A New Year’s salad to get you off to a flying start

Welcome to 2011!  Nice to see you again!

I’m back in the beach shack after a lovely xmas break in Sydney, where I managed to eat almost as many laksas as there were days in the holiday.  I was a little light on the baklavas this time – much to my utter disappointment – but managed to get my fill of sweetness by way of some homemade coconut cookies (a present from my nephew), a few too many Ferrero Rochers, and copious amounts of pudding, custard and ice-cream.

Needless to say, I have been looking forward to getting back to the simple life again – home cooking in a place with limited food resources is certainly one way to do it.  To help us along, yesterday I planted some new seeds in the garden - sweet corn, eggplant, cucumber, bok choi, basil, rocket, coriander and dill.  I'm looking forward to watching them grow and, eventually, eating them.  Hopefully we won't have to wait too long.  It's the rainy season in Timor at the moment, so we don't need to worry too much about watering the garden - we just need to hope for a little sunshine from time-to-time.

So, with all this veggie planting yesterday, I fancied a vitamin-laden dinner last night.  After a quick consultation with Stephanie* I came up with this very simple and tasty salad.  The lentils and spinach gave me the super nutrition that I was craving, the sultanas added a welcome sweet surprise to every few mouthfuls, the anchovy and feta was nice and salty, the pine nuts gave crunch and the beetroot, tomato and carrot made it look pretty.  Don’t be fooled by the long list of ingredients though – this was really quick to make and allows for much improvisation.

Lentil and Spinach Vita-Salad

1 cup brown lentils, soaked for 2 hours (reserve 1 cup liquid)

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 anchovy fillets (optional)

1 handful sultanas

1 bunch spinach leaves, torn

1 carrot, grated

2 medium (or a punnet of cherry) tomatoes, chopped

2-3 baby beets (fresh or canned – doesn’t really matter), chopped

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Drizzle good olive oil

Handful pine nuts or walnuts, toasted

Black pepper and, if not using anchovies, salt

Approx 1 Tbsp goat’s feta per person, crumbled.

Fry off the onion and garlic in a frying pan over medium heat until soft but not coloured.  Place the anchovies over the top of the onion and leave for a minute or two – they will “melt”.  Chuck in the sultanas and then the lentils with the reserved liquid.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are al dente and liquid has absorbed.  Turn off heat and allow to cool slightly.

Stir in the spinach leaves – how much they wilt will depend on how long you leave the lentil mixture to cool – this is a personal thing.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients, leaving the feta till last to crumble over the individual serves.

Can be eaten warm or cold.

* As in Stephanie Alexander’s cooking bible, The Cook’s Companion.