Stormy Weather

Glad we buttoned up the new construction on Sunday because in the wee hours of Monday morning we had a huge thunder and lightning storm, followed by rain. Pi was frantic. I guess the noise is really awful for dogs. Xam used to have the same reaction. First there is the barking, as if warning off whoever is making those 'bowling' noises. Then comes the whimpering and shaking, probably from fear as the flashes continue and the noise gets louder. It went on from about 12:30 am to a little after 6 am. I think I was awake for about four hours of that. At one point we were all bundled up on the bed, trying to comfort the dog. I heard on the news that there were 400 lightning strikes in our area during the storm! According to the old timers, we rarely get a thunder storm that lasts longer than about an hour, so 6 hours is some kind of record.

The weather today was much different...low 80s and sunny. Today I joined a friend for some 'broken plate' mosaic fun. We worked in her garage, with a nice breeze blowing through. It was a welcome break from working on the entry construction and kitchen planning. I almost finished a table top in shades of blue and green, with a little butter yellow here and there and a few pops of terra cotta for contrast. I'm hoping to use it on the deck off our bedroom as a place to hold a mug of coffee or two in the morning and maybe a glass of wine or two in the evening. Sweetie already bought two chairs to go with it. It should be ready to using in a few days, so I'll post a photo then.

I brought the salad for our lunch today. Romaine lettuce is OK for me, even though I would prefer mesclun, so I threw together a bunch of bite size romaine leaves, some sliced celery, chunks of cooked chicken, chopped toasted pecans, sliced fresh local strawberries and a sprinkle of blue cheese. It was refreshing and just substantial enough. My friend provided iced tea and some nice toast spread with her own lemon curd. It actually went well with the salad, probably because of the strawberries in the salad. For dressing my friend's hubby and I had blue cheese dressing and my friend had honey mustard. This is a great salad for strawberry season, but you could substitute peaches or plum later in the year and I know that pears rock in this salad...but use walnuts instead of the pecans.

Strawberry Pecan Chicken Salad
Serves 4

6-8 cups romaine lettuce, washed, dried, and cut or torn into bite sized pieces, chilled
2-3 stalks celery, washed and sliced
1-2 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite sized chunks
1/2 pint strawberries, washed, dried, hulled and sliced
1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans
1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles or small pieces
dressing of your choice, but blue cheese and honey Dijon work well

In a large bowl combine the lettuce, celery, chicken, strawberries and pecans. Toss to combine. Serve on large plates or salad bowls. (Photo at top is up to this point, with no blue cheese on top yet, or dressing.) Top with the blue cheese to taste. Dress lightly with preferred dressing and serve.

You can make a few hours ahead and keep chilled. If you know those eating the salad love blue cheese, you can toss it in with the rest of the ingredients, otherwise pass the cheese with a spoon so each can add as much or little as desired.

Return to Golf

A couple of years ago Sweetie and I played golf together on a local 9 hole course once a week. We both enjoyed it but after a time the rains seemed to come the day before of the day of our game and this local place doesn't have the best drainage. In time Sweetie fell from the roof of the shed and his shoulder wasn't up for golf. This spring we were hoping to start playing again but things kept coming up that got in the way. Finally we have started to play again. Today was the second time.

It's beginning to look like we will be lucky to play twice a month. That's a shame because golf seems to be one of those sports that depends on regular practice if you want to improve. Still, some time out there in the green is better than none. The time I've been spending at the gym with the weights also seems to have helped my golf game. I can hit a lot further without too much effort. Now I have to pay attention and use the right club for the conditions, along with 20,000 other things to think about as you hit the ball or line up to hit. Never boring! As long as it keeps on being fun we will make sure to get out and play.

We came home just in time to have lunch and watch some Women's Soccer in the Olympic games. The USA women were playing against the Canadian women and it was far from a shoe-in for either team. They were well matched and played their hearts out. I just wish they could pass the ball as precisely as the men do.

 I made some bruchetta to snack on and then a nice bowl of salad with three kinds of lettuce, avocado, tomato, yellow zucchini, cucumber (the last three from our garden), some feta cheese and kidney beans. Yummy! (Forgot to take a photo, but the tomatoes in the photo at the top of the post are just like the ones in the salad...does that help?)

