Goat Cheese in Bacon Coat with Colored Lentils Salad

This comes out of my love for cheese and Mediterranean flavors, combined with the curiosity for what else you can do with lentils besides the traditional lentils soup. And of course you can do way much more. Lentils come in a large color palette, they are rich in proteins, dietary fiber, vitamin B, iron and other goodies. If curious, check this article in Health magazine.


Ingredients for 3 - 4 portions:

• 8 slices of goat cheese. I used "Frico Belle Blanche", a delicious, mild Dutch cheese. I think it's important to have a pretty firm cheese. Consider the fact that it would be heated and you want it melting on your tongue rather than in your pan.
  
• 8 slices of bacon or ham
  
• some branches of fresh rosemary
• 1 tbsp (olive) oil
  
• 1 tbsp honey
• 250 g red lentils
• 3 stalks of spring onion
• a bunch of rucola
• a branch of cherry tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tapenade or olives (optional - I completely forgot this ingredient and added it later, you can do without it)

For the vinaigrette:

• 4-5 tbsp (extra virgin) olive oil
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  
• 1 tbsp mustard
• sugar
  
• salt
  
• pepper

How to do it. It's so simple, a child could do it.

• Boil the lentils according to the instructions on the package.
• While the lentils boil, cut about 1 cm thick slices from the goat cheese and wrap them in the bacon slices. Heat up ca. one table spoon of (olive) oil in the frying pan, add some rosemary branches. Roast gently the wrapped cheese slices on both sides. Add the honey and glace them. Too bad there is no "attach smell" option. I would have used it here, cause it's a symphony! ♫ ♬ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♫ ♪ ♬ As you take them out, spice them up with some pepper.

• When the lentils are ready, pour off the water and let them cool down. In the meanwhile cut the onions in rings and the cherry tomatoes in halves. Wash and dry the rucola.
• Mix the oil, vinegar, balsamic vinegar, mustard, adding salt, sugar and pepper till you are pleased how your vinaigrette tastes. Marinate the lentils with this nice oily-sour-sweet-spicy potion and add the veggies & greens.
• Serve the lentils salad and the goat delicacies on a plate. Enjoy!
  

I was kind of starving at the end, and never intended to post this recipe in the first place, so excuse the leftish arrangement, the poor quality of light and so on. But I can assure you it tastes great ;)


**Note: The sources I use for this blog are the internet and cooking books. I don't take credit for these recipes, neither do I claim inventing them. I just add my personal note, replace some ingredients , adjust the quantities to my taste, sometimes mix 2-3 recipes in one, and add some information or advice that I would have found useful myself.