Lentil Salad with Tomatoes, Dill & Basil ♥ Recipe

One of my favorite summer salads! It's meaty French lentils combined with tomatoes and other vegetables for a hearty, healthy salad. The recipe is "lightened" with no oil — and no missing it!

~first published 2005~
~recipe & photo updated 2007 & 2011~
~such a favorite & flexible summer salad, republished 2011~
~more recently updated recipes~

French lentils — some times also sold as lentilles de Puy — are a great contribution to American cuisine. Compared to the typical beige or brown lentils, they have much more flavor and stand up to cooking without turning to mush. I find them in bins, for a price, at Whole Foods and in boxes, for pennies, at Trader Joe's. I'd also use Trader Joe's black lentils in this salad.

2005: This is really good, a definite keeper. It's from the August issue of Gourmet, which is packed with great-looking vegetable recipes. One reviewer on Epicurious says that it improves with a day in the fridge too. That said, next time, I'd change the proportions: more vegetable, less lentil. I'd add more tomato, perhaps a yellow pepper (for color) and some diced cucumber or zucchini, maybe even some fennel. I think this would be delicious topped with poached or grilled fish.
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