 I was still hungry, so I ate a handful of mini carrots and drank some water. It was a tense game right up to the amazing header at the end. Munching carrots seemed to help me keep from yelling too much. I remember when Max used to play that I had a tendency to stand behind Sweetie or our daughter and pound on their shoulders when the game became intense. I guess it doesn't have to be the Olympics for me to feel for those athletes giving their all. Well done Canada and USA women!

Summer Lunch Salad
(although it works for dinner, too, if you have enough of it)

1 head romaine lettuce, washed, dried and torn or cut into bite size pieces
1 head butter lettuce, washed, dried and torn or cut into bite size pieces
1 small head iceberg lettuce, washed, dried and torn or cut into bite size pieces
1 large or two medium ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks or wedges
1 avocado, peeled, seed discarded, cut into chunks or wedges
1 cucumber, cut into chunks or wedges. If it is a waxed cucumber, peel it before cutting up
1/4 cup feta cheese
1/2 - 1 cup kidney beans, drained and rinsed
salad dressing of your choice...I used ranch dressing

Place all salad greens in a large salad bowl. Add the tomato, avocado, cucumber. Toss. Sprinkle with the feta cheese and top with the kidney beans, distributing the beans evenly over the salad in the bowl.

Serve with salad tongs, being sure to get some of all the ingredients. Top with salad dressing of your choice.

Fresh from the Garden - Cucumber Fun

After all those months of planting, watering, fertilizing, weeding and similar garden tasks, harvest time has finally arrived. We have been harvesting zucchini for a while and did have some green beans, too, but now we have lots of zucchini plus two kinds of cucumbers, butternut squash, more beans, and....the first tomato.

One kind of cucumber I planted is new to me...long cucumbers. They look just like those expensive hothouse cucumbers that have few if any seeds. Given how much they charge at the market for them I figured that they were hard to grow or only would produce a few. Wrong.

They are growing even better than the regular cucumbers and each vine is happily producing more than half dozen of them. With so many gorgeous cucumbers to have fun with I decided to make a couple of recipes.

For lunch yesterday I had a very proper cup of tea and cucumber sandwich. I had some homemade sourdough bread which I sliced fairly thinly. I removed the crusts, spread the slices with butter, thinly, and then layered on thinly sliced long cucumbers. They went really well with the Earl Gray tea and I really enjoyed the crunchy mild cucumbers which contrasted nicely with the bread and butter.

For dinner tonight I made a salad which included chunks of both long and regular cucumbers, a couple of tomatoes cut in chunks, half a sweet white onion, diced small, a ripe avocado, peeled, seeded and diced small, and a nice balsamic/ red wine vinaigrette with oregano and herbes de provence.

After the salad marinated for an hour, I topped it with about 1/2 cup feta cheese crumbles for the perfect chilled salad to go with barbecued chicken and fresh corn on the cob.

Summer bounty is so appreciated.

Cookbook Give-away and Two Great Recipes

It's been much longer than I intended to review the third cookbook from Thomas Nelson Publishers. It's amazing how house projects, summer visitors, the garden and work have all conspired to keep me too busy to try out new recipes. Fortunately I found some time this week to cook a couple of recipes from Second Helpings with Johnnie Gabriel.

These are true Southern recipes and also modern ones, making good use of things like packaged shredded cabbage for Coleslaw the Easy Way and packaged stuffing mix for things like the Squash Casserole and Chicken Salad Casserole. Biscuit mix and Ritz crackers and Morton's Nature's Season also find their uses, along with canned corn, peas and carrots, jarred pimento and lots of cream cheese, sour cream and whipping cream. Many of the recipes, like Sauteed Talpia with Lemon-Peppercorn Sauce would make a lovely entree for a dinner party.

I chose to make two recipes that sounded different and delicious...Wild Rice and Corn Salad and Mocha-Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The salad was indeed wonderful. Since this is fresh corn season I replaced the canned white shoepeg corn with 4 ears of freshly husked sweet white corn which I cut, uncooked, from the cobs.

I didn't have any water chestnuts, so I substituted 1/2 cup each thinly sliced English cucumber and uncooked fresh thin green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces. Both came directly from my garden and added a nice crisp crunch to the salad. Otherwise I followed the recipe and found it very enjoyable. Sweetie had second helpings, just like the book's title promised.

