I love this filling green lentil salad, it’s so tasty and pretty healthy! The salad is based on a Delia Smith recipe, which does include walnut (though personally i’m not a huge walnut fan so have taken these out!).

You will need:

• Dried green lentils
• 1 red onion
• 1 garlic clove crushed
• Walnut oil
• Olive oil (or extra virgin olive oil)
• Balsamic vinegar
• Mustard or mustard powder
• Goats cheese
• Thyme
• Rocket

Method:

1. Cook your lentils as per instructions – dried lentils take about 45 minutes to cook, read the instructions on the packet for how to properly cook them. (If you don’t have much time you could use pre-cooked ones that come in a sachet, however dried ones are much cheaper and you can make more : ) ) I used about 1 small mug full. You should use 1 part lentil to 5 parts water when you put it in a pan to boil. 1 mug of dried lentils is enough for two servings.

2. Sauté the onion and garlic in a pan with some walnut oil adding a tablespoon of fresh thyme.

3. When the lentils are cooked – drain and rinse them with boiling water. Add back to the pan with the red onion/garlic/thyme mixture and stir together on heat.

4. Prepare your dressing, mix 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, 2 tbsn of walnut oil and 3 tbsn of extra virgin olive oil together with a teaspoon of mustard (or mustard powder if you have it), add extra garlic if you like, and a pinch of salt and pepper.

5. Stir in the dressing to taste and serve with the goats cheese crumbled on top and some rocket on the side. Eat hot or wait to cool down and eat cold. Either is goooood!

Enjoy!