Today’s dinner is one I am particularly proud of. We had my favorite lentil salad, roasted carrots, some fantastic pita bread I bought a while ago from the jewish district, a spiced garlicky lemon-dill-yoghurt sauce I made, and some harissa for spice. It was a lovely, flavorful vegetarian meal, somewhat middle-eastern inspired, and very nutritious. I’ll post the lentil salad recipe first and tackle the carrots in the next post, because I think they both deserve to shine on their own.
It’s about time that I post this recipe, because it’s my very favorite salad, and I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like it. I got the idea from a salad I bought at an upscale organic supermarket (Marqt on Overtoom in Amsterdam – it’s like a mini-Whole Foods). It was shockingly delicious, but also prohibitively expensive – like some kind of designer drug. While I can’t create feel-good-pills in my kitchen, I have a knack for recreating food. The fact that Marqt (which is really quite a wonderful place to shop, if you can afford it) doesn’t use additives in its foods helped a lot. A look at the ingredient list told me all I needed to know, and little I didn’t already know. Now I make my own: an entire bowl for the price of a single serving at Marqt.
This salad works well on its own; I regularly bring it to work for lunch. But it also works beautifully as a component for a vegetarian dinner, with sweet vegetables on the side. It even pairs well as a side to some spicy merguez sausages, a piece of grilled white fish or a big bowl of soup. And needless to say, it makes a great buffet item.
I highly recommend using Puy lentils. they are a bit firmer than regular brown lentils, and have a wonderful, nutty flavor. But in a pinch I’ve successfully used canned brown lentils as well. Remember that this salad needs to be seasoned liberally.
Lentil salad with goat’s cheese and parsley
- 3 cups cooked lentils (preferably Puy, but canned brown lentils also work) – see notes
- 1 medium red onion or 2 shallots, sliced paper thin
- 1 large handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- zest of 1 lemon
- 2 to 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 to 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (optional)
- 1 to 1 1/2 cup soft goat’s cheese, roughly crumbled into large chunks – see notes
Mix the lentils, onion, parsley and lemon zest. Add balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, and taste. Keep adding vinegar until the salad tastes tangy and herby. Add olive oil if you like (this is not necessary, but it’s nice) and salt & pepper to taste. Very carefully mix in the goat’s cheese, making sure not to break it up too much. Taste, and be amazed!
If you did everything right you now have the most amazing lentil salad in the world. If it’s not amazing, YOU DID SOMETHING WRONG!
Notes:
- As I’ve said, this salad tastes best when made with Puy lentils you’ve cooked yourself. It’s easy! Rinse and pick over about 1 1/2 cup Puy lentils and cover with water. Add a bay leaf, a dried chili pepper (whole), 2 cloves of garlic (peeled, whole), and some salt. Bring to a boil and cook for 25 to 35 minutes, until the lentils are not grainy between your teeth but still fairly firm. They should have a nice bite to them. Drain the lentils, rinse with plenty of cold water, and pick out the garlic, chili pepper and bay leaf. Allow to cool completely.
- Any type of soft goat’s cheese will work, but I prefer the kind that’s packed in oil and marinated. In Amsterdam you can get these small cheeses at Turkish markets. One small cheese is about enough for this recipe.
- You can find the recipes for the carrots and the sauce here.
