Lentils can be part of high standard cuisine and delicious pairings with French wines for foodie tasting moments
Summury about how lentils can be a Chef dish when cooked with noble ingredients
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In the begining of human history lentils were totally out of favor but today it is more and more considered as a very healthy ingredient. Step by step we see recipes on magazines and even high standard restaurants are using it in their menu. If you use spices along with a tasty sauce, or else truffles or even foie gras you can highlight how great lentils are with premium dishes. As far as French wine is associated with such dishes we will tend toward southern part of France wines with intense aromatic expression, low to medium acidity and sometimes a pretty thick body to match the creamy texture of this delicious ingredient. You can even pair lentils with high end wines from Bordeaux Grand Cru and this article will explain how fancy lentils can be and how to pair these dishes along with quality French wines.
An underated ingredient which brings very important nutriments though
Lentils are a heavily underated ingredient. Widely spread during the roman empire, it was perceived as a dish dedicated to poor classes which gave it a bad image from the beginning of the civilized world. Later on during the middle age lentils were badly considered as supposed to carry diseases, it was scarcerly cooked and with caution, never whole, prepared in vineager to purify it or associated with spices to enhance a better taste than its natural flavour. With such historical origins it was not seen at its true level of very nutricious ingredient providing good food and nutriments to the body :
- Full of nutrients as iron, magnesium and phosphorus.
- Rich in vitamins as B1, B5, B6, which are really important in energy production by the body.
- Full of B9 vitamin which plays an important part in red blood cell and proteins synthesis, the cells renewal and is key to keep the central nervous system in good shape.
- Broadly speaking it is a super ingredient as it is rich in proteins and fibers while keeping low fat, low lipids.
That is the reason why this ingredient is more and more advocated by doctors plus it is coming back to a trendy effect. Even sometimes the most elitist restaurants show interest in this ingredient and craft amazing dishes with it. The Maisons Marcons 3 Michelin stars restaurant in Auvergne, France, makes a very famous lentils stew with truffles. Together with high end ingredients lentils can become an ultra premium dish. We have this exemple of adding truffles, but it can be spices with tasty meat as lamb in the Indian cooking culture or else it can be associated with subtle broth, along with foie gras and bacon in the premium French cuisine. Let’s see in these cases how lentils delicious dishes can be associated with French wines to free lentils from its boring image of untasty and low standard recipes.
Lentils in the indian food culture and how it pairs with some French wines
When it resides in making the most of this simple ingredient we cannot avoid taking exemple from the Indian food culture. The lentils with spices also called Dhals are part of daily dishes for Indian people. Often cooked with spiced sauce made of dairy product or along with vegetables as tomatoes to make a coulis, this ingredient is a must, and it is served with rice or naans bread.
For casual brown lentils we can associate an intense and aromatic wine to match the intensity of the spices. The tannins in the wine will have to be melted and smooth to avoid a burning effect in the mouth sensations owing to spices which are already pretty hot in flavor. Aromas of aromatic herbs and spices will be welcomed to go complementarily along with the dish basic taste. Following this short description we can point out a red Minervois Controlled. Designation of.Origins from Languedoc-Roussillon with a smooth and light profile.
As far as we use coral lentils we can go toward white wines to make the perfect match and a white Côtes du Rhone C.D.O would make it right. A round wine will offer a great texture as the lentils give a creamy feeling and this association will be an harmonious overlapping of mouth feel, making it consistent and reinforced in creaminess. This wine typical notes of white flesh fruits, mango, tangerine and orange will bring a zesty and fruity feeling that will come to slighlty ease the richness of the sauce while offering sweet aromas and citrus effect awaking the tasting buds.
Another wine which matches coral lentils with a spiced sauce will be the IGP Pays d’Oc made with chardonnay. As the Côtes du Rhône white C.D.O the roundness of the wine will match the lentils texture along with aromas such as white flesh fruits, cristalized tangerine, grapefruit. These will bring fruity and zesty notes that will cut on the sauce thickness, cleansing the palate and abating the richness of the dish.
In the French foodie culture lentils can be a high end ingredient paired along with prestigious wines
Another culture giving a generous space for lentils is the French cuisine. The basic lentils dish in France is the « petit salé au lentilles » which associates sausage and bacon with lentils and a little of onions. This very simple recipe is a bit boring, and often associated with low popular French culture. Though as we saw in introduction this ingredients tend to be more and more recognised even by high standard restaurants. Indeed if you cook it with foie gras or else truffle or else with ham and special broth to cook the lentils you can reach a pretty satisfying foodie tasting experiment.
Let’s deal first with the exemple of the lentils velouté with foie gras. This amazing soup brings another dimension to this ingredient especially if the lentils are cooked in a chicken or veal broth. To go along with this cosy dish we can use a Margaux C.D.O slightly fresh, this low level of acidity will match the light texture of the velouté on the basis of a complementary approach of the pairing. The wine notes of cinnamon, leather and empyreumatic will bring character to the dish. The evolved notes of undergrowth, mushroom and cloves will go along with the soup aromas. With this choice we have a match of texture and aromas which will come to expand the aromatic array offered by the velouté in a consistent way.
Another way to prepare the lentils which will bring your tasting experience to the next level resides in making mashed lentils with a blender along with a schallots and red wine sauce, bacon, and creme fraiche also to be added in the blender. We can pair this dish with a Terrasse Du Larzac C.D.O as this wine provides flavor of spices as cinnamon, pepper and cloves which will highthen the taste of the dish. Also the notes of mushroom, toasted bread and smoked bacon of this wine will come as overlapping aromas with this delicious recipe. Moreover the aromatic herbs expression through this wine will be a perfect consistency for a succesful match. As the wine texture is round full bodied and with melted tannins, we will have an equally speaking mouth feel conveyed by both of the paired elements.
If you want to surprise your invitees while eating mashed lentils with bacon you can use an even more genuine wine with a grape that almost disappeared from the French wineries background. This variety is the Chatus grape and you should go on a single grape wine with this one. Turmeric powder, cinnamon, laurel and thymes will be the wine enhancing aromas adding an intensity and another depth with personality to this delicious lentils plate. Notes of undergrowth and mushroom will go complementarily with the taste of the dish. Thanks to a medium acidity this wine will ease the richness of the creamy texture of the mashed lentils. With such a wine pairing you will be sure you will get your invitees to discover a kind of wine that is really scarcer, and which is still crafted in the Southern part of the French vineyards in Ardèche.
We covered the fact that lentils can become a premium basis of recipe if associated with noble ingredients such as truffle or else foie gras. Of course making this low standard lentils elevated to gourmet experiment we will have to play on the texture of the lentils, cooking it as a velouté or as creamy dish mixing in a blender altogether with broth and bacon. But we can also play on the way we cook the lentils to make it very special. For exemple with a chicken and vegetable broth we could cook the lentils as a risotto, using a technique designed for rice to prepare the dish. In this case we will select a red wine with not too much tannins along with a smooth and delicate aromatic expression such as a Pinot Noir from Burgundy or else from Alsace.