The cookies had a somewhat lackluster description in the book: "Chocolate and coffee team up in another taste treat fro Susan Johnson's collection." I wasn't expecting them to be more than 'nice'.

Imagine my surprise when I found them to be some of the best chocolate cookies I've ever made. We liked them better without the frosting, but if you like very sweet desserts, go for the frosting, too. Not only did these merit a second helping, it was difficult to resist a third or fourth helping! We gave some of them away to friends to avoid the temptation of eating them all up at once.

There are lots more recipes to try...for example Lemon Ice Cream Pie with crushed pretzels in the crust and frozen lemonade in the filling, or maybe Sweet Potato Fries that get tossed in a brown sugar and butter coating after being fried in deep fat. There's an intriguing recipe for Sweet Potato Biscuits and one for Smoky Chipotle Grilled Baby Back Ribs with both a rub and a barbecue sauce.

This isn't the best book to choose if you are cutting calories but if you are planning a party or want to make something more complicated and flavorful than tater tots you'll love this book. Many of the recipes are fairly easy and make use of convenience foods, so complicated doesn't mean difficult.

As always I want to stress that, other than use of the book, I am not receiving anything from the publisher or author of the book and am free to say just what I think about it. Although I won't often have reason to make some of the more full fat recipes with liberal use of whipping cream, I do like the book and look forward to making more recipes from it.

If you would like to win a copy of this book, just leave a comment. There will be a random drawing and the publisher will send three copies to the three lucky winners, as long as those winners either leave an e-mail address with the comment or are linked to a place where an e-mail address can be found or where I can ask for one if you are a winner.

And now for a gentle rant: The recent demise of Borders Books saddens me. Although I know how easy it would be to order this book on Amazon, please consider asking your independent bookseller to order a copy for you from Thomas Nelson Publishers. Supporting your local bookseller means that there will be bookstores for our children and grandchildren to browse in...an entirely different experience than 'browsing' online. Besides, your local bookseller usually lives in your town and often contributes to the local economy...want fewer potholes?...support your local businesses. (This may or may not be the opinion of Thomas Nelson Publishers but is absolutely my own.)

Wild Rice and Corn Salad - A really easy salad

1 cup wild rice, cooked according to package directions (Not a wild rice mix).
2 (11-oz) cans white shoepeg corn, rinsed and drained, or 4 ears fresh white corn, husked and kernels cut from the cob.
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I would use 1/3 cup next time)
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 (8-oz) can water chestnuts, drained and chopped, or 1/2 cup each uncooked fresh thin green beans cut into 1-inch pieces AND thinly sliced (and diced if large) fresh cucumber, seeds removed and discarded
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

In a medium bowl mix the cooked wild rice, uncooked corn, mayonnaise, green onions, water chestnuts (or beans and cucumbers), salt, and pepper.

Cover and chill for at least 2 hours. Keeps well in the refrigerator 2-3 days. Serves 8 - 10.



Mocha-Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookies:
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa which makes the cookies a nice deep dark chocolate color)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, softened
2/3 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg at room temperature
2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon instant coffee powder or granules
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips (Yes, TWO cups!)
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Make the cookies: In a medium bowl combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl beat the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well blended. Add the egg, eater, instant coffee, vanilla, chocolate chips, and nuts and blend well, but do not beat. Add the flour mixture and stir just until combined.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Drop dough by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the lined cookie sheet. Bake for 13 minutes until firm. (The recipe says 'and no longer shiny' but mine were still a bit shiny...we like them soft). Cool on the sheets for 10 minutes, then move to a rack or tray to frost them.

Frosting:
Make the frosting: In a medium microwavable bowl, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in 1-minute intervals (I use 1/2 power), stirring after each minute until the chocolate is soft and melted.

In a small bowl mix together the whipping cream and instant coffee and add to the chocolate mixture. Using an electric mixer add the butter, vanilla, and confectioners' sugar. Frost the cookies.

Store cookies in the refrigerator. Makes 3-4 dozen

Gremolata and Blood Oranges

My mind usually turns to baking and making sweets. Guess it's both because I have a sweet tooth and because I'm endlessly fascinated with the process of baking...turning butter and sugar and flour and more into delicious treats.

