Sunday, June 2, 2024

Two tasty, texturally satisfying legume salads

 1. Garbanzo Salad

You can make a chick pea salad in the style of any creamy mayonnaise-based salad, be it potato, macaroni, chicken, or tuna. You can dress it all at once, cold, but the chick peas do benefit from a two-step dressing, as described here.

Rinse and drain tinned chick peas or cook your own. Cover and heat for a minute or two in the microwave. Meanwhile, make a dressing: Per tin of chickpeas, use approximately 1/4 c mayo, 1/2 t squort of mustard, 1/2t salt, splash of lemon juice or vinegar or pickle brine. Toss with the warm chick peas and refrigerate for several hours. (Yes the mayo will melt and look gross, it's ok). When cool, add diced celery, scallions, and dill. Make creamy with more mayo or sour cream. Season to taste.  You could also add diced cucumber, gherkins, bell pepper, red onion, radish, artichoke hearts, chives, parsley, other herbs, hard boiled eggs, tuna, what have you.

2. Lentil salad with walnut oil 

I adapted this dish, which I loved especially as leftovers, from Martha Rose Shulman at the New York Times. She adapted it from The Paris Cookbook by Patricia Wells. Keep walnut oil, once opened, in the fridge.

I use a 500g packet of cooked lentils from Trader Joe's (or cook your own green puy lentils-- red will break down; the NYTimes recipe says to cook lentils with garlic, bay, onion, and carrot. Make a dressing by whisking together 2.5T red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar, 1.5 T dijon mustard, salt, and 1 fat shallot minced. Then slowly whisk in 1/2 c walnut oil and, if you cooked the lentils yourself, a few tablespoons of the cooking liquid. Toss in lentils (if you warm them up it will help absorb the flavors even if this is served cold). Add 1/4 c chopped parsley and adjust the seasoning. Arrange toasted chopped walnuts on individual portions. (About 2/3 c walnuts for the recipe).

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