Lentil Salad with Smoked Lardons rich and flavorful

1 Rinse your lentils, then pour them into a saucepan, cover generously with cold water, add the tea ball and the peeled carrot and cook over low heat for 20 minutes after boiling.

2 Meanwhile, remove the rind from your smoked bacon, cut thick lardons (1 cm), then take the rind and cut it into fine strips, pour them into your saucepan, cover with cold water then bring to a boil, holding it for 2 minutes (blanching), then run cold water over it while stirring to remove all impurities, drain and set aside.

3 Test the cooking of your lentils, drain them, remove the cooked carrot, place it on your cutting board and cut it into fine brunoise (small dice) and reserve.

4 Then in the same saucepan, pour your tablespoons of vinegar and white wine, your sliced onions, salt and pepper, bring to a boil, add your lentils and your carrot brunoise, taste the mixture then turn off the heat and keep covered.

5 In a pan pour your oil or duck fat, then when it's nice and hot pour your lardons and bacon rind strips and sauté them until they're crispy, set aside the strips then, contrary to our usual habits, do not drain your lardons but pour them hot with the rendered fat over your lentils and stir (this addition will be the oily element of your salad). Serve warm with the tied bacon rind strips as decoration. I prepared this dish with blonde lentils from Saint-Flour (red label), you should count 2.5 oz (70 g) per person for a nice salad. www.lentille-blonde.fr You can use this method to put any aromatics you like in your tea ball and moreover you can apply this same system to all dried vegetables: chickpeas, white beans, etc. This allows you to have a cooking that is not only clear but also tasty.