Do I have to continue my list or can we put a little crown on her?
Today it’s really an express recipe that I offer you with this lentil salad garnished with figs and arugula.
Cold salad of lentils with figs
For salads, I must admit that I prefer to use black or green lentils, which are less likely to fall apart during cooking.
They remain more crunchy and less mealy.
For black lentils (or beluga lentils) or even green ones, I always tend to plan a little more to eat them either in a quick mixed plate, or to make myself a lentil bolognese.
Belugas take a long time to cook (45 minutes), while green lentils take around twenty minutes to cook, always without salt (it prevents the legumes from cooking!).
I like to add a bay leaf sauce to give them flavor, but that’s optional!
The lentil has a flavor that I find rather raw, almost earthy. It goes with a lot of sweeter foods, and I found it interesting to pair it with fig here. I don’t have any in the garden yet, the season being slightly late this year (thanks to the late frost!), but for show purposes, I had to buy some for a client shoot and took the opportunity to shoot you this recipe before the season of my fig tree.
The fig grows in abundance when it is there, here I never know what to do with it after having transformed it into jams and that I already have 12 jars of them, which I eat from the tree every morning; it’s simple, after 2 months during which the tree gives, I can no longer see a fig. Yet what joy each year to see them arrive.
Here, then, we taste it in a slightly original way, salty, and we take advantage of its sweetness to break the harshness of the lentil.
To add a little relief, I also chose to add arugula, which, with its peppery taste, will give a little energy to the flavors of this salad.
And finally, without a binder, it would be very dry, so I decided to add a kind of vinaigrette: I don’t know at what stage you can say it’s really a vinaigrette. It’s a mixture of oil, a pinch of lemon, and a little balsamic vinegar. It remains quite sweet, not very liquid, and not too acidic, just enough to spice up the figs and arugula and add a bit of binder.
I didn’t think of it at the time (well yes, but I must admit that I didn’t have the courage to crack nuts especially), but the addition of nuts would add a little texture and a slight bitter/sweet hint.
I advise you to accompany this salad with a nice slice of bread and homemade fresh cheese, it will be a real delight! You can even prepare it yourself, with the recipe for no-knead bread adding some nuts. As to cream cheesea little shallot and chives will make it the perfect complement to this meal that you can take away to enjoy during the lunch break, which is nourishing without weighing it down!
Lentil salad with figs and arugula
Ingredients
- 200 g green lentils floods
- 1 vs. soup balsamic vinegar
- 2 vs. soup olive oil
- pepper and salt
- 3 vs. soup lemon juice yellow
- 10 figs
- 100 g rocket
Instructions
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Start by cooking the lentils. I took green lentils, you can also use beluga lentils. The important thing here is to stay on lentils that have a thick skin (the darker they are, the more this is generally the case), so as not to burst during cooking and to keep a firm/crunchy texture.Cook between 15 and 20 minutes depending on the lentils and their size (for green ones, belugas cook more like 50 minutes!). They should remain crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside.
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Once cooked, do not leave them in the hot pan to prevent them from continuing to cook.
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Leave to cool, then prepare the seasoning: Mix the oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice and salt, then take care to coat the lentils well.
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Cut the figs according to their size and your desire, and add the arugula.
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Season with salt and pepper, then serve!
