- 1 cup whole grain wheat berries
- 1 cup brown lentils
- 1 lb brown or white mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
- 1 small red onion, cut into thin 1-inch pieces
- 1 of each bell peppers: red, green and orange, stemmed, seeded and cut into thin 1-inch slices
- 2 1-lb packages fresh spinach
- 1 lemon
- 4 Tb olive oil, divided
- Salt and pepper
Warm Wheat & Lentil Salad
(Serves 6-8)
For the dressing:
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 Tb dried oregano
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- Salt and pepper
To prepare the wheat berries:
Bring 8 cups of water to a boil and add the rinsed wheat to the pot. Bring back to a boil, reduce the heat to a high simmer and cook until the wheat is tender but still a bit al dente, about an hour. Your wheat may take less or more time depending on how old it is, how dry it is, etc. So start testing it around the 45 minute mark to find the doneness that you prefer. About five minutes before you plan to take it off the heat, throw in a pinch of salt and stir. Once the wheat is cooked, drain it.
To prepare the lentils:
Bring 4 cups of water to a boil and add the lentils. Cook until tender, about 15-20 minutes. Test your lentils around the 12-minute mark; generally I find that lentils cook in just under 20 minutes but the lentils I used for this recipe were really fresh and they cooked perfectly in only 13 minutes. Drain well.
While the lentils and wheat cook, in a small bowl whisk together all of the salad dressing ingredients to emulsify and set aside.
In a large skillet, sauté the mushrooms over medium high heat in 2 Tb of the olive oil, stirring frequently, until they are golden and slightly crisp, about 15 minutes. Add the lemon juice and some salt and pepper. Toss well and cook for a few more minutes. Remove from heat put them into a large mixing bowl.
In the same skillet, sauté the red onion in the remaining 2 Tb of olive oil until tender and translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the bell peppers and continue to sauté until they are just crisp-tender, about eight more minutes. For both the onions and the peppers, it’s helpful to periodically add a couple of tablespoons of water while you are sautéing as it lightly steams the vegetables and keeps a nice level of crispness to them. Add some salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat. Add them to the mixing bowl.
Sauté the spinach in the same skillet until it wilts. Press out any excess moisture and add it to the mixing bowl.
Add the lentils and the wheat to the other ingredients in the bowl, add the salad dressing and toss everything well to blend.
I like to serve this salad warm but it is also excellent served cold.
