The Love of Lentils, the Romance of Roots

Lentils!  Carrots!  These two titanic plantbased ingredients team up in this chic-as-anything French lentil salad. Oft overlooked and undervalued, here they get the love they deserve, bound by a bold Dijon vinaigrette and accented with toasty walnuts.  

French lentil salad is one of my anytime go-tos, but this week especially. Lentils are legumes or pulses, and this Friday is World Pulses Day, a celebration of beans. Vegetables including carrots, those hard-working root vegetables, have a salad supporting role, but roots get the star treatment this Thursday with my free, virtual cooking class, Roots! An Edible Exploration of the Vegetable Underground.  Class is almost SOLD OUT, so register now. 

How to make:

1. Pick over lentils for pebbles or grit. 
2. Rinse lentils and drain.
3. Bring water or broth to boil in a large pot. Drop in whole garlic cloves, bay leaf and peppercorns and pour in lentils. Give a stir and allow water to come to a boil again. 
4. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer until just tender, 20 to 30 minutes.
5. Pour diced carrots and chopped celery into a large bowl and set aside.
6. In a small bowl, add Dijon and pour in walnut or olive oil in a slow stream. Whisk until combined. Add sherry vinegar and agave or maple syrup and give one more whisk.
7. Drain cooked lentils. While lentils are still hot, pour them over the carrots and celery. Pour vinaigrette over all. Stir gently to combine. Treat them to sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature. 
8. Alternately, you may store lentils in an airtight container and refrigerate overnight or up to three days. Allow lentils to come to room temperature before serving. Place arugula or spinach on a platter and mound lentils on top or gently mix greens into lentils in a large bowl.
9. Garnished with chopped toasted walnuts and a gilding with of walnut or olive oil.
10. Serve with French baguette or whole grain bread.

French lentil salad takes basic ingredients like lentils and carrots  — easy to find, easy to afford  — and gives them a little touch of luxe. You know, like in The Devil Wears Prada where the drab Anne Hathaway character you think you know gets a makeover and is suddenly revealed as the stunner she’s always been.  Or, since we’re being French about it, the Audrey Hepburn character in Funny Face.  

Lentils cook quickly, and offer heaps of protein and fiber.  Unlike other dried beans, lentils needs no presoaking. There are over a dozen different varieties, from basic brown lentils (confusingly called green sometimes) to teensy red lentils.  Here, we’re going French and fashionable, so try to get your hands on Puy lentils, elegant and speckly guys, or black beluga lentils, glossy and black like caviar, but entirely fishless.

There’s so much to love about lentils and all pulses:

• They’re affordable — one of the cheapest source of protein available.  A pound of basic supermarket lentils can set you back a couple of bucks and provide 6 to 8 servings, depending on how you prepare them.
• They’re nourishing — with 12 grams protein and 9 grams of belly-filling fiber per half-cup serving, plus vitamin D and folate, iron and potassium galore. Their fiber content means they digest slowly, so they stabilize blood sugar.  
• They’re naturally gluten-free, allergen-free and plantbased.
• They’re pantry-friendly, so you always have something ready to eat.
• They’re sustainable — beans and lentils are low carbon, low water, high yield, and growing them actually improves the soil.  The roots have little nodules that add nitrogen, a natural plant-based fertilizer, to the soil. 
• They’re versatile — you can dress them up as in French lentil salad or down.  I say legumes are the little black dress of cuisine.

World Pulses Day was created by the United Nations in 2018 to make the whole world value lentils and legumes as much as I do.  Only downside — Americans don’t know the term pulses.  The rest of the world does, though.   The last time I was in Dublin (always a thrill) a happy surprise was seeing the Pulses sign in a local market.  Now that you know what pulses are, stock up.  Enjoy World Pulses Day.  

French Lentil Salad

Puy lentils hold their shape after cooking yet infuse beautifully with this herbaceous vinaigrette. It’s satisfying, savory, umami and vegan and makes a chic summer salad that won’t wilt at a picnic.

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Ingredients

  

• 1-1/2 cups dried lentils
• 3 cups water or vegetable broth
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 bay leaf
• a few whole peppercorns
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1/3 c walnut or olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
• 1 teaspoon agave or maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves from 1 good sprig
• sea salt and pepper to taste
• 2 carrots diced
• 2 stalks celery chopped
• 2 scallions chopped fine
• 4 cups arugula or spinach leaves
• 1/3 cup walnuts toasted for garnish

Instructions

 

• Pick over lentils for pebbles or grit. Rinse lentils and drain.
• Bring water or broth to boil in a large pot. Drop in whole garlic cloves, bay leaf and peppercorns and pour in lentils. Give a stir and allow water to come to a boil again. Then cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer until just tender, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Pour diced carrots and chopped celery into a large bowl and set aside.
• In a small bowl, add Dijon and pour in walnut or olive oil in a slow stream. Whisk until combined. Add sherry vinegar and agave or maple syrup and give one more whisk.
• Drain cooked lentils. While lentils are still hot, pour them over the carrots and celery. Pour vinaigrette over all. Stir gently to combine. Treat them to sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature. Alternately, you may store lentils in an airtight container and refrigerate overnight or up to three days. Allow lentils to come to room temperature before serving. Place arugula or spinach on a platter and mound lentils on top or gently mix greens into lentils in a large bowl.
• Very nice garnished with chopped toasted walnuts and a gilding with of walnut or olive oil, a French indulgence, but hey, cheaper a a Chanel outfit.
• Serve with French baguette or whole grain bread.

More lentils to love:

• Middle Eastern mjeddrah
• Red lentil soup
• Lentil dal from Vegan Richa  
• The Minimalist Baker’s Lentil Mushroom Bolognese
• Lavender Lentils

Thank you for reading my vegan stories and plant-based recipes. I sincerely love to connect with listeners and would like to hear your feedback, takeaways, “ah-ha!” moments, etc in the comments.

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