Alice Waters’ lentil salad with prawns

Serves 4 Starters and mains

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Method

Place the lentils in a pan and cover with cold water by 5-6cm. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes (adding more water if necessary) until the lentils are tender. Drain and reserve 120ml of the cooking liquid.

Toss the warm, cooked lentils with 1tbsp of the red wine vinegar and season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Leave to stand for 5 minutes, then taste and add more salt and/or red wine vinegar, if needed. Add the extra virgin olive oil, shallots and spring onions and mix well. Stir in the chopped parsley or coriander. If the lentils seem dry and are hard to stir, loosen them with a little of the reserved cooking liquid.

Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the prawns for 4-5 minutes until they are pink and opaque. Serve with the lentil salad, scattered with chopped parsley or coriander.

This recipe is extremely versatile. Try these five variations (omitting the prawns): add half a diced cucumber to the cooked lentils; finely dice a small carrot, half a celery stick and an onion, and fry in 1-2tbsp olive oil until tender, allowing to cool before stirring through the lentils in place of the shallot and spring onions; garnish with 75g crumbled feta or goat’s cheese; add ½tsp toasted and crushed cumin seeds; or sprinkle ¼ diced red pepper with salt, leave to stand for 5 minutes to soften, then stir in with the shallots and spring onions.