky, a fine layer of caramel will form...
Wash and dry the arugula and basil and place on a large plate. Place the lukewarm lentils on top and crumble the cheese over them. Spread the figs on top and garnish with the baked ham.
Bon Appetit!
Our conclusion: This salad simply blew us away with its colorful bouquet of aromas: rocket and allspice for the spiciness, honey, figs and orange juice for the sweetness, the crispy ham for the spiciness (keyword "umami"), the cheese for the creamy elegance and the basil for that certain something.
We were particularly (positively) surprised at how well basil and lentils go together.
With a little bit of effort, it will definitely get even better. My recommendation: be bold with the seasoning and don't be squeamish about the honey or the allspice. Also choose arugula, which is beautifully bitter and, above all, hot. This goes perfectly with the sweetish lentils seasoned with allspice!
We recommend the Sancerre Rosé 2016 Domaine Jean-Max Roger as a suitable wine accompaniment. An immediately appealing wine: smells of applesauce, fresh, light acidity and aromas of raspberries, elegant, silky, smoky and slightly tart. The color is reminiscent of fresh salmon and the varietal character of the Pinot Noir is clearly pronounced
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The inspiration for this recipe comes from the cookbook " Lentils & Beans - The 100 Best Recipes for Legumes" by Manuela Rüther, Christian Verlag (2012). I found it on www.valentinas-kochbuch.de
