Warm French Lentils

I love to use Ina Garten, aka. Barefoot Contessa recipes.  They are always delicious.  I find that sometimes they are a little too salty, so I always cut the salt down quite a bit.  I also like to make changes to recipes and add additional ingredients or cut ingredients to make the recipes more simple.  

Here is her actual recipe:

2 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup good olive oil

1 leek, white and light green parts, sliced 1/4 inch (Trader Joes carries frozen already sliced leeks.  They are great to use in this recipe and soups)

2 carrots 1/2 inch diced (I use a lot more)

1 teaspoon minced garlic (I use about 2 teaspoons or a little more)

1 cup French green lentils

1 whole onion, peeled and stuck with 6 whole cloves (I did this one time and it was great when I made my own lentils, but when I buy pre-cooked lentils I just chop up the onion and use it as part of the stir fried vegetables)

1 white turnip, cut in half (I used this once, but I don't use it anymore)

1 teaspoon unsalted butter

4 teaspoons Dijon mustard (I use the stone ground kind)

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon kosher salt (this is WAY too much)

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and add the leek and carrots, cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute and set aside.

Please the lentils, 4 cups of water, the onion with the cloves, and the turnip in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat, add the leek and carrots and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or until lentils are almost tender.  Remove and discard the onion and turnip and drain the lentils.  Place them in a medium bowl and add the butter.

Whisk together the 1/4 cup of olive oil, the mustard, vinegar, salt, and pepper.  Add to the lentils, stir well, and allow the lentils to cool until just warm, about 15 minutes.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve.

So that is Ina's recipe.  Here is how I simplified it:

Chop up celery, carrots, onion, leeks and use pre-minced garlic.

Whisk the oil, vinegar, mustard, a little salt and pepper and put to the side:

I use prepared lentils when I don't have time to cook my own.  Trader Joes carries a pre-cooked and refrigerated lentils.  All you do is cut open the package and dump into a bowl.

Saute the celery, onions, carrots and leeks in olive oil until warm and the carrots are tender but not super soft.  I like my vegetable to be a little crispy still.  Finally add the garlic and let cook for another minute or so:

Add the vegetables with a little butter to the lentils:

Mix the vegetables with the lentils and then add the dressing.  Mix everything up and you have a great side dish or meal.

It has tons of flavor and the longer it sits in the fridge the more the flavors blend together and it tastes delicious.