Petit Salé Aux Lentilles is traditional French cooking. This hearty dish is a specialty in the Auvergne region of France. It’s a farm or rustic type dish, sometimes called French pork and beans.

A simple way to celebrate home-made bacon is what is called the petit salé. Petit salé, most commonly is a part of a pork (fresh not cured) like hock, belly or ribs that is salted for about 4 hours (or longer), then is soaked or rinsed thoroughly with cold water. In addition to the petit salé, smoked sausage, vegetables, fresh herbs and lentils are slowly cooked with the broth from the braising pork. These are essential to the success of Petit Salé Aux Lentilles, warm and perfect for a cold winter night. Serving this generous dish with crusty bread and a dry cider or balsamic vinaigrette perk up the flavour, a marriage made in heaven!

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Petit Salé Aux Lentilles is simply one of those comfort food that mothers like me, love to cook for their dear ones. It takes tender loving care to prepare this nourishing dish. That was what this 9th recipe challenge all about, a handful of attention, a good amount of TLC and a dash of zing, it required me nothing less!

It was Thursday afternoon when I went shopping for the ingredients of this recipe at Rustan’s Ayala Center. It wasn’t full of bustle in the supermarket. I usually go on weekdays (often on Wednesdays or Thursdays) when it is non-peak time or during working hours, for a good 2 week supply in my pantry. The knowledge that on Thursdays when the supermarket re-stocks is relatively useful for me, so I could get fresher and newer items. Although other shopping days could work for me too, it’s when I get on-sale items or special offers.

I chose belly of pork for the petit salé. I picked the slab particularly with very little fat, rind still on, at least the leanest piece I could find that day at the fresh meat section. It was about 11 inches in length, 8 inches in width and 2-3 inches thick, approximately. I placed the pork in a non-metallic shallow baking dish. I salted the pork liberally but not thickly. I used pure and unrefined pink salt or “Himalayan salt” brought for me by a friend from Malaysia. Its pleasing pink color results from minerals and iron present. This pink salt is harvested and sold in the foothills of the Himalayan mountain range. It tastes better than a regular table salt. Then I covered the salted pork with a plastic wrap and refrigerated for 3 days. It kept the meat pink, 4 hours or overnight brining is not long enough for a petit salé.

After 3 days, it was on Saturday when I cooked the Petit Salé Aux Lentilles. I sorted, washed and prepared all its ingredients in my tiny kitchen. The carrots were peeled and sliced like wedges. I sliced the smoked sausages, relatively same size as the carrots. I cut the onions in quarters and celery stalks in sticks.

I washed the brown lentils well in a strainer. Brown lentils are also known as continental or Egyptian lentils. They are generally the least expensive and more easily obtained. They are mild in flavour and hold their shape well after cooking, although they easily turn mushy if overcooked. Although green lentils, also known as Puy or French lentils, are the finest but most expensive lentils, it is hardly readily available in the supermarket. They are firmer and less starchy when cooked than common brown lentils.

I took out the salted pork from the refrigerator, thoroughly washed the salt off the pork with cold water and then set it aside.

I started to heat a non-stick pan with olive oil and cooked the sausages, browned both sides, and then set them aside. In the same pan and oil, I threw in the carrots. When they were almost brown, I tossed in the garlic and slightly browned them together with the carrots and then I set them aside until needed.

I put a large deep pan with 5-6 cups of cold water on high heat and added the pork, peppercorns and a large bay leaf. When it came to a boil, I reduced the heat to a simmer then covered. After about 50 minutes of slow cooking, I added in the lentils. After about 15 minutes, I gently took out the slab of pork meat and carved it into thick slices. Then I threw in the garlic, onions, sausages, carrots and celery and simmered for 15 minutes. Lentils were ready when they were almost soft but had a little bite in them. Then finally, I added the sliced pork back to the pan and cooked more for another 5 minutes.

I served the Petit Salé Aux Lentilles for dinner with few friends over my humble abode. I served it with rice and crusty bread with a dash of balsamic vinaigrette. One couple brought a bottle of wine to go with it. Could anything be more perfect than that? I submit that it could not.

We feasted on this invigorating dish with satisfaction. I will definitely make this dish again in a jiffy!

It was fun! I can’t wait for my next recipe challenge! See you next time…à bientot!

Petit Salé Aux Lentilles

Prep Time: 10 mins

Brining: 3 days

Cooking Time: 1½ hrs

Ingredients

1.3kg slab of pork belly, rind on

450g pink salt or any regular table salt

4 tablespoons olive oil

400g smoked sausage (or 2 pcs), sliced like wedges

5 medium carrots, sliced like wedges

3 garlic cloves, peeled

2 white onions, quartered

3 celery stalks, sliced in sticks

1 large bay leaf

15 black peppercorns

400g brown lentils (Puy lentils if available)