I didn't bother to time this because I was multitasking with other recipes, but I won't dispute the 40 minute estimate. You start the lentils and prepare the other ingredients while they cook, and when the lentils are done everything else is, too.
So I won't criticize the timing, just the methods and the results. To cook the lentils, you put 1-1/2 c lentils with 1 quart water, toss in a single tomato, 4 cloves of unpeeled garlic, a few sprigs thyme, 2 bay leaves, and some vegetable stock. Boil it until done, then take out the tomato and garlic. Chop the tomato; squeeze the garlic out of its peel and mash them together.
Sound easy? Hardly. Getting the tomato out is okay but it takes a while to hunt around in a big, soupy pot of lentils to find all four garlic cloves. Then I realize the tomato has its skin on--little shred of tomato skin in a soup are extremely unappetizing. By the time I've chopped it and removed the skin, there's not much tomato left. It would have been a lot faster and easier to smash the garlic, peel it, and throw in a scoop of tomato paste.
She never mentions removing the bay leaves (choke factor) or the leftover stems of the thyme sprigs, which look like hideous skeletons. (Gag and choke factor)
So now you have a big pot of lentils and a tiny dab of tomato-garlic. You mix them, season with salt and pepper (no!), dress with a generous glug of olive oil and a splash of vinegar. How much salt? Not a clue. I took a wild guess at 1 teaspoon and that was too much. How much oil? I decided that a "generous glug" was somewhere between "1/4 cup" and "none" so I went with "none." How much vinegar? No idea, but I forgot it, anyway.
Other than skipping the oil and vinegar, I assembled this recipe as directed and took a bite.
I love lentils and tomatoes and horseradish. I hated this.
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