But sometimes I get a notion of something I'd like to cook that isn't sweet. That happened the other day as I was driving home from work. I'd recently read a recipe that used gremolata as a finisher to the dish and I thought that it would be interesting to take the chicken thighs that I knew were in the fridge at home and cook them in the manner of osso bucco, but with red wine instead of white, and then finish them off when I served them with a nice sprinkle of gremolata.

O.K. first off, gremolata is a combination of minced parsley (I use Italian parsley for the good strong flavor of it) and minced fresh garlic and freshly grated lemon zest. When combined the flavor is zesty and refreshing and a nice counterpoint to a slow cooked entree which usually has mellow flavors. This whole post is dedicated to Natasha because she has been waiting patiently for the recipes.

Now that I'd daydreamed an entree, I turned to what should go with it. A roasted beet salad on field greens with some small chunks of a good blue cheese seemed like it would go well with the chicken dish. Here is a dish of roasted, peeled beets and some blood orange halves.

A citrus dressing would be seasonal and add some fruitiness, too. Around here it's the season for both blood oranges and Meyer lemons so I picked up some of each at the farm stand I pass on my way home. The next day I bought the organic beets and the blue cheese, plus some tricolor potato gnocchi that looked good. Everything else was already in the fridge or pantry. I started the chicken about 1 pm and once it was simmering I joined Sweetie down the hill where he was putting new boards on the farmhouse deck. By the time we had all the boards attached...and I did learn how to use the impact driver by the time I'd done all the fasteners in the middle of the deck!...the chicken was done and the beets I'd roasted earlier were cool enough to peel.

Blood orange juice is a lovely light fuchsia color so the dressing is pink even without any beet juices.

Both the chicken recipe and the vinaigrette recipe are ones where I've pulled bits and pieces from a number of recipes I found online. The vinaigrette in particular was a work in progress as I made it...less olive oil than I had originally planned, blood orange zest added...something none of the recipes I looked at had included which is odd when you consider how much flavor the zest has...less honey, too.

That evening we truly had a feast. The chicken was so tender it fell off the bone. The sauce created by the wine, chicken, herbs, and vegetables was great over the gnocchi, and the gremolata did the job of brightening up the dish. The salad was an excellent combination of flavors. I later wished that I'd added some toasted nuts...maybe hazelnuts or walnuts...but there was none left once we enjoyed it.

I cut the beets in wedges and marinated them for about 15 minutes in the blood orange dressing but if you are short of time you could slice them quickly and pour a little of the vinaigrette over them after you lay them over the dressed greens.

Slow-cooked Chicken Thighs with Gremolata

4 chicken thighs...I used bone-in thighs but boneless work well, too.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1/3 cup chopped carrots
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons dried rosemary or 1 stalk fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or 3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 can diced tomatoes in juice
about 1 cup red wine
salt and pepper

Gremolata

1 clove garlic, finely chopped,
Zest of one lemon (I used a regular lemon, not a Meyer lemon)
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
Mix the three ingredients together until well combined.

Rinse and dry the chicken thighs. Heat a skillet or Dutch oven over high heat and add the olive oil. Brown the chicken thighs, turning once after about 5 minutes. Once browned remove to a plate and set aside.

If you have used chicken with skin you may have to pour off some of the fat from the pan. 1-2 tablespoons is all that is needed to sauté the vegetables.

Sauté the onions, celery and carrots for about 5 minutes, until onions are translucent. Spread the vegetables out on the bottom of the pan. Top with the browned chicken thighs.

Add the herbs to the pan, putting some on top of each piece of chicken. Pour the tomatoes and juice over everything in the pan. Add the red wine until the thighs are at least 2/3 covered. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cover the pan, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Chicken will be very tender.

Serve over gnocchi, rice, noodles or mashed potatoes, spooning some of the juices over. Sprinkle the chicken pieces with Gremolata and serve hot.

For the Roasted Beet Salad with Blue Cheese and Blood Orange Vinaigrette I tossed field greens with some of the blood orange vinaigrette, put them on a salad plate, topped with the marinated roasted beets, sprinkled on about 1 teaspoon of crumbled blue cheese and served the salads. Toasted nuts would make a nice addition.

Roasted Beets

4-5 small to medium beets, well scrubbed to remove dirt

Cut the root end off the beets and the leaves if your beets come that way. No need to peel the beets now. Lay the beets on a sheet of aluminum foil. Bring two sided together and fold over a couple of times to seal. Bring the ends up and over the packet. Roast in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 1/2 hour, or until beets are tender when pierced with a sharp knife tip.

