Roast Vegetable Lentil Salad

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This is a wonderful vegetarian dish with a combination of beautiful, healthy flavors and textures. Our Roast Vegetable Lentil Salad combines roasted ingredients with fresh, cold ingredients to give the dish a wonderful sense of vibrancy and, of course, a beautiful taste! The dish is all tied together with beautifully cooked Lentils which are slightly chewy and delicious! So, lets jump into this amazing recipe!

How to make Roast Vegetable Lentil Salad

There are three primary components required to make our Roast Vegetable Lentil Salad. Thankfully, all three components are very easy and do not require too much time or effort. Those three components that comprise this wonderful dish are as follows:

1. Roasting the Vegetables
2. Cooking the Lentils
3. Preparing the cold Vegetables
   
   

1. Roasting the Vegetables to extract their rich, beautiful flavor

Roasting is probably our favorite way to prepare Vegetables. The natural sweetness of the veggies is at their best when roasted and they taste phenomenal in this Lentil Salad, adding so much flavor. You can choose from a wide variety of vegetables to roast when preparing this dish. We’ve opted for the classic combination of Onions, Leeks, and Garlic

Roasting Onions and Leeks yields a similar result, the flavor of these vegetables is remarkably sweet as they caramelize and turn a wonderful golden-brown in the oven. Be sure to cut the Onions into large chunks so they don’t overcook. For the Leeks, simply slice them down the middle and give them a good wash before placing onto a sheet pan

Give the vegetables a generous dousing of good quality Olive Oil and Salt and that’s all they need. Throw them into the Oven and roast at 375F for about 45 minutes or so, turning once about halfway through

Don’t forget the Roasted Garlic!

For the Garlic, we prepare this amazing ingredient in probably our all-time favorite method. Cut the top of the Garlic off to reveal the flesh inside. Wrap the Garlic in aluminum foil, leaving the top part exposed. Pour a little bit of Olive Oil in there. Season with Salt, then seal tightly and roast

 It takes a little longer than the Leek and Onions to cook, about an extra 15 minutes or so. What you are left with is the sweetest flavored Garlic Flesh that gives the Roast Vegetable Lentil Salad so much flavor. Simply let it cool then peel out the beautiful flesh and add it to the Salad. Yum!

2. Cooking the Lentils in Vegetable Broth will add so much flavor to the dish

Lentils are a beautiful ingredient and perfect for adding body to a vegetable dish. They’re healthy for you and are great at absorbing flavors from the ingredients they are cooked with. Which makes them a perfect addition to this wonderful vegetable Salad

Cooking Lentils is easy, consider it just like cooking Rice. Albeit the portions of Lentils to liquid are a little different, with the Lentils requiring more liquid than Rice to cook. We’ve opted for 1/3 of a cup of Lentils, to 1 cup of liquid to achieve the perfect consistency in your Lentils

For simplicities sake, you can cook the Lentils in boiling water, and they will turn out fine. However, for more flavor, we recommend cooking them in broth or stock. As this is a vegetarian dish we’re opting for Vegetable Broth. If you’re looking for an easy Vegetable Broth recipes, we’ve got you covered here

Making your own homemade Vegetable Broth is easy. Just add some Vegetables such as Carrots, Onion, and Celery to a pot filled with water. Cover and boil for about an hour. Strain the liquid and there you have it – homemade Vegetable Broth!

3. Add your favorite, seasonal vegetables into the dish to complete this tasty and healthy recipe

Once you’re Vegetables are roasted and cooled, and your Lentils are cooked It’s almost go-time! The final step is to simply prepare your favorite raw vegetables and add them into the Salad. For our Roast Vegetable Lentil Salad we’ve opted for the combination of Tomatoes, Celery, Mint, and Cilantro

The Tomatoes add a beautiful acidity and slight sweetness to the dish (we used Cherry Tomatoes in this case), and the Celery adds that wonderful crunchy texture. There’s no need to be fussy about the raw vegetables to add to the dish, choose whatever you like and what’s in season in your local area. You really can’t go wrong!

