The calm before the storm

Self control isn't my strong point, so I know that my kitchen cupboards have to be cleared of all kinds of temptation before I buckle down to my diet. Having brought rather too much food into the house over the Christmas and New Year break (I'm a fully paid-up member of the over-catering corps), I'm now finishing up all the leftovers. Once they're gone, I'll have to start shopping for some sensible food, but in the interim I've had two slices of home-made cornbread for breakfast, snacked on a couple of spice and nut biscuits I brought back from a work trip to the Christmas markets in Alsace and lunched on cold chicken and a beetroot, dill and apple salad. Yum.

Tonight's dinner is going to be sausages served with lentils. Sausages (really great ones from Boston Sausages at Borough Market in this case) are going to be off the menu for a while after tonight, but here's the recipe for the lentils – there's no reason that they can't be included in a diet, as long as you don't pig out on vast quantities of them.

Puy lentils for four

a scant tbsp of olive oil
1 small-medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 carrot, peeled, halved lengthways then sliced into half moons
500 mls chicken or vegetable stock (water will do, but stock is better)
250g Puy lentils
1 bay leaf
a couple of sprigs of thyme, chopped
1 small can of chopped tomatoes
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pour some olive oil into a heavy-bottomed saucepan, then fry the onions gently until they're soft and translucent, but not brown.

Stir in the minced garlic and continue to fry for a minute or so before tipping in the carrots. As these begin to soften, add the stock. Bring to the boil, then pour in the lentils and reduce heat to a simmer. Stir in the herbs and chopped tomatoes and cook until the lentils are tender, but not mushy – about 25 minutes or so.

Season well before serving.

This is a great base recipe, and it works well with all kinds of plain grilled meats as well as fish like salmon. You can ring the changes by adding some fresh spinach leaves to the lentils just before serving and cooking until the spinach wilts, or stir in some oven-roast cubes of squash or pumpkin.

If you've got some left over (I deliberately cook to much to make sure I do), the lentils are great served as a salad the next day – you can liven it up by dressing it with some balsamic vinegar or a squeeze of lemon.

We're also going for broke by opening a bottle of wine (raising a farewell glass to my normal way of life). For those of you who are interested, it's a Mas Janeil Le Tiradou 2004 from Jacques and François Lurton – a delicious southern French red that's full of plump raspberry fruit and white pepper spice, one of my favourite wines of last year, which I recommended for the annual Absolutely Cracking French Wines selection.