Cooking the lentils from scratch
To serve 4, I would use 500g of Puy lentils. Add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil into a pan which has a lid. Add one chopped onion and sprinkle with salt and cook over a low to medium heat till soft (about 5 minutes). Add the crushed garlic and cook for 30 seconds before adding the lentils. Give it all a good stir and then cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then cover and let simmer gently for half an hour or so until cooked. Most of the liquid will be absorbed, if it’s too watery, take the lid off and turn the heat up, if it’s looking a bit dry and the lentils aren’t quite cooked, add a splash more water. These are great to cook in advance and reheat very well.

Extras which I like to add which you might like too:

• a teaspoon or so of Dijon mustard
• scattering of freshly grated parmesan
• creme fraiche instead of double cream
• served with sautéed garlicky spinach instead of wilting the spinach into the lentils
• a splash of white wine after you’ve added the lentils and bubbled away for a minute

Romesco
If you have extra sauce left, which you may well do, lucky you! It’s gorgeous as a dip with crudite, or level up any sandwich by spreading your bread with a little romesco. Serve it with roast chicken, or roasted vegetables and lots of feta. Or make this .

There are lots of variations for how you can make this but I love this version. Some include breadcrumbs but I just don’t personally think it needs it. Can’t find blanched almonds? Well that’s okay , you can try normal almonds, hazelnuts or pinenuts…or a bit of a combination. Blanched almonds and pine nuts is also a very good combo.

Roasted peppers
From a jar is more than okay. Better than okay, from a jar is perfect. Life is hard enough, let’s not make it more complicated than it needs to be.

Sun dried tomatoes
For the love of all things delicious DO NOT drain the oil from the sundried tomatoes down the sink. It makes the most gorgeous base for a salad dressing. Just scoop out the tomatoes and leave the oil in the jar. Perfect for dressings, marinades, so much flavour in that oil please don’t let it go to waste.