Warm Lentil and Radish Salad with Grilled Salmon

Staff recipe from: Leslie

Now that we’re seeing the first crops of spring pretty regularly, I wanted to share a version of lentil salad that can be eaten warm or cold and features many of the fresh spring vegetables we’ll be seeing rotating through our harvest boxes for the next few weeks. I hope that this will inspire some of you to try a hearty, more filling take on a salad and help answer that persistent question about “what do I do with radishes besides green salad and veggie trays?”

The first big part of this dish is just a simple pot of cooked lentils:

Ingredients:

2 Cups green or brown lentils, soaked and sprouted

2-3 cloves of garlic

½ an onion, finely chopped

1 stick celery, finely chopped

2-3 bay leaves

3-4 Cups veggie stock

1-2oz dried reishi mushrooms, shiitakes, crimini and portobello stems, or whatever dried or frozen mushrooms you have. -- this is for flavor, not for eating so I often use stems I’ve saved after prepping other mushroom dishes (just freeze them or dry them for use later).

Salt to taste

Process: 

1. Soak your lentils for 12-24 hours (more details on the why and how can be found in our posts on Brown Pardina Lentils and Lentil Bolognese Pasta). Drain and rinse the lentils and set aside.

{Image of soaked and sprouted lentils from Leslie}

1. Chop your onion and celery and set aside. Smash or quarter your garlic and set aside (this will get picked out later so leave it fairly large).
2. In a large pot, heat a splash of olive oil over medium heat. When the oil has a bit of a shimmer, add your onion and celery plus a pinch of salt and saute for 2-3 minutes or until the onion and celery are translucent and fragrant. Add your garlic, and stir, give it about 1 minute then add your lentils.
3. Cover the lentils with about 3-4 cups of veggie stock or a mix of stock and water until there’s about ½ inch of liquid above the lentils. Add your bay leaves and frozen or dried mushrooms. Salt to taste.
4. Cover and bring the pot to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and set a timer for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Add more liquid if lentils start to get dried out.
5. You want the lentils to be soft but not mushy and most or all of the liquid to have been absorbed. Give it a stir and pick out your bay leaves, garlic, and mushrooms.

Your lentils are now ready for use in whatever dish you’d like! (And should be jam-packed with a whole powerhouse of nutrients and great flavor thanks to the mushrooms and all the aromatics).

This can be done well ahead of time if you like. In fact, I often make a pot of lentils early in the week that I can add to numerous other dishes - whether that’s adding a few spoonfuls to a breakfast sandwich (seriously, try it, it’s a delicious way to make your breakfast a bit more filling), using a few cups to make taco filling, adding to soup, pasta, or, in this case, to a warm salad.

For the Salad:

2 Cups cooked lentils

1 Unwaxed (organic) lemon - zest and juice

1 Bunch red radishes or 4-5 larger Easter egg radishes, sliced thinly

2-3 Scallions, chopped

½ Bunch flat leaf parsley, finely chopped 

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional capers or pickled nasturtium seeds or kalamata olives (anything briny)

Optional spinach or arugula

 

Process:

1. Prepare your radishes, scallions, and parsley - for the radish greens, feel free to finely chop them up alongside your parsley if they’re still a nice, bright green. Just be sure to give them a good wash and dry first. For the parsley, I include the stems as they’re still full of flavor, fiber, and nutrients, just be sure to chop them quite finely; no-one wants to have an unsuspecting stem stab their gums while they’re eating!
2. Prepare your capers, nasturtium seeds, or kalamata olives - you can rinse off the liquid to reduce the overall saltiness and tang of the brine, just be sure to pat them dry on a tea towel after. I prefer that salty, tart, tang of the brine so I usually just add them as they are. 
3. In a bowl, combine lentils, radish slices, scallions, capers, parsley, the zest of the whole lemon and the juice of half, and 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Give it a toss and taste.
4. Adjust the seasoning to taste - add more lemon juice, some caper brine, salt, or pepper to suit your taste.

The lentils will start absorbing the flavor from the other ingredients the longer it sits, especially if they’re still warm when you put this together. This is definitely one of those times when a bit of time makes everything taste so much better!

If choosing to use spinach or arugula, hold off until right before serving or they will wilt/turn to mush. Tear or cut the leaves if you wish but I  recommend dressing them separately, plating them, and adding your lentil salad on top.

{Image of lentil-radish salad with parsley and spring onions from Leslie}

When I made this dish recently, I just topped that pictured bowl of lentil salad with a perfectly goopy fired egg and it was so, so good! A perfect breakfast before a day of packing veggie boxes for all our wonderful harvest box customers. That bowl kept me full for hours! The leftovers were also fantastic with some added spinach and arugula and packed for lunch the next day. No salmon required.

For the (optional) salmon:

I leave the ultimate cooking up to you whether you choose to grill the salmon, bake it, or use the stovetop - all create equally delicious fish. I just really wanted to feature something that highlighted that beautiful fish from our friends at Fish & Family since we recently hosted their spring fish sale. Their dedication to single line fishing and caring for the environment that gives them and us so much bounty is inspirational. And the fish is absolutely some of the highest quality I’ve ever had!

{Image of salmon filets from Fish & Family of Sitka, Alaska}

Ingredients: 

½ pound salmon filets

Salt

Lemon juice

Olive oil

Potential processes: 

I do recommend leaving the skin on, rubbing olive oil on both sides of the filets, and salting the fleshy side. Cook skin-side down until the skin is good and crispy and the flesh of the filet is turning opaque ⅔ or more through. Flip and finish cooking. 

If baking, you can cook the fish all the way through with the skin side down and not flip. Follow the instructions for your favorite baked fish filet. This one from our friends at Fish & Family is super simple and sure-fire: Rosemary Garlic King Salmon

If using a pan on the stove, you can baste the top of the filet with hot olive oil and never have to flip! This way, the skin gets good and crispy and you don’t have to worry about the fleshy side sticking to the pan or falling apart.

If grilling, you can use a fish basket or cook straight on the grill. The usual rule of thumb is to heat the grill to 400 and cook skin-side down first but some folks flip that and go flesh side down first to make sure it doesn’t stick and fall apart when they try to remove it from the grill. By and large, whichever way you go, just don’t move it around a bunch. Let it cook for 3-4 minutes per side and only flip once.

However you choose to cook your fish, finish with the remaining juice from your lemon and serve on top or alongside your lentil salad and enjoy!

 -------

A similar dish that gives more options for how to use your radishes and my favorite lentils comes from Waitrose Grocers. Check out their Prawn, Lentil, and Radish Salad with Lemon and Capers and see what you think! Their version calls for a firm, small, lentil like French puy or Beluga black and they skip the soaking step but I highly recommend taking the time to do so!

{Image of Prawn, Lentil and Radish Salad from Waitrose Grocers}