The emergency recipe for when you suddenly have guests

You know how it is: it's five o'clock in the afternoon, you're daydreaming about dinner and then suddenly... Damn! I have guests tonight! In blind panic, I stare at my cookbooks and randomly grab a book from the shelf. Oh right, that one friend is vegetarian and the other is vegan, great, just what I needed. Crap, nine out of ten recipes have more than twenty (!) ingredients. Where on earth am I going to find this whole list including things like pomegranate molasses and anise seeds at ten past five? In the meantime, I have an emergency recipe list for these kinds of situations and they all come from one man: Yotam Ottolenghi. This Israeli-British chef has published the most delicious cookbooks packed with healthy and flavorful recipes. He is praised for his vegetarian cooking skills and everything I have prepared from his cookbooks so far has been a resounding success. If you go to London, a lunch or dinner visit to one of his places is a must.

Many of his recipes are dishes to share, allowing you to put many different flavors on the table. These dishes are almost always on my list when I need to come up with a last-minute menu. Guaranteed a success!

Chopped Puy lentils with tahini and cumin (from the cookbook ‘Plenty More’)

Main course for 2 and appetizer for 4 people
▪ 200 grams Puy lentils (don’t tell anyone: I always use ready-made canned lentils, works great!)
▪ 30 grams butter
▪ 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
▪ 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
▪ 1 teaspoon ground cumin
▪ 60 grams tahini
▪ 4 medium tomatoes, blanched, peeled, and diced into 1 centimeter cubes
▪ 25 grams coriander, finely chopped
▪ 2 tablespoons lemon juice
▪ 1/3 small red onion, sliced thinly (about 25 grams)
▪ 2 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
▪ optionally half a teaspoon of paprika powder for garnish
▪ salt and black pepper

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the lentils and cook them for 20 to 30 minutes until tender. Drain and set aside (or follow my tip and use the ready-made canned ones: just as tasty).
 

Put the butter and oil in a large frying pan and set over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the garlic and cumin and sauté for about one minute. Add the tomatoes with 20 grams of coriander and the cooked lentils. Let them cook, stir for a few minutes, and add the tahini, lemon juice, and 70 milliliters of water with half to one teaspoon of salt (taste it) and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Let everything simmer on low heat for five minutes, stirring until the mixture is hot and slightly thickened. Mash the lentils with a fork or potato masher until part of it is fine and the dish is mushy.

Spread the lentil mash on a flat plate and sprinkle with the onion rings, the remaining coriander, and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve with a hard-boiled egg and optionally sprinkle with some paprika powder.

Serve with Turkish bread and flatbread for dipping.