The weather has been lovely in Newcastle this week, a tiny bit warmer and lovely sunny days with bright blue skies. I had a little photo shoot in the allotment on Monday for an article about the blog, I'm not sure how the photos will turn out but at least it was a beautiful day! I have planted some broad beans and built a little wigwam for them to grow up, and the sweet peas have appeared as tiny little delicate green shoots on my window sill... My first successful plants of the year.
It definitely feels springy and time to move on from stews. I'm going up to Northumberland this weekend and am hoping it might stay sunny enough for a picnic. With coats on I imagine... I think this dish would be lovely as part of a summer picnic. It is a recipe from the BBC Good Food website and very tasty.
Rinse about 75g of puy or green lentils until they are clean, put them in a pan of cold water and onto the heat. I used green as I couldn't find any puy in Byker Morrisons. Follow the cooking instructions on the lentils, mine had to boil for 10 minutes then simmer for 30 minutes with a pinch of salt. I had to top the water up now and again as well.
Chop up a couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes into halves, and finely slice a quarter of a red onion. These amounts are for one bowl of salad so just multiply them up depending on how many people you are serving.
Crush half a small clove of garlic and chop it up finely, add this to the tomatoes with the juice of quarter of a lemon and a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper.
Thinly slice about 90g of halloumi and brush it with a little olive oil, put it under the grill until it browns, keep an eye on it as it only takes about 5 minutes. Turn it over about half way through to lightly brown each side but keeping the cheese soft in the middle.
When the lentils are done drain them, and add them to the tomato mixture. Stir through a handful of coriander and top with the grilled halloumi. Drizzle a little olive oil over the warm cheese. It is really tasty with the still warm lentils and cheese, and sharp fresh tomatoes, herbs and dressing.
I'm under the impression that puy lentils are just expensive green lentils -obtainable at ASDA.
ReplyDeleteHi, they are different, but you can substitute them as puy are expensive. Puy are a PDO product so only grown in a certain area of France, Le Puy, they are a blue green colour and are very tasty. Lentille verte or green lentils can be grown anywhere and are more of a solid green colour, a fine alternative though.
DeleteAnna x