Lentil salad with roasted beets, carrots, and herb yogurt sauce
I prefer the more pedestrian run-of-the-mill green lentil for this salad as opposed to the fancy French puy lentil you find in overpriced gourmet food shops. The trick is not to overcook the lentil, but cook it long enough that you don’t end up serving an undercooked lentil and creating a gastroenterological catastrophe. You really need to watch these lentils towards the end of the cooking because they go from perfectly cooked and holding their shape to overcooked mush quickly. do not add salt to the cooking water as this will also tend to lead to lentils that lose their form during cooking.
You can make this salad hours in advance or even the day before (And giving the lentils extra time to marinate in the dressing will help infuse the lentils with flavor), but don’t stir in the chopped fresh herbs until right before you are going to serve or they will tend to brown and loose their fresh taste.
Lentil salad with roasted beets, roasted carrots, and herb yogurt sauce
Ingredients
Simmered lentil ingredients:
- 2 cups green lentils
- 8 cups water
- 3 sprigs each, fresh rosemary and thyme tied together in a bundle
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 bay leaves
Roasted beets and carrots:
- 5 medium sized beets, skins scrubbed (but not peeled), cubed into half inch pieces
- 5 large carrots peeled, Cut into about 2 inch long segments and sliced lengthwise into about half inch diameter thick sticks
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 tsp salt divided
- 2 tsp ground cumin divided
Salad ingredients:
- 2 medium to large Red, yellow, or orange bell peppers diced
- 1 medium to large red onion diced
- 1/4 cup each chopped parsley, dill, mint, and basil (if you don’t have all four herbs, don’t sweat it, just add more of whatever you have on hand)
Lentil salad dressing ingredients:
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 3 tbs red wine vinegar
- 1 tbs Dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup shallots minced
- 2 tsp salt
Herbed yogurt dressing ingredients:
- 2 cups whole milk Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup each chopped parsley, mint, dill and basil (if you don’t have all four herbs, don’t sweat it, just add more of whatever you have on hand)
- juice of one lemon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Instructions
To cook lentils:
- Add all ingredients to an adequate sized pot and bring to a simmer. After 10-15 minutes start testing a lentil to check for doneness. The lentil should yield easily when bitten into, but still hold it shape. Once cooked, strain using a colander and rinse with cold water. Set aside lentils in the refrigerator to cool. Once cool remove the rosemary and thyme sprigs, bay leaves and garlic cloves.
To roast beets and carrots:
- Heat oven to 500°F. Toss carrots with half of the olive oil, half of the salt and half of the ground cumin. Place on parchment paper on baking sheet. Toss beets with the remaining oil salt, and cumin. Place on parchment paper on baking sheet Place in oven and roast until the surface of the carrots and beets are toasted brown. Remove from oven, let cool to room temperature.
To make dressing for lentils:
- Add all the dressing ingredients to a small bowl and whisk with a fork.
To make yogurt sauce:
- Add yogurt to a medium sized mixing bowl. Add 1/4 cup chopped herbs, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Mix to combine. Add the 1/4 cup olive oil in a stream while whisking with a fork.
To assemble salad:
- Dice the peppers and red onions into equal pieces roughly 1 cm square. Add to the chilled lentils. Add the lentil dressing and stir well to distribute. Shortly before serving add most of the 1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs, reserving a small amount for garnish, and mix well. Distribute the roasted beets and carrots over the lentil mixture. Sprinkle the remaining chopped herbs on top for garnish. Serve the herbed yogurt sauce alongside.
