By all rights, I should call this recipe One Turnip + One Onion & Six Cloves = The Best-Ever Lentil Salad. But that's kinda long so let's just go with Best-Ever Lentil Salad, the one I've been obsessing over for a couple of months now. Served either warm or cold, it's Vegan and Gluten Free and Weight Watchers Friendly and High Protein and (naturally!) OhSoGood. So let's talk new-to-us cooking techniques. Who else keeps their eyes peeled for new cooking methods while perusing new cookbooks or diving into promising-looking recipes? You have to stay focused but upon discovery, at least with me, it's either:
Why didn't I think of that?! (followed by by a head thump) or How'd someone ever come up with THAT? (with a sense of incredulity)Definitely #2, the idea to add a turnip and a clove-studded onion to cook a big pot of lentils. Ina Garten credits a friend, me I credit sheer genius. Story goes, Ina was never keen on lentil salads until a friend mentioned cooking the lentils with a turnip. There's probably some chemistry explanation for what a turnip does to lentils but I'm going with NO.IDEA. Onion and clove are a different story, their addition is subtle, but that savory touch of allium, that teensy-weensy bit of clove is spot-on perfect. (Yes, observant readers, I'm still on an "Cooking for Jeffrey" kick, a la Roasted Applesauce with Raspberries and Celebration Salad.)
Just-made and still warm, the salad is sensual and seductive, there's no getting enough, no keeping my spoon out of the bowl. Chilled, it goes great alongside morning eggs (I keep meaning to put a runny egg on top, ohhhhh my) or dropped into a cheese tortilla for lunch. It's easy to keep on hand, endlessly easy to use up.
I already have a few lentil salad recipes that are really good, you might too. If so, try the turnip and clove-studded onion technique on your own recipe. Otherwise? Make this your recipe, it's from me, thanks to Ina and her turnip-genius friend.
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