Rice and Lentils with Roasted Fennel and Cherry Tomatoes

We were back on the roasted fennel last night. I was going to make a fennel salad but when it began to rain it lost it’s appeal and we ended up eating cooked food. The rice and lentil recipe is from the Moorish cookbook and is a little more upmarket than the name suggests. Puy lentils are cooked with a cinnamon stick, onion and bay leaf and then dressed with some olive oil and the rice is cooked risotto style with onion, white wine, vegetable stock and Parmesan cheese. The two are then gently mixed together and we ate them with roasted the fennel and tomatoes. It was sublime. It’s a surprisngly elegant dish.

We had green beans dressed with a lemony vinaigrette on the side.