I love a cold, hearty salad for dinner in the summertime.  I’m always on the lookout for such recipes.  I went looking specifically for a lentil salad recipe because I wanted to up the fiber in my diet.  Lentils are quick-cooking and full of fiber and nutrition.  I found a recipe, and the flavors sounded good, but some of the method seemed odd to me.  For instance, if you cooked diced carrots and onions with the lentils long enough to get the lentils tender, as the recipe dictated, the vegetables would be mush.  Not very appetizing.  I prefer the texture and crunch of raw veggies anyway.  And there was no mint in the original recipe!  What, in a Mediterranean-flavored salad, no mint?  I had a small zucchini that needed using, so I diced it and put it in the salad also.   I made a number of alterations in the recipe I found, and I was pleased enough with my dish to share the recipe.

Mediterranean Lentil Salad

1 cup dry lentils (any color or variety, but use all one kind) *See Note

1 bay leaf

½ teaspoon dried thyme

2 cloves garlic, minced

In a saucepan combine lentils, garlic, bay leaf, and thyme. Add enough water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15 to 30 minutes, depending on variety, or until lentils are tender but not mushy.  Drain lentils and remove bay leaf.  Allow to cool.

Add:

1 cup diced carrots

¼ cup diced red onion

1 cup diced zucchini or cucumber

¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves

(I also added about 1/4 cup of chopped chives because I had some that needed using)

Mix vegetables, herbs, and lentils together and prepare salad dressing.

Dressing:

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

¼ cup olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Whisk dressing ingredients together and stir into salad.   Allow to marinate and chill in fridge for a couple of hours.  Crumble in ¼ – ½ cup of feta cheese and toss before serving.

Note on cooking lentils:  Various colors/varieties of lentils require different cooking times.  I mistakenly mixed red and green lentils, and the red ones cooked to mush before the green ones were tender.  It didn’t ruin my salad, but I learned my lesson. Here’s a link to a handy guide for cooking times.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/lentils-common-varieties-and-how-to-cook-and-use-them/2014/01/07/6cf88616-74cc-11e3-8def-a33011492df2_story.html?utm_term=.4341c608503b