What do you do when all you have in the fridge is a fennel bulb and a can of lentils?

Lentil and Fennel Soup

1 can brown lentils
1 onion
Half a lemon juice
Teaspoon oregano
3 cloves garlic
vege stock
splash Tabasco
1 shallot

Fry onion in olive oil til softened. Add sliced fennel and sliced garlic and stir fry for a while. Squeeze in lemon juice. Add Tabasco and oregano then just cover with vege stock. Add lentils and serve.

Serve topped with sliced shallot.

Summer Lentil Salad

Ingredients:
1 can brown lentils (or brown lentils you have soaked and stuff)
half a bulb of fennel, finely sliced
handful or two of sugar snap peas, blanched in boiling water then quickly run under a cold tap
half a red capsicum, roughly chopped
a cucumber, chopped into chunks
a handful or two of tiny cheery tomatoes or grape tomatoes
4 radishes, finely sliced
small handful of parsley, chopped
tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
small handful mint, chopped

half a lemon, squeezed
half a lime, squeezed
a good splash of olive oil
1 small chilli, desseded and chopped
1 small garlic clove, very finely chopped

slices of fried haloumi (optional. is still delicious without it for vegany joy! avocado slices would work too. or a dollop of humous)
or feta

You could also add baby spinach to bulk it up! or chick peas if that's your thing.

Chuck everything in a bowl and mix!
Serve topped with fried haloumi slices or feta or avocado or humous.

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lemony veges with feta salsa

I made this delicious fresh dinner tonight when the people I sent to the shops for pepper forgot to take their phones and so I couldn't call them and tell them to get butter for the lemon / butter / pepper sauce I was hoping to make. I wanted dairy in the dinner so came up with this:

Ingredients (serves 2):
3 cloves garlic
1 small white onion
1 large fennel bulb
1 bunch asparagus
a handful of mushrooms (swiss brown best or field)
handful spinach leaves
juice of 1 lemon
lots of cracked black pepper

for the salsa:
crumbled bulgarian sheep's milk feta*
a tomato, diced
a handful of mint leaves chopped

1. Dice the onion very small and fry gently in olive oil to soften

2. Add sliced mushrooms, fennel & garlic and fry til vegetabled soften and the mushrooms start to brown a little

3. Pour in lemon juice and add spinach and asparagus

4. Stir Fry for a while, but ensure vegetables are al dente - have a bit of crunch

5. Stir together salsa ingredients and serve salsa on top of the veges.

* A Note on Feta:
The kind of feta you use is important and if a recipe just calls for feta, it is stupid (unless I have done that in previous recipes...I am not stupid...) Seriously though there is such a difference in flavour and texture and fetas respond differently to heat. I like danish feta for cooking (especially sauces) as it melts well, bulgarian feta is beautiful as it is crumbly AND creamy, whereas Greek feta is great in salads as it is firm and salty.

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