Fog over Paris (with Lentils)

I should admit that the scene in this picture didn't last more than an hour Wednesday morning; but if you look at a picture from the same vantage point two weeks ago, you'll see that the fog was pretty dense.

I got in late to work because I was supposed to have a late-afternoon meeting that would have been outside my regular work hours. So I roll in around noon with a sandwich under my arm, and everybody's out to lunch. So I head down to the break room and have a leisurely lunch with a few of my co-workers, and then slowly make my way through a day of dépannage. I eventually make it home in the late afternoon/early evening. After my grocery shopping trip on monday, I was suddenly well-prepared to make some awesome lentils, so I spent a large part of the evening making lentils and blogging saturday's affair (it took a while to blog, you know). Here's my recipe for Amazing Spicy Lentils À La Somewhat Peruvian:

Ingredients:

• Love
• Lentils (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 medium Onion, sliced thin
• A generous handful of Lardons
• 3-5 cloves of Garlic, crushed or chopped
• 1 hot thai hot pepper, sliced
• Cumin (at least 1 tbsp.)
• 1 tbsp of ajì mirasol or rocoto
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Soak lentils in water for a couple of hours, then drain and leave to one side. This isn't compeltely necessary, but it cuts down on cooking time later.
2. In a saucepan or pot, add Lardons on high heat and allow them to render fat.
3. Once there's a bit of fat coating the bottom of the pan, add onions. Stir and allow to cook, until onions begin to burn a bit. Deglaze if necessary.
4. Add Garlic and Hot Pepper and reduce heat. Add cumin and fry until Garlic has mellowed.
5. Add lentils and enough olive oil to coat lentils lightly. Stir mixture together.
6. Add ajì mirasol or rocoto and enough water to cover lentils about 1". Bring to boil.
7. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally
8. When lentils are completely cooked and water has almost completely evaporated (i.e. sticking to the bottom of the pot), stir in a dab of butter and remove from heat.
9. If you're Indian or you like dal makhani, add more butter.