Lentil Luncheon Salad with Red peppers, Cucumbers and Feta Cheese
Ingredients
1 cup boiled brown lentils
¼ cup red onion – finely chopped or sliced
¼ cup cucumber – finely chopped or diced
¼ cup red peppers – finely chopped or diced - optional
2 tblsp finely chopped celery (Selino) – optional
Salt & pepper - to taste
2 – 3 cherry tomatoes – sliced
1 – 2 cups shredded Romaine lettuce or salad greens
30 – 50 g Feta cheese – crumbled – optional
Extra virgin olive oil – to taste
Garnish: Fresh herb of choice - optional
Preparation Method
In a bowl, mix together the lentils, onion, cucumber, red peppers and celery. Add the sliced cherry tomatoes, a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Arrange the Romaine salad in a large soup plate. Add the lentil salad mixture and top with crumbled Feta cheese. Drizzle with more olive oil and garnish with herbs of choice.
Yield: 1 – 2 servings
A slightly different version of this salad is truly yummy as a garnish for thick, velvety winter potato soup. Just use the lentils, red onion or scallions, cucumbers and if you like the peppers and mix together with a little olive oil and freshly chopped mint or other herb of choice.
Make the soup for 1 – 2 persons with 20 g of red onion or leek sautéed in olive oil, 1 cup of strong chicken or vegetable stock, 250 g mashed boiled, starchy potatoes and ¼ - ½ cup of milk or cream! Mix all together and puree until smooth! Serve warm with lentil salad mixed with a few mini barley rusk (Trivolinia) + coarse pepper to taste.
For those of you who are vegetarians or who intend to fast during Lent, leave out the Feta cheese in the salad and make the potato soup with only vegetable stock! Neither will be as tasty, but at least you will be adhering to your fasting regime!
The soup with lentil salad is a filling and inexpensive winter meal which I normally make when I have some left over boiled potatoes or mashed potatoes. Nowadays, it’s even more important than ever to make sure . . . that nothing goes to waste!
Enjoy!
