Lentil and Sweet Potato Salad
Hello dykes and allies! We here at Dyke Chow are having a great week! My best friend is in town. We came up together in the rich transsexual mines of Norman, Oklahoma, but we moved to opposite ends of the country four years ago, and haven't seen each other since! We had an excellent Halloween: we saw my favorite haunted puppet show, HOUSE OF THE EXQUISITE CORPSE on Saturday. I look forward to this all year. This year's theme was LULLABIES, and it was proper spooky. I love seeing all the collaboration involved, from set and puppet design, writing, voice over, sound, music, and of course performance. We took Hayley's parents as well.
This salad was tossed together last night. I try to keep these recipes limited to pantry staples, but I'll mention some fun add-ins in the Last Call.
Lentil and Sweet Potato Salad
1 cup lentils (green or black preferred, but brown will work, the salad just be a bit softer) 1 medium sweet potato, medium diced (maybe a 1/4 inch squares) 2 cups vegetable stock or salted water (I made a stock, but I'm just like that. Store bought is fine, as is plain salted water. Maybe add a bay leaf?) 3 tablespoons dried herbs (I used za'atar, but thyme or oregano would be great!) 3 tbs olive oil 1.5 tbs balsamic vinegar Salt, pepper, sugar or honey or a fruity syrup
Optional: nuts, dried fruit, fresh herbs, yogurt
Preheat oven to 400. Toss sweet potato with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Line baking sheet with foil and spray with oil or add a dollop of oil and spread across the pan. Roast sweet potatoes for 15-20 minutes, checking after 15 for tenderness. Remove and let cool.
At the same time, simmer lentils in salted stock or water. Cook for 15-25 minutes, tasting for tenderness. If the lentils need to go longer just keep tasting every 5 minutes. Drain and add to a large mixing bowl. Add sweet potatoes.
Now we're gonna make a vinaigrette! My favorite way is to add the oil and vinegar to a mason jar, and mix with a milk frother or an immersion blender. Don't have either? Just pop on a tight lid and shake shake shake!!! You're aiming to have the oil and vinegar emulsify and make a creamy sauce. Add salt, pepper, and sugar/honey/syrup to taste. You'll want it sweeter than you think! If the vinegar is too biting, add a splash of water to tame the bite.
Pour the blended dressing over the lentils and sweet potatoes. Add your herbs here. Mix until combined, taste again for salt and pepper, and voila! Dyke chow, baby!
LAST CALL:
Here's where you can really make it your own. Nuts make a great addition for some added crunch. I'd recommend pistachios, almonds, or pepitas. We keep dried fruit on hand, so I added some dried figs. Dates would be great, as would apricots. Dried fruit is a pantry staple for us. For the syrup, I used a balsamic pomegranate syrup we got for Christmas. You could maybe try some jam from the fridge, but I'd add a bit of water to it to loosen it up. Seriously, you can't mess this up with just sugar or honey, though!
You can really keep getting extra with it though. You could fry some grilling cheese (halloumi or bread cheese) for a protein boost. You could fry some almonds in olive oil. You could soak the dried fruit in a honey syrup (honey and water). You could add some fresh herbs, like parsley or thyme. You could add a dollop of greek yogurt to the bowl for some tang. Or you can keep it simple! Finally, if you wanted to stretch the meal even further, you could make some brown rice for a chewy, nutty grain. I did some secret combination of these. A lady never tells.
Happy munching!