Puy lentils are an easy ingredient to add to your pantry. For this recipe, the green peppercorn gives the dish a fresh tartness of pepper without the heat. Using preserved lemons adds a rich umami taste to the citrus flavours. Eduardo’s lemon pepper lentils are great with your favourite sausage, grilled fish or braised meats.

Eduardo’s lemon pepper lentils

Serves 4-6 as a side dish

Ingredients:

1 cup puy lentils

3 cups stock (unsalted or low sodium)

Extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion, diced small

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tsp fresh thyme

1 preserved lemon, deseeded and chopped (or juice and zest of one lemon)

1 tsp green peppercorns (or 1/2 tsp ground white pepper.

1 red bell pepper, diced small

 Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a saucepan, bring to a boil the broth and lentils. Lower heat to simmer, cook for 20 minutes. Drain lentils, but reserve 1/2 cup of broth for next step of cooking.

In a medium-heated pan, add 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Sauté onions until translucent. Add garlic and cook for a minute. Add to the pan the thyme, lemon and green peppercorns. Sauté for five minutes. Add the red bell peppers, lentils and broth. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes, or until most of the liquid has dried off if you want a drier dish. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.

Finish with a drizzle of olive oil before serving.