Puy Lentils & Bacon Casserole in white wine
* The quantities below are to fit into a large tagine for 4 people, however if cooking in a le creuset casserole, you can double (or treble) the amounts.
Also, it is best to make this either the day before or in the morning. The heating in the oven for 3/4 hour will leave the vegetables slightly crunchy. When you re-heat it the second time, they will become softer.
1 cup (at least) of Puy lentils
Water to cover the lentils
Several teaspoons of vegetable bouillon/vegetable stock
Rinse the lentils and put in a large saucepan. Cover with water to twice the volume. Add the vegetable bouillon. Bring to the boil and simmer fast for about 20 minutes. Check that the lentils are soft. Leave to cool.
Heat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180C.
4 pieces of thick, smoked back bacon (at least), cut into large chunks, trim off excess fat
3 large garlic cloves, sliced
1 large onion, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped into chunks
1/2 red pepper, chunks
1 medium parsnip, chunks
1 medium carrot, chunks
Couple of small bunches of parsley
1 spring onion
Several thick slices of savoy cabbage, sliced into smaller shreds
1 bay leaf & some sprigs of thyme
3 tablespoons of tomato puree
1 to 2 small glasses of dry white wine
Juice of 1/4 of a lemon and then throw the lemon into casserole
Salt & pepper & kallo organic seasoning
Some creme fraiche, to stir in at the end of cooking
Cut the bacon up, in a bowl. Chop the vegetables (onion, carrot, parsnip, red pepper, celery) into one bowl and separate the parsley, spring onion, bay leaf. Place the savoy cabbage in a separate bowl. Put the tomato puree in a large bowl and cover with the required amount of wine.
In a large frying pan or le creuset, add a little olive oil. Quickly stir the bacon around until it is nicely browned. Take out and put in a bowl - the one with the savoy cabbage. Add a little more oil and add the garlic. Then the bowl with the onions etc.,. Fry until semi-soft - the onions don’t need to be browned, just translucent. Put the bacon and cabbage in and stir about for a bit. Then add the contents of the parsley bowl and the tomato puree and wine. Finally add the lentils and stock, seasoning and the lemon juice and the lemon itself. If it looks like there isn’t enough liquid, add a bit more wine or water. Bring to the boil.
Cover the casserole or tagine and put into the oven - on a mid to low shelf. If using the tagine, put a large plate on the shelf below, because some juices will probably spill out over the edge.
Cook for about 3/4 hour, until the vegetables are still a little crunchy. Take out of the oven and leave to cool. Later (when it’s dinner time), heat oven to Gas mark 4, and bring to steady simmer on the cooker. Re-heat in oven for about 1/2 hour - got to be hot. Stir in some creme fraiche at the end of cooking, to thicken the sauce.
Serve with the Canary Island salty potatoes and chilli/garlic/cumin/olive oil sauce and a green salad. Should be brilliant.