The weather around here has been decidedly un-summery. So much so that it's starting to tick me off. After all, August is supposed to be the hottest month--the Dog Days of Summer.
Not so around here. In fact it's more like fall has started early. A wet, wet autumn, at that, with lots of rain, and thunder, and lightening.
I took this photo Friday.
Normally I like a good thunderstorm, but enough is enough. Really.
In spite of the rainy weather, however, it's not quite hot enough to put the oven on, so our meals continue to retain the appearance of summer. Friday I made some pork chops--just pan-fried in a little olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Very nice, simple and tasty--but the star of the meal was the side dish: a lovely cucumber-tomato-lentil salad.
Mr.W is a big fan of cucumbers, and I try to always keep them on hand. His favorite way to eat them is simply sliced, but I need a bit more variety, and as you know Mr.W is particular in his veggies, so I have to be creative in getting him to eat more variety.
This salad was just the ticket--he usually steers far, far away from lentils, but these clung to everything else in the salad so he was forced to eat them, later admitting it was indeed very tasty.
Cucumber, Tomato and Lentil Salad
serves 2 as a side dish or 1 as a meal
1 cup chopped tomato
1 cup peeled, chopped cucumber
1 cup cooked lentils (just rinse dry lentils and cook for 20 minutes in enough water to cover lentils by about an inch, adding a pinch of salt if desired)
2 green onions, chopped (white and green parts)
salt and pepper to taste
extra virgin olive oil
lemon juice
Combine vegetables in a medium bowl; sprinkle with a good pinch of salt and several grinds of black or tricolor pepper. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice (start with about 1 tablespoon of each and go from there according to taste and how dressing-y you want your salad). Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.
Serve as a side dish, or even as a lunch entree with some delicious bread for sopping up the dressing.
2 comments:
I'm definitely going to try this - however I envision a small pile of "brown things" on the side of MY Mr. W's plate. We'll seeeeeeeeeeee
Hehe, Carol--you probably will find a little pile of brown things on his plate. Mine did the same thing--BUT some do stick to the other veg, and he did eat those. He just didn't seek out the loose lentils! :) But it's a start.
I also used some cooked lentils and snuck them into a casserole with hamburger (sort of as a meat-stretcher) and, though he noticed it, he ate it. Whoo-hoo!
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