Turnip and lentil salad

Turnips, the unsung heroes of the root vegetable family, the less appreciated vegetable. However this hasn't always been the case, already Pliny the Elder (c. AD 23 – AD 79) considered the turnip as one of the most important vegetables of his day, rating it "directly after cereals or at all events after the bean, since its utility surpasses that of any other plant". Very high praise for the turnip there.

Like Pliny the Elder, I love turnips, they are so nice fresh for example with a dip like hummus. They also made a great addition to this vegan salad, where I combined them with carrot, pistachios, mixed leaves, warm lentils and an onion dressing. I decided to add them as thin shavings to the salad. This was a very nice salad in the end and I'm happy to eat the rest of it at work tomorrow.

I'll share this recipe with Vegetable Palette, a vegetarian cooking challenge hosted by Shaheen from A2K - A Seasonal Veg Table and am excited to see whether anyone else has chosen the humble turnip as their white vegetable. 

 

I'm entering this salad also to this month's No Croutons Required, a vegetarian soup and salad cooking challenge hosted this month by Lisa from Lisa's Kitchen and co-hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes.  

Here's the recipe for my turnip and lentil salad.

Ingredients

60 g mixed salad leaves

3 turnips

1 carrot

½ cup puy lentils

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

Handful of pistachios

Dressing:

¼ onion

4 tbsp olive oil

4 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 tsp black treacle

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp thyme

Method

Chop the quarter onion very finely and mix it with the rest of the dressing ingredients.

Cook the lentils in water with some added vegetable stock powder.

Toast the pistachios in the oven a little.

Make thin shavings from the peeled turnips and carrot. For example a peeling knife is perfectly fine for making these shavings.

Serve the components together and sprinkle the dressing on the top.

Your VegHog