Green lentils can do a lot for a plate. In a salad they give you a tender bite between crisp vegetables. Served warm, they can make a portion of roasted vegetables feel more like dinner.
In Franse Odyssee, Rick Stein specifies Puy lentils for petit salé aux lentilles, a dish of lightly salted pork and lentils. The lentils make up a substantial part of the plate. That sent us back to the cupboard to consider what to look for in a packet and how to use the lentils once they’re cooked.
1. Read the name on the packet
Look for Lentille verte du Puy and the AOP mark if you want the lentils named in Stein’s book. AOP is the French abbreviation for protected designation of origin. These lentils come from a defined area around Le Puy-en-Velay in the Haute-Loire, in France’s Massif Central.
The dried lentils have a thin skin and a pale green colour with darker blue-green markings. You can see the mottling when you open the packet, while the name and AOP mark identify the origin. INAO’s guide to Lentille verte du Puy
Whole green lentils hold their shape when cooked to a tender bite. That makes them useful for a salad or a warm side, where you’ll notice the individual lentils as you eat. Sabarot’s guide to lentil varieties
2. Choose dried or already cooked
Dried lentils suit an evening when you have time to cook them and want to decide on the final texture. Sabarot’s dried green Le Puy lentils come in a 1 kg pack. Follow the preparation directions and start checking the lentils as they approach the suggested cooking time.
A pack of HAK cooked lentils is handy when most of the meal is ready. Check the label for how to use them. If the directions call for draining, let the excess liquid run off before adding the lentils to a salad. Taste them before seasoning the rest of the dish, especially if the ingredients list includes salt.
3. Check the bite before adding the rest
Once cooked, taste a few lentils together. For a salad or side dish, look for tender centres and shapes you can still see when you lift a spoonful. Try them plain first so you know how soft they are before mixing in a dressing or vegetables.
Use a wide bowl if you plan to toss them with several ingredients. It gives you room to fold everything together gently. Cooked lentils that are already quite soft can go straight onto a plate as a base for other ingredients, with the dressing spooned over the top.
4. Give the lentils a place in the meal
For a salad, try cooked green lentils with chopped cucumber and parsley, then taste them with a little lemon dressing. The cucumber brings crunch and the dressing lifts the lentils’ earthy flavour.
For a warm plate, serve the lentils with roasted cauliflower and a spoonful of plain yoghurt, or alongside a fillet of fish and cooked greens. With cauliflower they can make up a substantial part of the plate. With fish they can take the place of a familiar side such as potatoes.
Taste the lentils with the other food before adding more seasoning. A mouthful with the dressing or roasted vegetables will tell you what the plate needs.
From the Pantry Bookshelf. Rick Stein, Franse Odyssee, Tirion, first Dutch edition, 2006, p. 138.