Recipe: Lentil Salad

April 23, 2009

Since Jen was sweet enough to link back to me in her recent Serious Eats post, I thought it was probably high time I finally wrote down my lentil salad recipe. I bring it every time I'm asked to contribute a side dish and god knows I've given the recipe out to anyone who likes it, so it's not like I'm keeping it a secret.

While I do like cooking up dried lentils for soups and other things, this salad hinges on the pre-steamed lentils from Trader Joe's, so if you can't get behind that, you will never understand the genius of this salad.

1 package Trader Joe's pre-steamed lentils
1-2 cloves minced garlic
1-2 pinches dried Herbs de Provence
Salt
Pepper
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Juice of 1 lemon
2-3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 cup Kalamata olives, roughly chopped
1/3 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Crumble the lentils into a large bowl, breaking up the little lumps of cohered lentils, and add the garlic, Herbes de Provence, and salt and pepper. Set aside.

2. Whisk the mustard, lemon juice, and olive oil together and stir it into the lentils. Add the olives and parsley and serve.

3. Like lasagna, every dip ever made, and pancake batter, this salad does well after a night in the fridge. Just let it come to room temp for maximum enjoyment.