Lentils a la Bachelor

There are nights where I don't have dinner parties and don't eat out. These nights, besides being moderately tragic, are my nights to stay in and attempt to cook. This was one of those nights. Faced with an unheard-of friday morning class in my cinema course, I'm taking the night off to catch up on my reading and rest after a brisk trip around the Orsay earlier (some of the metro stations were closed because of the "manifestations" by the students against the new labor contracts, so I had a nice walk afterwards to get to Champs-Elysees Clemenceau).

One of my favorite recipes lately has been dubbed by me "lentils a la bachelor" (thanks to charley for the name inspiration). It's basically Cassegrain lentils, ground beef, some herbes de provence, and lots of Maille Dijon Mustard in a low bowl.

1 box of Cassegrain cooked lentils
250 g of ground beef
Sea Salt
Herbes de Provence

I put the lentils on low heat in a saucepan and let them simmer while I fry up the ground beef in an oiled skillet. While I'm cooking the meat, I add some herbes de provence and sea salt. If you don't mess around with the meat (aka: poke it too much or break the patty open) it's going to be ridiculously juicy. Then I just put the meat in a bowl and pour the lentils over. It's really simple and really damn good. If you cook the meat right, it actually makes a juicy noise when you cut it... mmm. It's also got a nice slightly soupy consistency with the lentils poured over. Then I just slather on the Maille Dijon mustard. Be careful, it's strong stuff. It'll clear out your sinuses and make you cry at the same time if you overload.

Normally, I pick up a bottle of wine (which can be had for about the same price as a bottle of water for a decent quality) and some bread and goat cheese, foie gras, saint marcelin cheese, or camembert (yay for unpasteurized cheeses).

Also, for breakfast, I've really gotten into honey. On everything. Jacques buys really good honey and I normally eat it drizzled over fromage frais, which is basically like very unsweeted yoghurt, but it tastes amazing with the honey.