Warm Lentil Salad

If you enjoy vegetarian food, or partake in Meat Free Mondays, this dish could be for you! Lentils are great alternative to meat, and are really good for you. They help bulk up a meal, and add great flavour to a dish. We often use lentils in our curries, but they're normally of the red kind. However, recently we've started cooking brown lentils more and I've found a number of inspiring recipes on Pinterest.

This particular recipe could easily be made vegan too, without the addition of feta. In fact, the recipe that I originally looked at didn't include the feta. I just love cheese and thought it might go well together, which it luckily did!

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 1 cup lentils
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 5 carrots, chopped
• 1 head cauliflower, chopped
• Handful of feta cubes (remove if vegan)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoon olive oil
• Handful of parsley, finely chopped

Method:

1. Combine lentils, 1 crushed garlic clove and 2.75 cups water in a sauce pan over high heat. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 25 minutes until lentils are soft. Drain lentils to remove any sludge.
2. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Peel carrots and chop into small chunks and place on one side of a roasting dish. Cut cauliflower into small florets and place on the other side of the roasting dish. 3. Sprinkle carrots and cauliflower with cumin, salt, pepper, and 3 tablespoons olive oil. Toss to combine. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and fork tender.
3. Combine the carrots and cauliflower with the lentils, and stir through the feta. It will slightly melt with the heat from the vegetables - so good!
4. In a pyrex jug whisk together the red wine vinegar, 1 crushed garlic clove, salt, pepper, and the majority of the parsley. Pour over the lentil salad and serve warm. Garnish with the rest of the parsley.