cherry and caviar lentil salad with sherry dressing

Joel did the groceries at the markets this past weekend.

It’s the first time since we’ve been married that he has done groceries on his own (over 4 years).

The reason being, that he wanted for us to have a whole day out together without having to worry about getting to the markets in time for groceries.

To be able to spend the day out, just us, as a bit of a belated birthday day for me.

He set the alarm for Sunday morning and got up super early. I know how he does not like getting up early, especially on a weekend! It means so much that he would do that for me - aw!

We went out for brunch and spent the day in each other’s company enjoying the sun. It was so lovely – but of course, time went too quickly.

Anyways, he went off to do the shop while I got to sleep in and praise be to him, he did well.

When he came back, I unpacked the groceries spying a bunch of fresh cherries. Trying not to think about food miles, I knew they were going to be part of a dinner this week.

Digging to the back of my pantry (a bookshelf cupboard), I pulled out a bag of caviar lentils - they are a favourite of ours.

Delightful little pops, they don’t require a massive amount of cooking time but can add a bit of class to the old brown lentil.

Mixed with a few other ingredients and topped with a sherry dressing, oh boy did this salad go down well.

Ingredients

(serves 4)

1 c caviar beluga lentils, soaked for 12 hours

¼ c pine nuts

1 c roughly chopped parsley

15 (or more) fresh cherries, deseeded and roughly chopped

5 shallots, finely sliced

1 lebanese cucumber, diced
2 celery stems, diced

Dressing

2 tblsp dry sherry

2 tblsp quality olive oil

pinch or two of Murray River salt flakes

Place lentils in a heavy based saucepan, cover with water and bring the boil.

Simmer for 15 minutes, drain and rinse with cold water to cool it down – set aside

Next, heat a heavy based saucepan and add pinenuts.

Toss constantly to ensure even toasting – once toasted remove from heat to cool and set aside.

Combine parsley, cherries, shallots and cucumber in a large bowl.

Toss through pinenuts and lentils.

For the dressing, whisk sherry, oil and salt together and pour over lentil salad.
Serve x.