Gail's bowl

Ingredients for 2 portions:

  • 1-2 beetroots
  • olive oil
  • hazelnuts
  • 180g puy lentils
  • 1 red onion
  • 3 cloves of garlic (about 15g)
  • 3 sundried tomatoes in oil (about 30g)
  • 30g tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 0.5 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder
  • 0.25 teaspoon salt
  • 400g can of tomatoes
  • 10g tamari soy sauce
  • 15g shaoxing rice vinegar
  • strong mature goat cheese
  • delicate cruciferous greens (watercress, rocket, etc.)

Methods:

  • Preheat the oven to 200C.
  • Peel the beetroots and cut them into bite-size cubes. Pile them up onto a baking tray lined with baking paper, add a splash of olive oil to coat them, spread them out into a single layer and bake until golden brown.
  • Start boiling your lentils.
  • Place the hazelnuts onto a different tray and toast them in the oven for about 5 minutes.
  • Open the tomato can. If they are not already finely chopped, handblender them.
  • Once there is no more danger of burning the hazelnuts, dice the onion, crush the garlic through a garlic press, finely chop the sundried tomatoes.
  • Pre-heat a generous splash of olive oil in a Dutch oven. Add in the onion and saute them for a bit on medium heat, stirring occasionally.
  • Add in garlic, sundried tomatoes, tomato paste, the spice mix (smoked paprika, chilli powder, salt). Stir until the tomato paste develops a rust colour. Whenever things start sticking to the bottom of the pot, add a splash of water.
  • Add in the tomato can and tamari soy sauce.
  • Once the lentils are getting tender, add them in.
  • Crumble the goat cheese and chop the hazelnuts roughly into halves.
  • Mix the vinegar into the lentil. Serve topped with beetroots, goat cheese, hazelnuts and cruciferous greens.