French lentil salad with lemon and herbs

Hearty french lentil salad with bell pepper, tomato, crunchy sunflower seeds and loads of flavor from lemon juice and zest, parsley, basil, chili and garlic – a great option for healthy lunches, light dinners or even leftover breakfasts.

Have you tried using French lentils (also called Puy lentils) in salads? I love them, because they don’t turn mushy and porridge-like when cooked. With a nice firm texture and a lovely nutty flavor, they’re perfect to use in filling salads like this one!

Lentils and other pulses are generally not the most popular eats and I think it has to do with the fact, that many find them pretty bland and tasteless.

Fortunately it doesn’t have to be like that and it’s actually fairly easy to make delicious tasting lentils and pulses!

You just have to use generous amounts of seasonings (like salt and pepper, spices, fresh herbs, garlic, some oil and acid, etc.) and you absolutely MUST let lentils and pulses marinate while still hot, for them to soak up as much flavor as possible.

This of course requires, that you cook lentils and pulses from scratch, but it’s totally worth the effort in my opinion.

The good thing about lentils? They don’t need to soak for 12-36 hours prior to being cooked (like chickpeas, kidney beans and other pulses), which make them a great choice for busy everyday cooking.

In this recipe I’ve used bell pepper and tomato as the veggie filling, but you can use whatever you have on hand.

The salad is delicious with vegetables like

• Corn, fresh or canned
• Peas, fresh or frozen
• Green beans, cooked
• Carrots, fresh or cooked
• Beets, fresh or cooked
• Radishes, fresh or cooked
• Sweet potato, cooked
• Potato, cooked
• Pumpkin and winter squash, cooked
• Zucchini and summer squash, fresh or cooked
• Cauliflower, fresh or cooked
• Broccoli, fresh or cooked
• Brussel sprouts, fresh or cooked
• Kale, fresh or cooked
• Spinach, fresh or cooked
• Salad greens, fresh
• Celery, fresh
• Mushrooms, fresh or cooked
• Apple, fresh (…a fruit, I know – try replacing bell pepper and tomato with finely diced apple and ditto baked beet + sub mint for basil = amazing salad!)

This salad is pretty filling and can be eaten as a lunch or even a light dinner (I have leftovers for breakfast too some times), but personally I prefer it with a side of protein like chicken, white fish, patties (beef/chicken/fish) or scrambled eggs.

French lentil salad with lemon and herbs

A hearty lentil salad with vegetables, crunchy sunflower seeds and loads of flavor from lemon juice and zest, parsley, basil, chili and garlic! A great option for healthy lunches, light dinners or even leftover breakfasts.

Servings 3-4

Ingredients

• 1 C / 250 ml dried French green lentils (sometimes called Puy lentils too)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 C / 83 ml mild-tasting extra virgin olive oil
• Juice and zest ( cut julienne) of 1 lemon (preferably organic)
• 2-2 1/2 tsp fine grain pink Himalayan salt or sea salt (I used 2 1/2 tsp)
• 1 tsp fine ground black pepper
• 1 tsp red chili flakes
• 2 large handfuls flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 small handful basil leaves, chopped
• 1 1/3 C / 190 g orange bell pepper, finely diced
• 1 1/3 / 230 g tomatoes, deseeded and finely diced
• 2/3 C / 100 g yellow onions, finely diced
• 1/2 C / 80 g toasted sunflower seeds

Instructions

1. Cook lentils as per instructions on the packaging (French lentils don’t need to soak prior to being cooked).
2. Drain lentils well.
3. Mix together still hot lentils with garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and zest, salt, pepper, chili flakes, parsley and basil and let them marinate 15-20 minutes, while they cool down.
4. Add bell pepper, tomato and onion. Toss well and let the salad sit for another 15-30 minutes at room temperature or serve right away.
5. Serve lentil salad with a sprinkle of sunflower seeds for some crunchy goodness.

Storage and shelf life

1. The lentil salad keeps well in the fridge for 2-3 days and actually gets more flavorful the longer you let it sit!

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