If you’d told me when I started this blog that at eventually I’d have not one but two lentil salad recipes on offer I’d have had a good laugh. Lentils, as I’ve said before, have not always been and still often are not, my cup of tea. But this is the second lentil salad recipe I’ve come across that really won me over. The first was this fantastic French-style salad from the venerable David Lebivitz. This one is a more eclectic recipe from April Bloomfield, whose restaurants The Spotted Pig and Salvation Taco I love, and whose cookbook A Girl and Her Pig is a delicious and trustworthy ode to meat. The irony that I picked a lentil salad from that book is not lost on me.
I’ve idolized April Bloomfield since she appeared on one of the early seasons of The Mind of a Chef. She’s funny, she’s direct, and her cooking style is very technical but simple. Even the most straightforward recipes – eggs and soldiers, for example – are treated with respect and care. So it should come as no surprise that this lentil salad is not something to be whipped up haphazardly. I mean, you can do that, of course, but the result is not going to change your life. But done right – cooking the lentils and chickpeas in different ways to draw out the flavor, toasting whole spices before grinding them, lightly pickling red onions for added texture and acid – you’ll have a truly great recipe on your hands. So much more than humble lentil salad.
Truth be told, I made this salad a long time ago, back when it was warm out, in fact. But with all of the holidays that followed, it seemed necessary to churn out the baked goods, the all-important side dishes. But now that it’s the dead of winter, the doldrums of the entire year, it’s recipes like this that I’m craving more and more: hearty, healthy-ish, and comforting above all else. Extra thumbs up if they make the house smell good (hello, toasted spices).
Which brings me to this point: February is tough. The willpower from January 1 has all but worn off. There’s snow (we’ve got some today here in the Big Apple), it’s the kind that stays on the sidewalk, brown, for far too long. It’s an added thorn in our side that the news makes us want to cry. It’s the kind of thing that makes us all want to reach for the nearest cookie dough batter and drown our sorrows. So let’s cook with a little more heart, a little more drama. Let’s distract ourselves with learning new things like making bread or roasting the perfect cornish game hen. Let’s use more spices! And toast them whole, grind them up, and put them into our lentil salad.
Ingredients
- Scant 1 cup dried Puy or Casteluccio lentils, rinsed and picked over
- 2 large garlic cloves, halved lengthwise
- 2 sage sprigs
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds, toasted in a pan for 2-4 minutes, then ground
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted in a pan for 2-4 minutes, then ground
- Maldon or another flaky sea salt
- 2 tablespoons well-stirred tahini paste
- About 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 3/4 cups drained chickpeas
- 1/2 small preserved lemon, pith and flesh discarded, rind finely diced
- 1 very small red onion, thinly sliced into half moons
- A handful of small, delicate cilantro sprigs
- A scant 1/4 lb. feta, preferably goat's milk
- 1 1/2 tablespoons raw sesame seeds, toasted in a dry pan until a shade or two darker
Instructions
- First make the lentils. Put the lentils, garlic, sage and olive oil in a small pot, along with 2 cups cold water, and set it over medium heat. Let the water come to a simmer (don't let it boil), then turn the heat to low and cook the lentils at a very gentle simmer just until they're tender - no longer gritty or mealy, but still with some texture to them - about 25 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and let the lentils cool. They'll continue to cook a bit as they do.
- Once the lentils are cool, drain them very well and pick out and discard the sage and garlic. You'll have about 2 cups of cooked lentils.
- Now make the dressing. Mix together the ground coriander and cumin in a small bowl.
- Mash the garlic clove to a paste with 1 teaspoon salt in a mortar. (Or use a large knife to chop and mash them to a paste on the cutting board.) Combine the mashed garlic, the tahini paste, 3 tablespoons of the lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, 1 teaspoon of the ground spice mixture and 2 tablespoons water in a bowl. Stir the mixture well. Have a taste and consider adding another teaspoon of lemon juice.
- Next assemble the salad. Toss the lentils with the drained chickpeas, preserved lemon rind and 1 teaspoon salt in a large mixing bowl. Pour in the tahini dressing and toss it all together really well.
- Put the onion slices in a medium bowl and break them up with your fingers. Sprinkle in 2 good pinches of salt, then add 2 teaspoons of the lemon juice. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil and the cilantro and toss gently but well with your hands. Crumble in the cheese, keeping some of it in large bite-sized chunks. Give another gentle toss.
- Scatter a few handfuls of the chickpea-lentil mixture onto a large platter in one layer. Scrape the onion and cheese mixture into the bowl with the rest of the lentils and chickpeas and toss it gently so the ingredients are well distributed but the cilantro stays pert. Scatter this mixture on top of the lentils and chickpeas on the platter. Make sure to pluck out a few of the cilantro sprigs and put them on top. Sprinkle on some of the remaining spice mixture and then the sesame seeds and serve.
Notes
From A Girl and Her Pig
