Lentils with Roasted Tomatoes

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Hey hey sweeties, how are you today? Happy Wednesday! Me, I am recovering from a rockin' good night replete with fine dining, good friends, belly laughs and some extremely quality champagne. It left me floating, and now I am all kinds of hyped for the holidays, if not just a little bit distracted by all the glittering lights and swirling colors around town.

That out of the way, I thought I would say, I'm not the hugest fan of posting just for posting's sake, but since I have these super-licious photos of foodstuffs made with the results of my last Kitchen Project, Oven Roasted Tomatoes, I am compelled to share. They are just two examples of easy ways to incorporate such a tasty ingredient. The uses for this are only limited by your imagination for sure.

First up, French Puy lentils (also known as lentils vert or lentilles de Puy) made heady with garlic, bacon, rosemary and, of course, tomatoes. Simple as can be and not only a wonderful side dish but equally good as a warm or cold salad. What I, and pretty much everyone I'm guessing, love about French lentils (what makes them particularly French, I'm unsure about) is that unlike their more common cousins, they retain their shape when cooked. They also arent quite as earthy as regular (brown) lentils and have a more peppery taste. They are also just super beautiful. They look a lot like little green-grey pebbles. I love it.

So to make this, you just simmer the lentils in a large pot of unsalted water (the water should come up an inch over how ever many lentils you threw in) with a clove or two of garlic and some minced rosemary. They will take about 30 minutes to cook at a medium-low simmer.

When they are done (fish one out and taste it, thats the best way to know, right?) add a generous amount of salt to the pot. Let sit for five more minutes with the flame off. Meanwhile, cook the bacon. Remove from the pan, blot and chop up. Drain the lentils, fish out the garlic, and put them into the pan you cooked the bacon in. Add the bacon back in. Season to taste and enjoy.

Next up, a gratifying slice of wholemeal bread, (thats Brit-speak for whole grain) topped with creamy-tangy boucheron chevre cheese, the aforementioned oven roasted tomatoes with thyme and a little bit of coarse ground salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Recipe unnecessary except to say, I brushed the bread with some of the tomato oil before adding the cheese and served it with oil cured black olives. Nifty delicious. Try it and enjoy.

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Thought to have originated in the Near East or Mediterranean area, lentils are known as dal or dahl in India