After the indulgence of the holiday season, here’s a great winter salad to help you on the way with those New Year’s resolutions. High in fibre and seasonal unprocessed ingredients, this is a filling and healthy alternative to a sandwich at lunchtime and equally delicious for a light evening meal.
For this recipe I used goats cheese from The Fine Cheese Co. in Bath, I asked for a mild and crumbly cheese. They are very knowledgeable and recommended one from Neal’s Yard Dairy that I had never tried before. All vegetables were fresh from Eades of Bath and the lentils and barley were from my local zero-waste shop.
INGREDIENTS:
70g dry brown lentils- 1 stick of celery
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 peeled clove garlic
- 75g pearled barley
- 500g beetroot
- 1 red onion
- 80g edamame beans
- goats cheese (to crumble on top, to taste)
- handful fresh parsley (finely chopped)
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1tsbp apple cider vinegar
- olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
70g dry brown lentilsMETHOD:
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/ 180°C fan/gas 6
- Prepare the beetroot and onion.
- For the beetroot, start by removing the top (with the stalks) and the bottom (with the roots). Leave the skins on as they add flavour and fibre. Cut into chunks (I find if you cut them into quarters and then quarters again that works best!)
- For the onions, peel and cut them into quarters, they cook a lot quicker than the beetroots so don’t need to be as small
- Place the beetroot and onion on a baking tray lined with reusable baking parchment, drizzle over about 2 tbsp of olive oil, and season to taste
- Roast in the oven for about 40 minutes or until tender, then add 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar and roast for a further 5 minutes
TIP: if the onion is starting to burn just place some baking parchment or aluminum foil over them to stop any further burning
- In the meantime, place the lentils in a pan and cover with cold water. Add the stick of celery, bay-leaf and clove of garlic.
TIP: you want the water to come up about 2 inches higher than the lentils as they absorb a lot of liquid when cooking
- Bring the lentils up to boiling and simmer for about 20 minutes (or until tender). Drain, remove the celery, bay-leaf and garlic and set aside in a bowl
- Add the barley to a pan of boiling water and simmer for about 25 minutes (or until tender). Drain and add to the lentils
- Make the dressing: in a small bowl, mix the lemon juice and 2 tbsp of olive oil
- Spoon 2tbsp of the dressing over the lentils and barley and mix thoroughly
- To serve: Plate up the lentil-barley mix; place the roasted beetroot and onion on top; crumble over some goats cheese (the amount is up to you) and sprinkle over the edamame beans and finely chopped fresh parsley. Spoon over the remaining lemon juice and olive oil dressing
