Lentil, Lemon, & Tuna Salad with a Garnish Bonus of Tomato & Pepper Salad. It’s French Friday with Dorie X Two.
My repertoire of salad recipes, those I mix together often, totals three: Tossed, Caprese and Marshall Field’s Wedge. I’m not particularly proud of this and don’t usually admit to it. So glad I’m among friends.
This year I’d already decided to turn over a new lettuce leaf (Just had to do that.)and make this my Summer of Salads. Each week I am going to create a delicious and nutritious melange, using ingredients outside my comfort zone. By the end of August I will have added fourteen salads to my repertoire of three bringing me to a more respectable seventeen. Blast Off!!!
That’s why I was especially pleased to kick off my Salad Summer with this week’s FFWD choice, Lentil, Lemon, and Tuna Salad. To be honest, I made two salads this week because I also made Dorie’s Tomato and Pepper Salad. Little credit, please. She suggested we use this as a garnish for flavor and color. A good idea.
Mise en Place. All my ingredients are set out on my table.
The Snob of the Legume Family, Green Lentils from LePuy A.O.P.
The salad gives birth as lentils du Puy (from the Auvergne region of France) which I found at my local Whole Foods. After putting the lentils in a strainer and rinsing them under cold water, I brought them to a boil and let simmer for forty minutes. The lentils cooked quite happily in a chicken broth filled with onion, carrot, celery, garlic, clove and bay leaf. At the last moment, I even sweetened the pot with a tablespoon of Cognac. After draining the liquid and removing the softened vegetables (my choice), I added a minced shallot and salt/pepper.
The veggies and herbs are ready to be added to the chicken broth.
After the lentils were cooked, I drained the liquid off and removed the mushy vegetables.
It was simple to add a tasty dressing of mustard, tapenade, red wine vinegar and Lemon Blush olive oil to the warm lentils. Instead of using a preserved lemon (which I didn’t have), I substituted lemon zest, capers and scallions. Once everything was blended, I used a fork to flake drained tuna over the salad. Salt. Pepper. Toss. Done.
While the salad was chilling, I put together halved grape tomatoes, diced raw red pepper as well as roasted red pepper with some olive oil and a dash of cumin. I think it was a colorful garnish, perfect for the rather dowdy-looking lentils. What this dish lacks in color, it makes up in flavor. It is delicious and can be served on a bed of greens or plain, chilled or at room temperature. LLT can be a starter course, a luncheon dish or spread over crackers for nibbles with cocktails. Versatile. Delicious.
If this Lentil, Lemon and Tuna Salad appeals to you, go here. The Tomato and Pepper Salad, a colorful garnish or accompaniment, is great to have in your arsenal for its many uses. To see what others mixed together this week, stop by our FFWD Site.
It’s definitely a very versatile dish and so easy, right? Gotta love those ones!
Way to go with the double salad-making! I was a butthead and chickened out this week but I am definitely on board for next week’s olive oil ice cream. I think I will make it and not tell Tristan what the secret ingredient is. Tee hee! I read your post about your move and I hope your new kitchen is treating you right! Thanks again for nominating me for Food Stories!
That looks great! Am looking forward to your “summer of salads!”
Yeah for the summer of salads! Woot.
Look up Patricia Well’s “Salad as a Meal” – this book goes beyond the traditional concept of salad. You may need to substitute an ingredient here or there, but I have had really solid success with this book. (both the salads and the homemade dressings)
Mary, it looks like you went the extra mile and prepared the “lentils du Puy” according to Dorie`s basic lentil recipe and then the salad – good choice because I believe that this extra step added flavor to the lentils. Nice presentation there with the added color of the tomato/red pepper salad. It all looks very appetizing – I hope that you are going to have a nice weekend and a wonderful week!
