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Lentil, Beetroot & Goats Cheese Salad

Serves
Serves 2 as a main course of 4 as a starter
Total Time
1 Hour 35 Minutes
Ingredients
175g of small beetroots, washed but not peeled
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
100g of puy lentils, rinsed
1 fresh thyme sprig
Small handful of flatleaf parsley, chopped
1 ripe pear
100g of goats cheese log
2 small handfuls of rocket leaves
4 walnut halves, roughly chopped
Salt and black pepper
Dressing
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 tbsp of walnut oil
1 tbsp of sherry vinegar
Method
Step 1

Preheat the oven to 190°C/Fan 170°C. Put the beetroots on a baking tray and roast them for up to an hour, depending on size. They should be tender to the point of a knife when done. Leave them until cool enough to handle, then peel off the skins and cut them into wedges. Set aside.

Step 2

Heat the olive oil in a pan and sweat the shallot and garlic over a medium heat until softened. Add the lentils, 300ml of water, thyme, half a teaspoon of salt and plenty of black pepper, then simmer for 23 minutes. You may need to add a little more water, but the object is for it all to become absorbed. Leave the lentils to cool down, then add the chopped parsley.

Step 3

Core and slice the pear, leaving the skin on. Cut the cheese in half horizontally or into 4 slices, depending on how many you are serving. Preheat the grill and grill the cheese on one side. Mix the olive oil, walnut oil and vinegar to make the dressing.

Step 4

Put the lentils in a wide dish, then top with some rocket leaves. Nestle beetroot wedges and pear slices among the leaves and top with the grilled goats cheese and dressing. Sprinkle over the walnuts and serve at once.

Extracted from Rick Stein’s Secret France (BBC Books, £26). Photography by James Murphy.
 

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