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July 11, 2006
Puy Lentil Salad
I adapted this recipe from a recipe in the British food magazine Olive, which accounts for some of the measurements being in metric. If I'd been thinking about blogging while I was making the recipe, I'd have stopped to work out what 225 g of lentils is in cups, but I didn't. Maybe about 2 cups? At any rate, I think the proportions in this recipe are pretty flexible - add more of things you like, and less of things you don't, and it'll come out fine.
This is a handy recipe to help use up some of the basil that one always seems to have too much of at this time of year if one is a gardener or an enthusiastic patron of farmers' markets.
The Ingredients
- 225 g Puy lentils (these are the little French green lentils. They are smaller than ordinarily brown lentils, and hold their shape a bit better when cooked. I think you could use brown lentils, just be sure to cook them just until they're tender, and not until they go all mushy.)
- 150 g roasted red peppers, sliced
- 6-8 oil-packed sundried tomatoes, drained and chopped
- 2-3 lemons, juiced
- 1 large red onion, thinly sliced (this made for a very oniony salad, which I liked, but you might want to cut back on the onion a bit)
- ~8 oz. fresh mozzarella, cut into bite-sized pieces. (The original recipe called for "2 balls fresh mozzarella or 2 tubs of bocconini". In the stores around here, the typical size of a ball of fresh mozzarella and a tub of bocconini is 8 oz., and 16 oz. of cheese seemed like a lot for a recipe that was supposed to serve 4. So I hazarded that perhaps the mozzarella balls are smaller in Britain. I also substitued a bit of queso fresco for some of the mozzarella, which worked fine.)
- About 2 good handfuls of basil leaves. (The recipe called for "1 bunch basil". The recipe also didn't call for the basil leaves to be sliced or torn, so I used them whole. If you wanted a really elegant presentation, you could chiffonade the basil, but the salad tastes great with whole leaves.)
- olive oil
- mixed salad greens, for serving (optional)
The Steps
- Pick over and wash the lentils. Put them in a pot, add water to cover by ~2 inches, bring to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender but not mushy.
- Meanwhile, put the onion slices in a large bowl and toss with the juice of 1 lemon. Let the onions marinate while the lentils cook.
- Prep all your other ingredients while the lentils cook
- When the lentils are done, drain them if necessary. Add them to the onions. Stir in the peppers, sundried tomatoes, remaining lemon juice, mozzarella, and basil. Add olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste.
- To serve, put a handful of greens on a plate, and top with the lentil mixture.
When I was making this, I was a bit worried that it didn't include any instructions for cooling the lentils, and I was worried about serving up piping hot lentils on top of salad greens. Turns out I needn't have worried. By the time you've stirred everything together, and gotten your proportions of olive oil and seasonings right, the lentils are just pleasantly warm.
This would probably lend itself to some nice variations - for example, with feta in place of the mozzarella, or cilantro in place of the basil.
Posted by spaceling at July 11, 2006 07:17 AM
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