Black lentils with garlic and thyme

All about lentils

Lentils are not only one of the oldest cultivated crops on earth, a nutritional superhero and a stock hippie foodstuff. They also gave optical lenses their name, because of their similar shape. From the kitchen to the lab!

They are eaten all over the world but in Italy, where they’ve been on the table since Roman times, they symbolise prosperity and are eaten at New Year with cotechino sausage.

Lentils are legumes, and come in red, green, brown and black varieties. Some varieties are regional, like Puy lentils grown in Le Puy region of France, or Spanish Pardina lentils. And there are Beluga lentils which take their name from Beluga caviar that they look a little like.

Lentils are a high-protein and high-fibre food and thus beloved of the wellness gurus. But they should be on our menus not only for the health benefits: when cooked right and well seasoned, they are delicious.

Award winning black lentils

I’ve been very lucky to get hold of Sicilian heritage black lentils: bronze award winner at the British Food Awards and a Great Taste-starred product from Laverde.

They are the black variety, deep in flavour, thin skinned and retaining their shape like a dream. They might now have ruined even the best Puy lentils for me because they are so good.

How to cook lentils simply

As the Laverde guys rightly say, lentils, especially in Sicily, represent cucina povera, peasant food at its best: ‘food that is simple, seasonal and profoundly satisfying’.

My recipe here is just like that: very simple but bringing out the best flavour of the legumes. They need no soaking, only a rinse in cold water and then less than half an hour of gentle simmering in about three times their volume of water.

And if you cook a large batch, they will keep in the fridge for a good few days, to be added to salads, casseroles and bakes.

Aromatic base

Lentils, albeit so nutritious and good for us, are not excessively flavoursome so they benefit from being braised with herbs and aromatics.

As an aromatic base, I use classic mirepoix (aka soffritto in Italy): onion, carrot and celery. Except I skip the celery because I never have any – who does actually buy celery? Instead I double up on garlic, or if I have a broccoli stem which always wastefully gets chucked away, I use that as a sub.

And as the recipe says lentils with garlic and thyme, there are fresh sprigs of thyme added to the cooking – lots of them. If you’re a meticulous cook, strip the leaves off the sprigs. Otherwise add them as they are and fish out the twigs at the end.

Rosemary is another herb simply made for cooking with lentils, as well as bay leaves, fresh or dried. And if someone tells you that bay never does anything to a dish, don’t believe them: it does here.

Braising

A trick for your mirepoix/soffritto here: instead of painstakingly cutting the veg into small dice, pulse them a couple of times in a small chopper, blender, or whatever food processing appliance you have. If no appliance at hand, you can grate them coarsely on a box grater.

With a couple of tablespoons of good olive oil (such as Laverde cold pressed EVOO), those aromatics need to sweat for five to ten minutes until softened but not coloured.

Rinsed lentils then go in, to toss and toast for a minute with the veg base. The herbs are added with the water, everything brought up to a gentle simmer and left on low heat, with a lid on, for twenty minutes or so.

They may or may not absorb all the liquid before they are tender but not mushy. If they haven’t, drain them and in either case try to discard the thyme and rosemary sprigs, and bay leaves.

Seasoning

You can add salt at the beginning of the cooking process or only at the end – I find it makes next to no difference though some people swear salt in cooking makes the pulses and legumes tough. Either way, at the end you should season them to taste, with salt and more olive oil than you think they need.

How to serve cooked lentils?

If you fold them into some cooked rice, you’ll have mejadra, the Levantine comfort dish. If you stir them into short pasta shapes, you’ll have Sicilian pasta con le lenticchie.

On their own they will make a great side to serve with fish.

At room temperature, they will be fantastic added to salads.

And for a mighty satisfying soup, add them to good stock with croutons or crispy bacon.

More lentil recipes

Juicy garlic miso prawns served over quick puy lentils make an easy, protein-plus-fibre weeknight dinner, using frozen prawns and pouch lentils for a maximum flavour with minimal effort.

Brown butter lentil and sweet potato salad is a delicious combo of roasted sweet potato chunks, green or puy lentils cooked from scratch and a super flavoursome dressing made with sage leaves and brown butter.

Spicy, cheesy lentils bake, a superior vegetarian dish put together in 15 minutes if you use ready-cooked lentils. Judiciously spiced and showered with whatever cheese you have spare, they are an immensely comforting food.

More legume recipes

Avocado and red kidney bean salad with crispy garlic and crunchy seed and nut topping. High protein, high fibre and vegan, plus the garlic and the topping alone make this recipe worth trying.

Crispy and spicy roasted chickpeas with grilled peppers, a wholesome vegetarian lunch or dinner, as chickpeas are an excellent source of protein and fibre.

Black beans on toast, from the tin to the table in five minutes and no Heinz tins on the scene. Drained and rinsed black beans seasoned with garlic, chilli and a little tomato are not only tasty but superbly nutritious too.