I had cooked some lentils very simply a few days ago and, another night, I'd cooked too much hot Italian sausage... So there was about a cup of sausage in the fridge calling my name. But I didn't want just to toss them together, so I started thinking about an herb or a spice or something that would tie them together... make it a cohesive dish.
And my brain lighted on my two recent go-to seasonings: smoked salt and smoked paprika.
So I heated the lentils gently, adding a pinch of the pimenton (start small... it can quickly overwhelm). When that started to taste right, I added a bit of smoked salt. Meanwhile, I gently reheated the sausage meat.
[Sidebar - I know I frequently say "gently" or another word like that. Here's why: when dealing with already cooked food, you don't want to overcook it while reheating, so "gently" seems a good description to me.]
Instead of mixing the sausage with the lentils, I thought topping the lentils with the sausage might be fun, and would make the sausage stand out flavor-wise. So that's what I did, and then crowned it all with a dollop of sour cream. Then, with a nod to the deviled eggs of my childhood, I very lightly dusted the sour cream with a bit more smoked paprika.
An encore of two ingredients that, with very little thought, tasted completely different from their original incarnations...
And the prep took only five to seven minutes!