Lentil Salad à La Serre

• Serves: 4

Ingredients:

For the lentils
600g puy lentils*
vegetable stock and thyme
(You can use the canned variety if desired)

For the balsamic dressing
200ml white balsamic
320ml olive oil
10g Maldon salt flakes

30g spring onion (finely sliced)
Black raisins (halved)
Jalapenos (smashed into a purée)
Celery (diced)
Hazelnuts (halved)
Salt and pepper

For the pickled vegetables, buy ready-pickled vegetables
50g carrots (diced)
50g baby white onion (sliced)
50g celery sticks (diced)

Method:

Put the lentils into a saucepan and cover with vegetable stock over a high heat until it starts to bubble. Once it boils, turn to a low heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Check its cooked by biting a single grain. It should be soft in texture with no resistance. If there is resistance then cook for a further 15 minutes and check again. Remove from the heat and add salt and a dash of vinegar to taste. Set aside to cool for 20 minutes. Once cooled, strain and then put into the fridge.

As an alternative to the above, feel free to use a canned variety of puy lentils.

To make the balsamic dressing, pour all ingredients into a jug and stir to combine.

Put the sliced spring onion into iced water to remove the bitterness, then dry thoroughly with kitchen roll. Remove the lentils from the fridge and add the spring onions along with the diced pickled vegetables. Add in the raisins, jalapenos, celery, hazelnuts and black pepper. Combine thoroughly.

Pour over the balsamic dressing and stir thoroughly. Put into four separate bowls and serve.