puy lentils, tomato & feta

I'm not sure even in my wildest Good Life fantasies (which are obviously always going to be Margot-centric), did I ever think I'd end up having so many lentil-based dishes in my armoury. I've got recipes with them stewed with sausages, chicken soup, as dhal, roasted with parsnips in a salad, as a base for roasted fish - the list goes on! This week we stumbled on a rather tempting little salad in one of those pull-out mags you get in Waitrose, simply involving green beans, cheese and roasted tomatoes.

It's a fairly simple affair, and remarkably quick to put together (if you discount the roasting time), but if I've learned one thing it's to ignore the picture. Although I didn't, of course:

The lentils are nice and earthy, and the roasted tomatoes add a sweetness which is more than matched by the crisp beans. However, the massive wedges of Feta are almost entirely, mouth-claggingly indigestible. On re-reading the recipe I realise they've chosen to zhuzh up their picture with artfully placed cheese, drizzled with oil, whereas in fact the recipe stipulates 'small cubes'. Small cubes. It makes all the difference.

Wine Time
Assuming you've got your cheese portion control correct, this is still quite a mouth-filling, hefty meal, which requires something pinpoint sharp to cut through the rich flavours. I'm going to go with a Vouvray, which is fleshier than a Sauv, with some underlying sweetness even in the driest version, all of which balance the heft of the meal, but with the necessary acidity to combat the clag. Whatever we had got lost in the battle with the fermented sheep milk.

sources
puy lentils, tomato & feta - Waitrose Early Summer Harvest 2012, p21