Dressed Lentils & Greens with Sweet Potato
Lentils are slept on too often. Not only are they high in protein, but when cooked right, they can really hold their own in a dish. The trick is to dress them separately, with their own punchy, balanced vinaigrette! This recipe is very flexible: you can skip the yogurt all together if you’re low on time and the veg can easily be interchanged. Proceed with caution, this one will run right through YA! But sometimes we need an “everything must go” type of sale. See how it’s made here.
Serves 2
Ingredients
2 small sweet potatoes, or one large one
Olive oil
Kosher Salt
1 cup French green lentils
2 cups kale, swiss chard, or spinach
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 tsp. cumin seeds
Garnish: flaky salt and sliced scallions
For the lentil dressing:
1 small shallot, minced
1/2 lemon, squeezed
1 tbsp. sherry or red wine vinegar
Kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp. dijon mustard
3 tbsp. olive oil
For the Dilly Yog:
1 garlic clove, grated
1/2 lemon, squeezed
Kosher salt.
2 tbsp. chopped dill (or any other herb)
1 cup full fat greek yogurt
Make it!
Preheat the oven to 400F. Prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Slice the sweet potatoes in half longways. Rub olive oil and salt on all sides of the sweet potato and place them cut-side down on the sheet pan. Bake for 25 minutes, until soft and starting to caramelize around the edges. Remove.
Meanwhile, rinse the lentils well and add to a medium pot with water, about 2-3 inches above the lentils. Salt the water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer for 17-20 minutes, tasting to make sure they don’t get mushy! Drain and cool.
Make your vinaigrette! In a small bowl, add the shallot, lemon juice, vinegar, a few pinches salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Let sit for 5 minutes to mellow. Whisk in the dijon mustard and slowing add the olive oil, whisking vigorously to emulsify. Taste and adjust, if needed.
Make your yogurt! Grate the garlic into a bowl and squeeze the lemon on top. Let sit for 5 minutes to mellow. Add the a few pinches of slat, dill and yogurt. Mix to combine.
Cook your greens! Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat in a large fry pan. When its starts to shimmer, add the smashed garlic cloves and cook for 1 minutes. Add the cumin seeds and bloom for 1 minute more. Add your greens, they will crackle! Cook them for 2-3 minutes until softened.
Assemble! Swoosh a big spoonful of dilly yogurt on the bottom of your bowl. Add a few scoops of lentils, the greens and the sweet potato. Sprinkle with flaky salt and scallions. Enjoy your blow out!!!!
