I’ll be honest: I haven’t really been in a salad-eating mood for much of winter. Cold weather demands comfort food, and there was a lot of it coming out of my teeny kitchen: Asian-inspired short ribs and chicken and dumplings and sausage and lentil soup and fancy French beef stew. Plus, I’ve just been so uninspired by winter produce, seeing the same sweet potato and Brussels sprouts and winter squash recipes I’ve seen year after year after year. So I roasted a lot of broccoli, ate it quietly and waited impatiently for spring.
But the minute I spotted this recipe for herby black rice salad with radishes and ricotta salata on Epicurious, I jumped. It seemed bright and fresh and full of texture, exactly what I needed to get me out of my salad doldrums. I don’t even like radishes (these tartines aside, of course) and yet I bought three bunches, awed by their pretty pink color and ready to give them another try.
I made a bunch of tweaks to the original recipe: black lentils instead of rice (because I couldn’t find black rice and I already had the lentils in the pantry), roasted radishes instead of fresh (to mellow some of their sharpness), mint instead of dill (I like it better). The result was 👌: crunchy and salty and tangy and sharp, the roasted radishes adding an almost sweet touch. In short, it was everything I wanted as an early spring dinner, and a much-needed reminder that salads can be pretty darn exciting.
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PinIngredients
- 1 cup black lentils
- 2 bunches mixed radishes, quartered
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 4 ounces ricotta salata, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450F. Line a baking sheet with foil.
- Prepare the lentils according to package instructions, cooking them just tender, but so that they still retain their shape. Drain and rinse under cold water.
- While the lentils are cooking, toss the radishes with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, salt and pepper and spread them out on a baking sheet. Roast for 15-18 minutes, until the radishes are crisp-tender and bronzed. Set aside to cool slightly.
- In a large bowl, toss together the lentils, roasted radishes, ricotta salata, mint, lemon juice and the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4
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