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French Lentil Salad with Sweet Corn and Tomato

French Lentil Salad with Sweet Corn and Tomato

Sweet corn and tomatoes are two of southwestern Ontario's classic late summer harvests, and both flavors burst through in this fresh-tasting, nourishing and easy-to-make lentil salad. Served with fresh baked bread, this refreshing salad tossed with a zesty dressing is a splendid lunch or light dinner to have outside on a beautiful warm autumn day.

I like to use French lentils for salads not only for their light peppery taste but also because they hold their shape when cooked. If you don't have French lentils, substitute brown or green lentils for an equally delicious and slightly more earthy-tasting salad, but be careful not to overcook the lentils as they will fall apart.

French Lentil Salad with Sweet Corn and TomatoFrench Lentil Salad with Sweet Corn and Tomato
Recipe by
Published on October 3, 2009

Easy and fresh-tasting summer salad of peppery French lentils, tangy tomatoes and fresh sweet corn tossed with a light zesty dressing

Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 to 20 minutes

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Salad:
  • 1 cup French (Puy) lentils
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 4 ears fresh sweet corn
  • 4 large firm red tomatoes, chopped
  • large handful of fresh parsley, chopped
Dressing:
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • juice of 1 lime (2 tablespoons)
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
  • fresh ground black pepper
Instructions:
  • Rinse the lentils under cold running water and soak for 2 hours covered in several inches of cold water. Drain and rinse, then place in a medium saucepan and cover with several inches of fresh cold water. Add the bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Drain and discard the bay leaf. Set aside to cool.

  • Meanwhile, boil the corn for 5 minutes or until tender. Set aside to cool, then pare the kernels from the ears.

  • Place the lentils, corn, tomatoes and parsley in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together the dressing ingredients and toss with the salad.

  • Serve warm or cold.

Makes 4 servings

French Lentil Salad with Sweet Corn and Tomato

Other lentil salads you may enjoy:
Puy Lentil, Feta and Roasted Red Pepper Salad
Ethiopian Lentil and Mustard Salad (Azefa)

Audio Accompaniment: Shutov Assembly by Brian Eno

On the top of the reading stack: Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

13 comments:

  1. What a fresh and healthy lentil salad!

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  2. Looks very pretty. I've never seen this combination of ingredients in a salad before.

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  3. Your salad looks so perfectly refreshing! I love how the colors just leap through the photo!

    P.S. Beckett rocks my world... :-)

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  4. Lisa, thank you so much for noticing my editing error with the fish sauce! When I was typing the post I'd intended to use the vegetarian fish-sauce alternative we'd tried and liked (we made two batches of the sauce when we fixed it :-), and then silly me wound up typing the fish sauce version anyway... That's what I get for writing posts at 4AM... Sigh. :-p Thank you SO much for noticing the issue! I just changed it to the first version, and thankfully I hadn't emailed the entry to Jaqueline yet, so all is well - thanks to you! You rock!! :-)

    P.S. I'm very psyched about our similar literature tastes as well! :-) Looking forward to hearing about what you're reading next!!

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  5. The last picture makes me hungry and sounds very refreshing!

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