WHAT’S NOT to LOVE about LENTIL, LEMON & TUNA SALAD?
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.
