LENTIL & ORZO SALAD
Sonoma Coast
Villa Inn & Spa, California
Ingredients:
1 cup Green French Lentils
3/4 cup Orzo pasta
Scant Olive Oil
2 tablespoons Curry Powder
1 tablespoon Garlic Powder
1 tablespoon Cumin Powder
2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar
2 cups vegetables of choice (chopped small)
Juice of Two Lemons
Salt and Pepper to taste
Zest from one Orange
BASE: Wash and cull lentils, place in saucepan
and cover with two inches of water. Bring to a boil and simmer 20-25
minutes. Drain and chill.
Rinse and add Orzo to boiling salted
water, cook for 10 minutes, drained, toss with a scant amount of olive oil, and chill.
Combine chilled orzo with chilled lentils in
large mixing bowl. Add spices and vinegar. Mix well and chill.
VEGGIES: This salad base can be used with any
vegetables in season, carrots, celery, corn, red, yellow or green peppers. Vegetables should be blanched before adding to base. Caramelized onions and zucchini or yellow
squash are wonderful and do not need to be blanched if cut thinly.
COMBINE TO SERVE: Combine base, vegetables, orange zest,
lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. SPA INDEX EDITOR'S NOTES: Consider substituted cooked brown rice for the orzo. Also, because we love every single ingredient in this salad, we were surprised to find the dressing so overpowering that we were reluctant to add all of it to the salad. While low-fat, the vinegar, lemon juice, copious amounts of curry and cumin, made for a very tart and astringent dressing, with no richness from oil or other fats. It was a too bit much for us, so we only used half the dressing called for, more veggies and lentils to balance out some of that harshness of even that much dressing, and about a tablespoon more olive oil. That tamed it somewhat, and, chilling it overnight and letting it mellow was also a good fix. For future versions of this salad, we'll make all of it except the dressing, and use our own favorite lemon vinaigrette.
|