Lentil Salad

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This has become one of my favorite lunches for a summer day. Amazing if you grow your own stuff (the cukes, tomatoes and herbs in mine come from my own garden), but you can easily substitute quality store-bought veggies with good results.

The important thing to remember here is using either French Green or Black Beluga lentils; they stay firmer when you cook them. Standard green lentils or red lentils get too mushy to work well in this dish.

To make it: 

Start with:

  • 1-3/4 cup French green or Beluga lentils, rinsed
  • 4 cups vegetable stock
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 cloves garlic (whole)

add everything to a large saucepan. Cook over low-medium heat, covered, for about 30-45 minutes, until liquid is absorbed and lentils are tender. Stir occasionally to make sure that the lentils don’t stick to the pan.

Meanwhile, add

  • 1 small-medium cucumber, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1/4″ slices
  • 6-7 grape tomatoes, quartered lengthwise (or 2 plum tomatoes, diced)
  • about a dozen good-quality pitted green olives (I use the lemon-garlic olives from Whole Foods), quartered lengthwise

into a large bowl. When lentils are done, add lentils to veggies and let cool in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. Once lentils have cooled, add

  • 8 oz good-quality feta cheese
  • 2 tbsp julienned basil
  • 1 tsp fresh thyme
  • 2 tbsp garlic chives, chopped
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 2 tbsp good olive oil

Mix everything together carefully, let chill for about an hour, and serve. Really good by itself, or along with some brown rice.