Let the beets cool. Slip the peels off and cut into wedges or slices. Any leftovers should be kept refrigerated.

Blood Orange Vinaigrette

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (I used raspberry infused)
1/3 cup blood orange juice
zest from 1 blood orange
1/2 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Dijon style mustard
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients into a jar with a screw top lid, put the top on tightly and shake until ingredients are fully mixed and mixture thickens slightly. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Serve at once. Can be stored in the refrigerator for a week.

Boy Did I Goof!

Many, many weeks ago Lis of La Mia Cucina sweetly awarded me the Schmooze Award, for which I am grateful. This award was created by Mike of Ordinary Folk and Danielle of Pink Reviews to “recognize people who have a positive influence on the blogging community by developing and nurturing relationships. You know – commenting on other’s blogs, joinin in on and sustaining a “blogversation” according to Lis. What I didn’t read was that I was supposed to nominate other bloggers to receive the award. Perhaps the difficulty lay in the fact that when Lis gave me the award I was totally focused on a new job. With aging brain cells the only ones at my disposal, it really required complete concentration to learn a new job, even one in a field that is familiar to me like this one. Thank you, dear Lis. I’m blushing for the award and in embarrassment that it has taken me until now to pass on the award (and to feel even a bit competent at the ‘job’.)

‘So what is this job?’, you ask. Well, I’m still finding out some of it, but it is an admin job for a pain clinic. The clinic, and intensive 6 day affair, is held once a month. The two weeks leading up to the clinic are filled with lots of preparations, paperwork, communication with the patients, and preparing the clinic and kitchen for the participants.
The doctor who hired me was stoked to find that I have a food blog…somehow he thought that I’m a professional foodie or something…far from it, but I do enjoy cooking. That is a good thing.

You see, a freshly prepared lunch is served each day to about 25 people. Veggie trays, fruit trays, salads, and whole grain breads are joined by rolls of smoked salmon with capers, rolls of turkey breast and ham, sliced onions, olives, pickles, roasted red peppers and similar foods. On the last day of the clinic such a lunch is followed by a celebratory dinner, so a whole lot of cooking is going on that day. Although I love to cook, so far my main duties have been to assist the other cooks and to keep track of all the paperwork. It may eventually be my turn to be in charge of the cooking, who knows? This time I brought a lentil salad that I wanted the group to try. For Tuesday dinner I also brought some heirloom tomatoes which I turned into an insalata caprese, with slices of fresh mozzarella cheese, olive oil and basil, plus a drizzle of reduced balsamic vinegar. The vinegar isn’t traditional, but delicious nonetheless.

So I now have two clinics worth of experience and space in my elderly brain to realize that I spaced completely on the award. There are many who deserve this award and, fortunately, many have received it while I have been otherwise occupied. There are still plenty of bloggers who qualify, especially those who visit all kinds of blog, famous and unknown and everything in between, who are positive in their comments and who are caring and, often, funny. They make such a difference in many folk’s days.

Without further ado (or excuses) I nominate… Quellia of All Things Edible. Not only is she always upbeat, but she participates in lots of events, which is so supportive, plus she has the cutest kid.
And
Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice, one of the co-founders of the burgeoning Daring Bakers and she is as sweet as the lovely tarts she makes so well.
And
Peabody of Culinary Concoctions by Peabody. Not only does she get around the blogosphere and spread joy, but you can’t visit her blog without seeing something truly delicious on the screen... usually sweet and baked.
And
Morven of Food Art and Random Thoughts who is both a talented writer and a thoughtful commenter.
And
Brilynn of Jumbo Empanadas who is probably the world’s best booster for ice cream and Dorie Greenspan, as well as being a talented writer and photographer.

That’s as many as I’m allowed to nominate for this award. Go check out their blogs and give them a nice comment…they deserve it. Just hope they don't take so long to nominate others :)

'Mater and Cuke Salad

It must be August, it’s so hot. No, wait, it’s September and still hot for northern California. Well, can’t argue with Momma Nature, so dinner will need to be something that doesn’t heat up the kitchen. It’s also a good evening to bring something to Lis and Ivonne’s La Festa al Fresco, the blog world’s biggest patio party. A party celebrating good, fresh, seasonal food with friends in the fresh air is perfect for warm and sultry evenings.


