Petit Sale aux Lentilles

This time of year is a good moment for putting petit salé aux lentilles on the table.

You will need: A piece of uncooked brine cured pork belly cut into strips, some vegetables for making stock, bay leaves, garlic and peppercorns. And lentils. We prefer the local green (or pink) Berry lentils, but any green or brown lentil will do. 

Chop the vegetables into dice and put in a saucepan with a little oil, bay leaves, peppercorns and whole garlic. Heat on medium heat to soften the veggies slightly then put in the petit salé and cover with water. As soon as the water starts to boil reduce the heat so that the water is just moving, cover and leave for a couple of hours. Once the meat is soft remove it from the stock, put on a plate and cover.

Wash your lentils, put in the pan, reduce heat to a simmer, and leave until they are almost soft, but have a little bite in them. Add the pork back to the pan for 5 minutes.

There you go - a very traditional French recipe for very little effort.