Last week, Katy, from Brindisa, came to see me. She supplies me with lots of lovely Spanish foods and noticed that I've been sticking to the tried and tested favourites for some time; Ortiz tuna (so good it deserves a post of its own), chorizo, serrano ham, El Navarrico Pulses and Peppers and Santo Domingo Smoked Paprika amongst other things. All fantastic. But Katy knew of some other products we don't sell as Tastes, so popped in with samples. First out of her goody bag were some lentils from El Navarrico.
El Navarrico is a family run business that has been preserving vegetables and pulses since the 1950s. Today, new generations of El Navarrico continue the traditional processes and define themselves as “craftsmen of the farm”. El Navarrico always guarantee a unique product, treated with the wisdom of time as well as with the best quality systems. Their chickpeas are especially popular with our customers; plump, soft and flavoursome. The alubia blanca make fabulous baked beans, and it isn't until you taste the judion de la granda that you realise why their English name is Butter Beans.
As with everything I sample, I don't just open a packet, taste and make a decision. I take things home, I use them as I expect my customers to use them. And so it was that the jar of lentils came home with me. The first thing I made was an accompaniment to some sea bass fillets. A very simple, quick meal in which the texture and flavour of the lentils really shone. Delicious and so very easy.
Fry one chopped onion and one sliced bulb of fennel until starting to brown.
Season and start to pan fry some sea bass fillets (we shared three fillets between two).
Add the zest and juice of a lemon to the onion/fennel pan (I probably should have saved some lemon zest to go on the fish).
Add half a jar of lentils to the onion/fennel (they are well packed in the jar, you'll need to dig in with a spoon to free them!).
Serve lentil mix with fish on top.
Thoroughly enjoyed.
I also wanted to see how the lentils worked in a cold salad. Limited by what was in my fridge on a wet Monday lunch time I made this:
Make up 75g of cous cous with 150ml boiling water.
Fluff it up and let it cool while you chop three cherry tomatoes into quarters and wash and chop a small bunch of watercress. You can add more tomatoes, but I only had three. Rocket would also work well here, but I had a bunch of watercress a customer ordered and didn't collect.
Make a dressing by mixing a tablespoon of basil pesto with teaspoon of red wine vinegar.
Mix cous cous with 200g lentils, tomatoes and rocket.
Drizzle the dressing over the salad, mix in and season.
Really delicious. The bite of the lentil goes perfectly with the smaller grain of the cous cous and the crunch of the vegetables.The shape and colour contrast beautifully and these lentils taste nice. Not bland bulking fillers, but tasty little beads.
There were still lentils left in the jar after making two salads and two mains. They seem never-ending, but in a very good way. Coming to Tastes Deli soon!
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