This is one of our favourite salads; it also makes an excellent lunch – light and nutritious. What’s more, it’s ideal for a picnic or for taking with you, as it keeps well for a long time. Everyone can adapt it to their own taste; here we explain our basic version, which you can then build on.
The most important thing is the type of lentil. Many cook quickly but then become mushy. That’s not at all suitable for a salad. In France, the best types of lentils are called Puy and Château.
The ‘Lentille verte du Puy’ grows on the volcanic soils around Le Puy-en-Velay in the Auvergne, central France. There is evidence of their cultivation in this region dating back to the 17th century, and they have been protected as an AOC (‘appellation d’origine contrôlée’) since 1996. They are small, dark green, retain their shape exceptionally well when cooked and have an earthy flavour.
Château lentils come mainly from Champagne, but we’ve read that they’re also found in Canada. They are lighter in colour, reddish-brown, smaller and more tender than Puy lentils, with a delicate, slightly nutty flavour.
Take this as a guide and use the products you have to hand – it’s all about the consistency.
Today we’re cooking Château, which we first wash thoroughly and then place in a saucepan with some herbs: rosemary, thyme and bay leaves. We cover them with 4–5 cm of water and bring it to the boil. The story of salt and pulses is a never-ending one. You can add salt whilst soaking them, but you shouldn’t do so whilst cooking, as it prolongs the cooking time and, in the worst case, nothing will soften at all. So the lentils are salted with the salad, not beforehand.
Cook your lentils according to the instructions on the packet, but under no circumstances for too long. So you’ll need to keep tasting them. Neither Puy nor Château lentils need soaking beforehand – just wash them. Make sure you check the cooking instructions for your particular product so there are no surprises before your planned meal.
To Europeans: what’s sold as ‘mountain lentils’ is too soft. The small, black Beluga lentils are a different variety altogether, but they’re also suitable.
Pass the cooked lentils through a sieve, then remove the bay leaf and the herb stalks, and any large rosemary needles if necessary. It’s best to spread the lentils out on a baking tray, as this is the quickest way for them to cool down.
For the dressing, you’ll need top-quality olive oil, which could partly be substituted with a little walnut oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey (vegan: maple syrup or agave syrup) and lemon zest and juice.
To mix a dressing, a screw-top jar is usually best, though a small, airtight storage container will also do. You can then mix the ingredients as you would in a shaker, ensuring they emulsify perfectly.
Shallots are an essential part of this salad and should be finely diced or chopped so that their flavour is distributed perfectly and subtly. Garlic is optional, but for us it’s also a must – finely chopped or grated.
As for vegetables, add carrots, celery, cucumber and – we highly recommend this – radicchio. Its bitterness is the perfect complement. Everything is diced into equally small pieces so that it doesn’t look too large compared to the lentils. Only the radicchio should be cut into strips, for both appearance and flavour.
Fennel also goes very well with this; if we have some at home, we add a small amount.
For herbs, we use plenty of parsley – including the stalks – and dill. If you have tarragon, it adds a special touch that we’d never want to do without.
Important:
First, mix all the firm vegetables – excluding the radicchio – with the lentils and the dressing. After leaving this to stand for 5–10 minutes, season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon. Only then should the radicchio and herbs be added. Otherwise, they would lose their flavour unnecessarily.
The result is a real treat – delicious and healthy. If you want to take it a step further, you could try adding nuts, goat’s cheese or pomegranate, for example.
Enjoy.
And may the taste be with you.
Ingredients (for 4 people):
For the lentils:
200 g Puy or Château lentils
3 sprigs of thyme, 1 sprig of rosemary, 1 bay leaf
For the vinaigrette:
50 ml top-quality olive oil (some of which can be replaced with walnut oil to taste)
40 ml red wine vinegar
1.5 tsp Dijon mustard
1.5 tsp honey (vegan: maple syrup or agave syrup)
Zest and juice of ½ – 1 lemon (start with less, then adjust to taste)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Vegetables and herbs (feel free to follow your personal preferences here):
1–2 shallots, very finely diced
1–2 (or none) garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated
150 g carrots, finely diced
50 g celery, finely diced
150 g cucumber, seeds removed, finely diced
½ head of radicchio, cut into strips
Optional: fennel
1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped (the stalks work well too)
½ bunch of dill, just the fine green parts
Optional: a little tarragon, chopped
Possible additions:
40 g walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
80–100 g goat’s cheese, torn into pieces
Seeds from ½ pomegranate
