Lentil Sweet Potato Arugula Salad

J.B.’s elementary school strings orchestra is playing in an event called STRING-A-PALOOZA tomorrow night. Imagine 300 kids from 8 different schools  tuning their violins, violas and cellos all at once. The noise is deafening, and also awe inspiring. I’m thrilled to live in a place where 300 kids who live in the same neighborhood WANT to play in an orchestra.

Lentil Sweet Potato Arugula Salad is perfect for nights like tomorrow, when I need to get something on the table quickly  before rushing off to a school event. It’s no-fuss, healthy and completely vegan. The lentils, flavored with coriander, cumin and mustard, are tasty enough to stand on their own, but tossed with roasted sweet potatoes, fresh arugula and  red wine vinegar, they’re really something special. I used black lentils for this recipe because I like the way they look in contrast to the bright colors of the sweet potatoes and the greens, but any kind of lentil would taste just as good. Fun fact: black lentils are called beluga lentils because of their resemblance to caviar .

Lentil Sweet Potato Arugula Salad

5.0 from 1 reviews

Lentil Sweet Potato Arugula Salad

 

Print

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

35 mins

 

Lentil Sweet Potato Arugula Salad

Author: three beans on a string

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• ½ teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds, crushed
• ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 cup onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 cup black lentils
• 3½ cups vegetable broth
• 3 large sweet potatoes, washed and cut into 1-inch chunks
• ½ teaspoon sea salt, divided
• Large bunch of arugula, washed and torn into bite-sized pieces
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• Black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a medium saucepan on the stove top over medium-high heat. Add the coriander, cumin, mustard seeds and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the chopped onion and cook until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook an additional minute.
3. Pour in the lentils and 3½ cups broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and cook, partially covered, until lentils are soft, about 30 minutes. You may need to add more broth to ensure lentils stay covered with liquid throughout cooking.
4. While the lentils are simmering, roast the sweet potatoes. Toss the sweet potatoes in the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season with ¼ teaspoon of the sea salt. Spread the potatoes on a baking sheet and roast for 20-25 minutes, until brown.
5. Transfer the cooked lentils to a large bowl and add the sweet potatoes and torn arugula leaves. Toss the ingredients together with the red wine vinegar, the remaining teaspoon of salt and black pepper to taste. Serve at room temperature.

3.2.2708

 About the Photographs

The smoky flavored lentils in this salad reminded me of something that could be slow cooked over a campfire under the open sky, so I opted to serve them on rustic tin plates, again in the grey granite pattern I love so much.

I took these photos with my  Nikon D80, using a 28mm f2.8 NIKKOR wide angle lens.  I used a Lowell Ego tabletop light like this one in total darkness, indoors at night with all other lights turned off. The light was positioned directly to the right of the food. I did not use a reflector. My ISO was set at 400 and the shutter speed was 125. In the first shot, the aperture was set at 3.5 and the second shot it was 2.8.

The post Lentil Sweet Potato Arugula Salad appeared first on three beans on a string.