Great initiative! I look forward to reading all the salads you’ll enjoy this summer. I grew up eating two types of salads: heavily dressed Miracle Whip base with boiled potato, eggs, cucumber, melons, pineapple, apple, and ham (it’s a Hong Kong fusion thing) or lettuce with thousand island dressing. Scary! The turning point for me came when I realized whole grains and legumes can be made into salad. That opened the door to quinoa, wheatberries, lentils, and all kinds of beans. Ottolenghi and 101 Cookbooks guided me to many delicious salad meals!
Mary, I also prepared the lentils according to Dories’ recipe. I thought they were delicious even before I even added the salad ingredients! This is a keeper for me! I love that you served yours with the tomato and pepper salad…yum! Have a great weekend!
It’s nice to see the tomato and pepper salad accompanying the lentils – looks great. I also have a few go to salads that I’ve been using for years and am happy that French Fridays has helped expand my repertoire. This will definitely be on the menu again, as will the quinoa salad we posted about a while back.
Good for you! I love salads. Sometimes we make meals with salads, most likely you do too, where everyone in the family brings their favorite salad of the season and we have a feast. I would have never thought to make a salad with lentils as a main ingredient so this was a good exercise for me, and because lentils are a “super food” I felt like I was doing my family a favor. Good luck on all your endeavors and enjoy your salads…hope you pass along any recipes that are exceptional.
I love your salad-a-week idea! My diet is woefully short of salads. I made a Greek Panzanella Salad from The Barefoot Contessa last night that was super-delicious, though, in case you’re looking for one. The 3/4 cup of olive oil may counter any calorie-saving, though. haha.
Thank you so much for the Naples book recommendation. I’ll definitely check it out. I agree, the “negatives” that you mentioned sound like positives to me. Thanks for thinking of me!
I hear you about salads. I have never been one for making them. I think for me I’m not big on cold food… definitely a problem when most salads are cold or room temperature. This one is pretty good but I really liked the lentils on their own warm and I liked the olive tapenade on it’s own too. Maybe it the combination of many things that I have issue with…
Very nicely done. I love your self-challenge for a salad a week – and I’m really looking forward to what you come up with. Have you seen this blog: http://thecafesucrefarine.blogspot.com/ ? Chris makes beautiful salads all the time.
Thanks for the recommendation on the book about Istanbul – I already ordered it! I have “The Good Doctor,” so I guess I should read it! LOL! I love book about WWII also. Have you read “Thread of Grace” by Mary Doria Russell? It’s about how the people in a small northern Italian town banded together to defy the Nazis. Having grown up in Italy, I thought she captured the spirit of the Italian people beautifully!
The red garnish is a really nice touch. I thought this was pretty good also. It’s nice to find a new salad recipe that is good and doesn’t require an hour of chopping stuff.
Kudos for you pulling two great salads in one post, Mary! I’m so looking forward to your Summer of Salads! It’s so hot already here this summer I will avoid turning on the stove as much as I want. Thank you so much for sharing the Food Stories award with me.
Hi Mary, First, thank you for the Food Stories award, and congrats on your own receipt as I enjoy reading your stories. Second, nice job on broadening your salad horizons with this salad and its mate. Salads are actually my favorite thing to make. I enjoyed the lentil salad quite a bit. I like your piquant substitutions for the preserved lemon. I haven’t been keeping the recipe index on my site up-to-date, but you might want to check out some of my favorite salad recipes that I’ve posted there. I’ll look forward to reading about your salad progress!
I love your red embellishment and suspect the flavors made this delicious dish even better!
Glad you enjoyed it. Your salad looks great!
The garnish adds so much to the presentation, and sounds delicious, I’m very impressed. I’ve never heard of lemon olive oil. Does it have a strong lemon flavor? It sounds like it would be great for making salads. I love your plan to make a different salad every week this summer. I almost always use the same vinaigrette (olive oil and balsamic) and just pour it over torn up lettuce. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
I haven’t made this one yet, Mary, but when I do I am going to a a little bit of Cognac. Your salad looks so tasty. I need to do the same and start making more salads for the summer.