Lentil salad with two kinds of goat cheese, figs, ham and honey

For me personally, lenses are one of the things that I really love, but do far too rarely. Somehow I always think that they are far too time-consuming to prepare and often the association of a winter stew comes to mind. There are such wonderful recipes for spring and summer lentil salads!
Glad I remembered it again and found a really fantastic salad for the new recipe of the week.

The original is made with mozzarella, pancetta and oregano, but since we're French, I used whatever I could get my hands on. Anyone who looks at the original recipe in Valentina's cookbook will see that my version is quite a freestyle, but that just goes to show how wonderfully flexible you can be with salads and how easily you can turn them into your own individual creations according to your mood can transform.

Admittedly, this salad is a bit more complicated than, for example, melon with ham, but it's really worth it - it combines almost all the flavors we love and makes you completely happy.

Ingredients for 4 - 6 people:

• 250g lentils (I used our wonderful green lentils )
• 6 figs (fresh or semi-dry, depending on the season)
• Goat cheese. For lovers of spicier, drier cheeses, we recommend the Crottin; for fans of younger, milder, fresher cheeses, we recommend the ashed Sainte-Maure.
• Rosemary (fresh or dried)
• Thyme (fresh or dried)
• Fleur de Sel
• Honey, e.g. our liquid, aromatic eucalyptus honey
• olive oil
• Vinegar 3 years old from Martin Pouret from Orléans
• Piment d'Espelette
• 5 - 6 slices of Bayonne ham
• Juice of half an orange
• arugula
• Fresh basil

Preparation:

Put the herbs in a large pot with 1.5 liters of water and bring to the boil. Add the lentils to the boiling water, cook for 30 - 40 minutes and then drain through a sieve. Pick out the herb stems.

Mix the lukewarm lentils with salt, 2 - 4 teaspoons of honey (depending on taste), 6 tablespoons of oil and 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and Piment d'Espelette and keep warm.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, place the ham slices on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake until crispy, about 10 minutes. If necessary, dab off excess fat.

Quarter the figs, place them in an ovenproof dish or on a baking tray, drizzle with a little olive oil, honey and orange juice and then bake on the top rack for 10 minutes. If you're lucky, a fine caramel layer will form...

Wash the rocket and basil, shake dry and place on a large plate. Place the lukewarm lentils on top and crumble the cheese over them. Spread the figs over it and garnish with the baked ham.

Bon appetite!

Our conclusion: This salad simply blew us away with its colorful bouquet of aromas: rocket and allspice for the spiciness, honey, fig and orange juice for the sweetness, the crispy ham for the spice (keyword "umami"), the cheese for the creamy elegance and the basil for that certain something.
We were particularly (positively) surprised at how well basil and lentils go together.
If you push it through a bit, it will definitely get even better. My recommendation: be bold in your seasonings and don't be squeamish with either the honey or the allspice. Also choose arugula, which is beautifully bitter and, above all, spicy. This goes perfectly with the sweet lentils seasoned with pimento!

As a suitable wine accompaniment, we recommend the Sancerre Rosé 2016 Domaine Jean-Max Roger . An immediately appealing wine: smells of applesauce, fresh, slight acidity and aromas of raspberries, elegant, silky, smoky and slightly tart. In terms of color, it is reminiscent of fresh salmon and the varietal character of Pinot Noir is clearly pronounced

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The inspiration for this recipe comes from the cookbook “ Lentils & Beans – The 100 Best Recipes for Legumes” by Manuela Rüther, Christian Verlag (2012). I found it on www.valentinas-kochbuch.de