We often serve these Puy lentils with lardons and thyme as a side to duck confit, roasted Toulouse sausages or griddled salmon. As time has gone by I have modified the recipe to make it easier and less time consuming. You can make them the day before and reheat gently when serving so they are great to do when you have people over. We enjoyed them with Bill and Trish Osgood last week with some duck confit so this recipe is for them.
For 4 people you will need:
- Puy lentils – around 350g (rinsed and drained) Puy lentils are great because they hold their shape well. Any green lentil could be used as a substitute just be careful not to overcook them
- One small onion, finely chopped
- A couple of carrots cut into tiny cubes
- A couple of cloves of garlic peeled and cut in half longways
- A 200g pack of lardons (or 200g smoked bacon cut into small pieces)
- A bay leaf
- A large sprig of fresh thyme (half a teaspoon of dried would be fine if you don’t have fresh)
- Chicken stock (about a pint 600ml) either fresh or made up with a cube or stock powder (I use chicken stock bouillon powder)
- 75g cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes
First of all, put the rinsed lentils into a large saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil, take off the heat, drain and rinse under cold water.
Just to show you that everything goes in the pan before the stock is added. As mentioned I have adapted the recipe to make it easier so chop the onion and add the bacon to the pot before adding the stock.
Return the drained lentils to the pan, add the chopped onion, chopped carrot, garlic cloves, lardons or bacon, bay leaf and thyme. Add the stock, bring to the boil and cook until the lentils are cooked but still firm. Start having a taste after about 15 to 20 minutes, they want to have bite but must not be mushy. It’s important not to over cook them, especially if you are going to reheat them the following day. When they are cooked, take them off the heat and drain into a bowl, saving the cooking liquid that remains.
When the lentils are firm but cooked, drain them and reserve the cooking liquid. You’ll use some of this to purée half the lentils and a little more when heating them through.
Remove the bay leaf and sprig of thyme. Take about half of the lentils (with the diced carrot, onion, bacon etc) and put to one side. Put the other half into a food processor or liquidiser and adding some of the cooking liquid, blitz until smooth (or smoothish). You could also do this using a hand held blender in the saucepan which saves on washing up.
Blitz the lentils in a food processor or liquidiser with some of the cooking liquid to loosen them. You can make it quite smooth or leave it with a little more texture as you like.
When your puréed lentils are nice and smooth take 75g of unsalted butter that you have cut into small cubes and add them to the puréed lentils one at a time, blitzing each time to create a really creamy consistency. If you are counting calories you don’t have to add the butter but it does make for a richer, creamier consistency.
Poor the lentil sauce (puréed lentils) onto the rest of the lentils that you have put aside and mix together.
Pour your puréed lentil sauce onto the reserved lentils and mix together.
If you are serving straight away then season to taste with salt and pepper, return to the heat and gently bring them back to a high temperature. If you are serving the lentils the day after or later on in the day, allow them to cool and refrigerate. Be sure not to throw away the cooking liquid as you will use this to loosen the lentils the following day when you reheat them.
For added scrumptiousness you can pan fry some crispy bacon bits and crumble over the top or add some crispy fried onions.
If you love lentils and are a veggie then leave out the bacon/lardons and use vegetable stock when cooking. Fry some crispy onions and serve with a 7 minute boiled egg.
Vegans can also enjoy this. Again, leave out the bacon bits and use a vegetable stock. When blitzing in the mixer drizzle in some good quality olive oil to replace the butter and serve with crispy onions and a sprinkling of toasted seeds.
Et voila!