Fresh herbs brighten up the salad immensely! For our recipe we add freshly chopped Cilantro and Mint to the dish. The flavor these herbs add is immense, and they bring a beautiful brightness and vibrancy to the salad

This dish is 100% Vegan, however there are several options you can adjust to the dish if you like

Serve this wonderful Roast Vegetable Lentil Salad as is, and it is a 100% Vegan dish. In our recipe we’ve added Goats Cheese to the final dish, which still means this is a Vegetarian dish, just not Vegan

The Goats Cheese adds a wonderful creaminess and tanginess to the dish which works great as a finisher right before serving. Simply crumble over a handful of good quality Goats Cheese over the top of the dish. It also helps with plating, giving a wonderful, bright visual to the salad

If you’re cooking for Vegans but do want to try the Goats Cheese, an easy solution is to simply add the Goats Cheese onto individual plating. That way you can keep the entire dish Vegan, and simply add the cheese to the dish(es) who want it. Feta Cheese would also be a great addition for a crumblier, more subtle flavor to the dish

For some added texture, why not add some fresh or toasted Almonds to the dish while you’re at it!

Do you ever eat a dish and think to yourself “you know what, this would taste great with x”? When we ate this Lentil Salad the one addition I wish I had added to the dish is some nuts. The dish does have some great texture, namely brought on by the crunchiness of the Celery and chewiness of the Lentils

It did, however, feel like an added crunchy texture would work well. We’d recommend chopping up some fresh nuts such as Almonds and sprinkling them into the Salad right before serving. You can either use Fresh Almonds or roasted. The Roasted Almonds will bring a stronger flavor which may start to overpower the dish, so we’d recommend sticking with the fresh ones for a more subtle flavor and crunchy texture

If you are after a slightly more luxurious flavor in your Lentils, try replacing the Vegetable Broth with Chicken Broth. This will, of course, mean the dish is no longer Vegan or Vegetarian. If that is not a concern to you, then adding the Chicken Broth will give the Lentils a lovely flavor and texture. If you’re interested then why not head over to our Stocks and Broths page here to try some of our delicious Broth recipes

Roast Vegetable Lentil Salad Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup Lentils
• 1 cup Vegetable Broth (recipe here)
• 1 Leek, halved
• 1 Garlic Bulb
• 1 Red Onion, quartered
• 1 cup Cherry Tomatoes, quartered
• 1 Celery Stalk, diced
• ½ cup Mint, roughly chopped
• ½ cup Cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp. Goats Cheese (optional)
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• Salt
  
  

Instructions

1. We begin by roasting the Vegetables. Place the Leek, and Red Onion on a sheet pan and drizzle with 1 tbsp. of Olive Oil and 1 tsp. of Salt
2. Cut the top of the Garlic off to expose the flesh inside. Wrap the Garlic in aluminum foil leaving the top slightly exposed. Pour in ½ tsp. Olive Oil and a pinch of Salt. Close the foil tight and add the Garlic bundle to the Sheet Pan
3. Roast the Vegetables for 45 minutes in the oven at 375F, turning them once about halfway through. Once cooked, remove the vegetables. Turn off the oven heat, but keep the Garlic in there for an additional 15 minutes to continue to cook
4. Once the vegetables are cooled, cut them into bite sized pieces and place into a large salad bowl. Peel away the Garlic skin and add the Garlic flesh to the bowl with the Vegetables
5. Add the Lentils and Vegetable Broth into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes until the Lentils are tender. Once cooked, strain them, and set aside to cool. Once cooled, add them to the Salad Bowl
6. Finally, chop up the Tomatoes, Celery, Mint, and Cilantro and add to the Salad. Add the Lemon Juice, then season with Salt and a dash of Olive Oil to taste. Mix through well and serve immediately
   
   

Recipe Notes

An optional addition to the Salad is adding some Goats Cheese or Feta Cheese right before serving. Simply crumble the cheese over the top. If you want to keep the dish Vegan, do not add the Cheese

That’s our tasty Roast Vegetable and Lentil Salad recipe all done! It’s a beautiful, hearty, and healthy Vegetarian dish that’s easy to whip up on a weeknight. Give it a try today and let us know in the comments below how it went?

Here are a few of our favorite Vegetarian dishes we’d highly recommend you give a try:

• Grits and Mushroom Dinner
• Heirloom Tomato and Stracciatella
• Vegetarian Turkish Bread Pizza
• Cauliflower and Eggplant Curry
  
  

Happy Cooking!