Warm Lentil Salad

Ingredients

Pumpkin

• 1 Delica pumpkin
• Olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• Sea salt
• X1 tbsp. honey or maple syrup (Optional)

Lentils

• 50g Puy lentils
• 1 red chili
• 1 tsp. sherry vinegar
• 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
• 2 tbsp. walnut/peanut oil
• 1 blood orange, segmented & juice reserved
• 2 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 1 bunch of picked watercress, endive or radicchio leaves

Salsa Verde

• Generous bunch of fresh parsley
• Generous bunch of fresh basil
• Generous bunch of fresh mint
• 4 small gherkins
• 1-2 tbsp. fine capers
• 1 slice of white bread, crusts removed
• Lemon juice & seasoning to taste
• Olive oil (to blend the salsa)

Method

1. Whip the egg yolks together with the caster sugar over a pan of simmering water until light and fluffy – set aside to cool
2. In a large bowl, whip the cream to soft peaks, then fold gently into the cooled egg yolk mixture
3. Make a French meringue by whipping the egg whites and adding the caster sugar gradually, until you have a firm, shiny, meringue
4. Beat 1/3 of the cream into the egg mixture, along with the broken up Christmas pudding pieces
5. Gently fold in the rest of the meringue
6. Set into the desired mould and place into the freezer for at least 4 hours
7. To prepare the cherries; drain them from the syrup, place the syrup into a pan and reduce until thick and syrupy.
8. Add the cherries back to the syrup while still hot.
9. For the crumble, simply take some of the biscuits and crumble them up – but not too fine!
10. When ready to serve you can either; warm the moulds slightly with a little hot water before turning out the parfait or if you set the parfait as a whole, remove from the mould and cut into desired portions.
11. Place your portion of parfait on the plate, spoon some of the warm cherries over along with some of the sticky, boozy syrup. Sprinkle over the crumb and serve immediately.