Spiced Black Lentil Salad with Oil-Packed Tuna, Radishes, and Purple Potatoes
Serves 4
This is a sort of fridge-clean-out salad that always ends up looking fancier than it ought to. If I’ve got leftover green beans, I blanch them. Potatoes about to turn green? I steam ’em. That way, I’m moments away from an almost intentional niçoise salad. Yes, the spiced lentils here make this a truly special version, but if you have any cooked lentils and some good canned tuna on hand, this works with just about anything else you might have lying around: shaved raw fennel or broccoli, roasted carrots or sweet potatoes from the night before—you name it.
When it comes to buying the tuna, go ahead and splurge on the nice jarred or canned stuff. Just make sure it’s packed in olive oil, not spring water, because, yes, there is a huge difference (the stuff packed in oil tends to be richer and more luxurious, whereas the tuna packed in water can come across as dry or watery—or worse, dry and watery).
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ pound fresh green beans, ends trimmed
- Kosher salt
- ¼ pound small purple or yellow potatoes
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Spiced Lentils with Spring Onions (page 133), plus any additional spice oil
- 6 to 8 ounces oil-packed tuna
- 4 radishes, preferably a mix of watermelon and regular, chopped or sliced
- ½ cup fresh dill, cilantro, tarragon, and/or parsley, tender stems and leaves
- 2 lemons, halved
- Prepare a medium bowl of ice water.
- Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Gently lower in the eggs and boil gently for 6 minutes. Transfer the eggs to the bowl of ice water and let cool completely.
- Blanch the green beans in a medium pot of salted boiling water until bright green and just tender, about 4 minutes.
- Bring 2 inches of water to a simmer in a medium pot. Place a steamer basket inside and steam the potatoes until totally tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let them cool slightly before halving or quartering them, depending on their size.
- Toss the potatoes, green beans, and lemon juice together in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper.
- Spoon the spiced lentils into a large bowl and top with the green beans and potatoes, tuna, radishes, and herbs. Gently peel the eggs and cut them in half lengthwise, then nestle them in there. Squeeze lemon juice over the top and serve any extra spiced oil alongside.
Spiced Lentils with Spring Onions
Serves 4
While most people have probably never given it a thought, I know with 100 percent certainty that lentils are my favorite legume. They cook super quickly, are full of protein, and go with just about everything. Tossing them in a lemony, spiced olive oil with toasted garlic is already a great side dish on its own, but using them as a base for any grain salad (like the niçoise-y one on page 133) is a truly great move.
- 1 cup black beluga, Puy, or French green lentils
- Kosher salt
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2 teaspoons coriander seed, crushed
- 1½ teaspoons fennel seed, crushed
- 1 teaspoon cumin seed, crushed
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 lemon
- 6 small spring onions or scallions, cut into 2-inch pieces
- Freshly ground black pepper
DO AHEAD: Spiced lentils can be made 5 days ahead and refrigerated.
- Cook the lentils in a large pot of salted water until just cooked through, 20 to 30 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- Meanwhile, in a small pot, combine the olive oil with the coriander, fennel, cumin, red pepper flakes, and garlic over the lowest heat. Let the oil and spices cook until the oil is fragrant and the garlic begins to brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from the lemon and add it to the pot, along with the spring onions; cook for another 5 minutes, then remove from the heat.
- Toss the lentils with ¼ cup of the spiced oil (no need to strain; I like the texture and crunchy bits from the seeds and spices) and season with salt and black pepper. Halve the lemon and squeeze it through a strainer (to remove seeds) over the lentils before serving with the additional oil alongside.
Reprinted from Dining In. Copyright © 2017 by Alison Roman. Photographs copyright ©2017 by Michael Graydon and Nikole Herriott. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC.