Now that the heirloom tomatoes have kicked in with plenty of ripe fruits, what better way to enjoy them than in a tomato and cucumber salad?

'Mater and Cucumber Salad
To a mixture of about 3 cups of chunks of a whole rainbow of colors of tomatoes, I added another 2 cups of chunks of seeded cucumber from my garden. I used two medium green cucumbers and 1 large lemon cucumber. Over those I poured ½ cup red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons good quality balsamic vinegar and ¼ cup Meyer Lemon flavored olive oil (although unflavored olive oil would also work fine). ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper was sprinkled over the top and I folded the mixture together until well mixed. If you like you can add 1 – 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh basic, and/or ¼ teaspoon minced garlic.

Tomatoes, to retain their best flavor, should not be refrigerated. Leave the bowl on the counter and stir it a couple of more times to make sure that everything has a chance to bathe in the marinade.

After marinating for a few hours, taste to see if the salad needs more pepper or an addition of salt. This salad is so pretty that you can just serve it in a nice bowl with a slotted serving spoon, or you can place mounds of it in lettuce cups for a fancier presentation.

The rest of dinner on this hot evening? We had grilled fresh zucchini, some of the last from the garden, I’m afraid. The poor zucchini plants have been producing faithfully since May, so they deserve to reduce production.

Sweetie also grilled some chicken thighs which he had seasoned with garlic salt and a nip of bourbon. Who needs barbeque sauce when you have bourbon? It gives grilled meats, poultry and fish a nice smoky taste.

“Tutti a tavola” which means “everyone to the table”. See you on the patio!

Wow Them at the Next Potluck

Do you always bring the same thing to potlucks? I know everyone loves your smoky sassy baked beans or asian cole slaw or molded sunshine salad...and you can bring that next time. But maybe for the 4th of July bash or the Bastille Day picnic you want to try something different this year.

A good place to start is with the Lentil Salad with Bacon (which tastes great without the bacon, too, if you don't want bacon in your salad). It's an adapatation of a recipe by Alton Brown of the Food Network.

Lentils are jam packed with nuturients and fiber and they also are the second best source of plant protein after soybeans. The thing that I like is that they cook up really fast, without soaking, so they are ready to go into the salad quickly. The salad can also be served at room temperature or warm, so it's perfect for the potluck at the soccer game or baseball game. No need to worry if it sits out on a hot summer day.

The best thing about this salad is that it tastes so good. I tried it before I added the bacon and it was yummy that way, too.

For mine, I used 1.5 cups of regular green lentils, and 1 cup of the tiny French green lentils. I added the French lentils to boil 15 minutes after I started the regular ones so that they wouldn't overcook. They added a slightly mineral taste. The salad would probably be fine if made completely with either kind of lentil. The other change I made was due to poor planning. I didn't have any red wine vinegar, so I substituted balsamic vinegar, white vinegar and lemon juice. The fresh herbs certainly give the salad a positive flavor, so try to use fresh instead of dried.

Lentil Salad

based on a recipe by Alton Brown

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
(the above three ingredients can be replaced with 1/2 cup red wine vinegar)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon salt (kosher salt if you have it)
1/2 teaspoon pepper (freshly ground is best)
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 recipe Basic Cooked Lentils (see recipe below)
2 strips bacon, cooked until crisp, cooled, and crumbled (or more, to taste)

Whisk the vinegars, lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, salt, pepper, parsley and thyme together in a large mixing bowl. Add the warm lentils and bacon and stir to combine. Serve warm or at room temperature. If you will be serving this much later, save the bacon in a zip-lock bag and add it 1/2 hour or so before serving. (That way the bacon stays crisp.)

Basic Cooked Lentils
1 pound brown or green lentils, approximately 2 1/2 cups
1 small onion, halved
1 large clove garlic, halved
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 pound salt pork, optional
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pick over the lentils, rinse and drain. Place the lentils along with the onion, garlic, bay leaf, salt and pork into a large 6-quart saucepan and cover with water by 2 to 3 inches. Place over high heat and bring just to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the lentils are tender, approximately 25 to 30 minutes. Drain any remaining liquid and discard the onion, garlic, bay leaf and salt pork. Stir in black pepper and taste for salt. Serve immediately or use in Lentil Salad.