the fresh, light and full of flavor recipe

A fresh salad, full of flavor and protein with green lentils from Puy AOP with smoked salmon or smoked trout and citrus fruits, grapefruit.

This recipe comes from my stay this summer in Puy en Velay, cradle of Puy green lentils. I admit, I didn’t invent much, this recipe came to me from a lunch on the terrace at Puy en Velay.
It was hot, we had found a shaded terrace with a little air, my husband absolutely wanted his lentil sausages, so I risked also having a dish with lentils. but not wanting a hot dish, I opted for their lentil-based salad. And what a treat.

I adapted it a little, and above all made it my own, this lentil/salmon or smoked trout/grapefruit salad has become one of my basics. So I’m delivering it to you today.

Some tips for preparing salad

For this mixed salad recipe, you need cold cooked lentils. Either precooked in advance and cooled, or if we don’t have time, use drained canned lentils.

Use smoked salmon or smoked troutaccording to your taste or your budget. Both work, smoked trout is generally a little cheaper and above all a little less fatty. If like me you make homemade smoked salmon, you can use it here, or even use gravlax salmon, plain or flavored with beetroot, anything is possible.

I use pomelos. The classic grapefruit or pink grapefruit can also be replaced with orange or blood orange. I find that orange works wonders in fall or winter salads. Have you ever tried grapefruit with fennel? A delight. I recommend that you peel the grapefruit raw so that you only have the flesh, it is much better. But longer!

For the vinaigretteI suggest a mixture of whole-grain mustard, cider vinegar and olive oil.
I sometimes make this salad with the vinaigrette that I always have ready to use at home which is half Dijon mustard, half grain mustard, half wine vinegar, half balsamic vinegar and half canola oil, half olive oil. But here I didn’t want too strong a taste of balsamic vinegar, hence this suggestion. Here again, I’ll let you adapt if you wish.

Add other ingredients if you feel like it: pieces of fresh tomato or cucumber, small diced carrots, thin slices of fennel, avocado, feta…

Information on Puy AOP green lentils

As usual, I found out about the region’s flagship product, the Puy AOP green lentil.

A visit to the Sabarot boutique which is located in the city center, in the pedestrian streets of Puy en Velay. The saleswoman was truly eager to convey as much as possible about the lenses. I learned a lot of things.

The Green Lentil of Puy is the first European legume to have obtained a Protected Designation of Origin. The true culinary pride of the Rhône-Alpes-Auvergne region, the lentil is a vegetable protein with many nutritional qualities.

On the nutrition side, compared to other lentils, green puy lentils are less rich in starch and therefore less mealy; richer in minerals, sweeter, therefore tastier and richer in trace elements therefore essential to the body.

Cooking advice: always start cooking cold and without salt. If you salt, a reaction will occur which will cause the outer part of the lentils to harden and they will take longer to cook. More cooking time, but also often harder. So we don’t salt the cooking water like we do for pasta or rice. Cook in unsalted water and add salt after draining the lentils.

To preserve the richness of the soil and give themselves the best advantages for cultivation year after year, lentil producers use crop rotations. They noticed that it was with spelled that they obtained the best results.