I have a friend from the Middle East who came to stay with us for a few days, after she had visited relatives in the UK. To show her how happy we are that she came to stay with us I prepared her this lovely meal of grilled eggplant, roasted vegetables and Puy lentils.

A fairly straightforward dish really, but at the same time a real festive treat!

You start by slicing the eggplant, placing them on a baking dish covered with baking paper. Sprinkle sea salt, black pepper and olive oil over it and grill it in the oven at 140℃ for an hour.

Then you put half a celery stick and two medium carrots cut in pieces, 3 sprigs of fresh thyme, two small onions, two bay leaves and water in a medium size pan and bring the water to boil. When the water is boiling add Puy lentils (I used 250 grams) and let it boil on low heat for 15 minutes until the lentils are tender.

When the lentils are tender, pour them through a sieve, remove the carrot, celery, bay leave and thyme. I left the small onions in. Then add 1,5 spoons of red wine vinegar, salt and black pepper. Mix well and keep warm.

In the meantime preheat the (other) oven to 180 ℃. Cut two to three carrots, a celery stick, green pointed pepper in small pieces, cut cherry tomatoes in half and place everything in a oven dish. Add a teaspoon of coconut sugar, a pinch of salt and olive oil and mix well. Place them in the oven for 25 minutes until the carrots are tender.

Then place everything nicely in a shallow dish (see first picture above).

When the food came to the table she sighed with relief,” Ahh, healthy food at last. I knew that as soon as I would get to your place the food would be great!