Delicious French Lentils!
A recipe featuring Chardonnay wine

Here is a great French lentils recipe, ideal for a wholesome, quick meal - serving up both plenty of vegetable-based protein, fresh vegetables, and herbs, and with a hint of bacon to add in a whole other dimension as well. Plus the oak-aged Chardonnay wine does wonders to both the aroma and flavor absorbed into the lentils...

The recipe given below is suitable for four ample servings, but plan your ingredient quantities according to your needs. 

We will need for the preparation and cooking time approximately ninety minutes. 

Ingredients List:

The ingredients that we’ll need for our recipe are as follows:

• one pound of French lentils
• two bay leaves 
• one tablespoon of parsley
• one sprig of rosemary
• one tablespoon of chopped onion, equal to half a small-sized onion 
• three cloves of garlic
• one small carrot
• two strips of bacon
• 1 cup of dry white wine (in our case, we suggest our Hopewell Valley Vineyards’ oak-aged Chardonnay) 
• one pound of chopped tomatoes 
• one large hot pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt (to taste)

French Lentils Recipe: Cooking Instructions

We start our preparation by thoroughly washing the lentils, and very carefully screening them for small stones and gravel. 

Afterwards we put the lentils in a pot and add a lot of cold water, one of the three cloves of garlic, the two bay leaves, and an ample pinch of salt. 

Cover the pot and let the lentils boil on a low setting, until the lentils soften while we’re stirring often and adding hot water, if and when needed. 

Keep in mind that you’ll want to boil the lentils for the last five minutes with the sauce (see below) - so do not over-boil the lentils.

Remove them from the flame five minutes prior to how you would like their texture to be, so slightly harder than normal.

When the lentils are ready to be removed, we pour the pot of lentils into a strainer over the kitchen sink, and then quickly rinse the lentils in cold water to 'firm up'.

Then we can leave them to the side as we focus on the sauce...

To make the sauce, we start by grating the carrot and onion.

Finely chop the other two cloves of garlic, the hot pepper, the bacon, and the parsley.

As for the rosemary sprig, simply remove the rosemary leaves from the stem and add them into the mix of ingredients. 

Put on the fire a frying pan with three table spoons of olive oil to heat, then add the chopped onions, bacon, carrots, hot pepper, rosemary leaves.

Saute the mixture on a low flame for several minutes - take off the stove before they start to brown. 

Add the cup of dry white wine (Chardonnay) and keep boiling until it starts evaporating (which is what gives it the desired taste and aromas), add the chopped onions and the salt, as needed.

Stir. And keep boiling the sauce for approximately fifteen more minutes. 

Returning our attention to the lentils, we first need to scoop out the bay leaves.

We add the strained lentils to the sauce pan, and then as we mentioned earlier, we now boil the sauce and lentils together for five more minutes. 

Finally, we add salt and pepper, as needed.

You add the chopped parsley, two table spoons of olive oil, stir several times and switch off the fire. 

The french lentils can be served hot or cool.

This dish is well complemented by either the Chardonnay or a light-bodied red wine, like our Hopewell Valley Vineyards Rosso Della Valle. 

Hungry for more wine recipes? I highly recommend this book: The Wine Lover's Cookbook!  (Book review on its way!) Available via Amazon!

* * * * * * *

What's New?

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

1. Dr

   Dec 04, 14 04:30 PM

   When France lost Algeria in 1960, a great worry of winemakers wad what are we going to do now? French wines from many regions WERE B,ENDED WITH MUCH STRONGER

   Read More

2. How to make port wine - and history!

   Dec 04, 14 03:26 PM

   
   How to make port wine - delicious, heart-warming, the perfect gift

   Read More

3. Wine accessory shopping for the holidays

   Nov 01, 14 04:25 PM

   
   Wine accessory shopping for the holidays

   Read More