Once the days get longer and warmer, I have far less desire to spend my free hours in a hot kitchen with the oven on. Speedy meals become very important in those days: I want my dinner on the table in half an hour or less. A salad usually doesn’t take long to prepare and has the advantage that you can add most leftovers in the fridge to it. I created this puy lentil salad tonight when I had some pumpkin I needed to use up, and it is very filling. Spicy chorizo and tangy goats’ cheese are excellent companions for the neutral pumpkin and chewy lentils, while not overwhelming them. From hob to table this meal took me around 25 minutes to prepare (including cooking times for the pumpkin and lentils), so you can sit in front of the tv in time for the world cup matches! I used Puy lentils, a kind of green lentil that doesn’t turn to mush once cooked, but you can substitute green or brown lentils if you can’t find these French ones.

You’ll need (to serve 2 persons):

- 125 grams Puy lentils

- 500 ml. stock (chicken or vegetable)

- 300 grams of pumpkin, peeled and diced

- 125 grams Spanish chorizo, diced

- 50 grams soft goats’ cheese

- salt and pepper, to taste

Put the Puy lentils in a medium-sized pot and add the stock. Cook the lentils for about 20 minutes, tasting after 15 minutes to see if they are ready. These lentils will still have a bite once fully cooked, so they should taste ‘al dente’. When in doubt: cook a bit longer, it can’t hurt them. Meanwhile, heat some oil in a large skillet and add the pieces of pumpkin. Brown them on all sides and turn down the heat. Let the pumpkin cook until soft, around 10 to 15 minutes, and take it off the heat. Put the cooked lentils in a bowl and toss the pumpkin and chorizo in as well. You can add salt if you want, but I find that most stock contains a lot of salt, which the lentils will absorb during cooking, and the chorizo isn’t exactly lacking in salt either. Mix well. Finally sprinkle the goats’ cheese over the salad, and grind some fresh black pepper over it.

There. That’s everything to this salad, and it’s delicious. Ideal for people who cannot subsist on lettuce leaves only, no matter how hot it gets. You can also prepare it in advance and take it with you to work or picnic; it tastes great when cold.