Burnt Honey Lentils Over Fresh Greens
Great flavors come from super fresh produce, but they can also be coaxed by culinary techniques and stove-top transformations. For this week’s meal kit, we have both.
40 min
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 cup black lentils
3 cups water
½ tsp salt
About 10 fresh sage leaves
¼ cup olive oil
2 tbsp honeycomb (about half of the provided honeycomb)
1 large shallot or half a yellow onion, finely diced
leaves from 2 tarragon stems, finely chopped
Salad and Vinaigrette
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1/8 tsp salt
leaves from 1 tarragon stem, finely chopped
1 head romaine lettuce, leaves hand-torn
Garnishes
parsley blossoms
sage blossoms
Pro tip: dice the shallots or onions before you start cooking.
In a pot, bring 3 cups of water to boil. Reduce to a simmer, add the lentils, and partially cover. Cook for 20-25 minutes, adding the salt towards the end. Drain any remaining water and set aside.
In another pot (large enough to eventually hold the cooked lentils), cook olive oil and honeycomb over medium heat, stirring occasionally to incorporate the melted honeycomb.
Add the sage leaves and arrange so that they’re in a single layer (you may need to do this in batches). Fry for a couple minutes until they’re dark green and crispy, about 2-3 minutes. Remove carefully with tongs or chop sticks and let them dry on a paper towel.
After a few minutes, the honeycomb-and-sage infused oil should start to darken and smell like caramel or molasses. Add the shallots and cook until soft, about 5-7 minutes. You may need to lower the heat so that they shallots don’t burn. Remove from heat, add the cooked lentils, and stir until everything is mixed evenly.
Prepare the vinaigrette dressing by whisking the vinegar, olive oil, salt, in tarragon in a small bowl or pouring the ingredients into a small jar, sealing the lid, and shaking vigorously. In a large mixing bowl, pour the dressing over the salad greens, mixing with tongs or very clean hands. You may not need all the dressing.
To serve, form a bed of salad greens, add a scoop of lentils, and garnish with fried sage leaves, parsley blossoms, and sage blossoms.
Notes
This recipe emerged as a happy accident in the kitchen, when I left the honeycomb and olive oil cooking a little too long on the stove. I thought I ruined the batch but I decided to forge ahead anyway. The toasted flavor carried through and infused the lentils, adding a sweetness that isn’t typically present in my recipes. The tarragon really marries the honey and lentils, too.
I’ve been sampling the parsley blossoms over the past couple of weeks, waiting for the right recipe. Parsley continues to impress me as a kitchen garden crop. I’ve taken multiple harvests from the same plants for nearly a year and they’re only now bolting and forming beautiful umbels (and later seeds). Sage blossoms, too, are a new edible flower I’m playing with. They don’t add as much flavor as the parsley blossoms, but the purple sure is pretty.
