Lentils and Beans

This was accidently published a few days ago and then deleted.  Here it is again.

Preparing for a family feast of lentils and of beans

They are rarely eaten 'orfano',  on their own.

Traditionally they are accompanied by salted fish, feta cheese and olives to make the meal complete.  At a family feast there are a few more dishes on the table too

Preparing, de-salting, the salted sardines

Each sardine is rinsed well and then has its backbone removed.  The salted sardine is sold headless

Sardines are then covered in olive oil with a squirt of vinegar

And on to the smoked mackeral

This is sold head and all.  The skin, bones and head must be removed, then it is put on a plate with olive oil and lemon juice

Big slices of feta cheese

Made from a mix of sheep and goat's milk

Fresh bread

An essential on a greek dinner table

Mackeral in the photo above

Sardines in the photo below

More protein in the feta cheese pies

Not an essential at a lentil and bean feast but helps the main course go down for those not crazy about legumes

A big plate of lentil soup

Made with tomato, lots of garlic, bay leaf and onions

Black-eyed beans made into a salad

The beans are mixed with onion, parsley, lemon juice and oil

Brown lentils are the traditional lentils cooked here and we eat them about every other  week, or so.  Most families eat lentils, dried beans or chickpeas at least once a week.  We have lentils more often than beans or chickpeas but one of those is on our table every week, maybe twice a week.

To absorb all the iron and nutrients in lentils apparently we should eat them with rice.  Another popular way of cooking the brown lentils is indeed with rice.  Fakorizo is lentil-rice.