French Lentil Salad Recipe with Baby Potatoes | Healthy (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between lentils and French lentils? ›

Puy lentils, or lentilles du Puy, are French lentils that have been grown in the Puy region of central France. The variety is the same, but since they are grown in this distinct place (which has volcanic soil) the taste is slightly different — it's even more peppery and flinty.

Lentils to do not require soaking like other pulses. Rinse your lentils with fresh water before boiling to remove any dust or debris. Cook on a stovetop, using 3 cups of liquid (water, stock, etc) to 1 cup of dry lentils.

Potatoes can retain moisture. To prevent this, drain the potatoes very well in a colander or pot. Allow all the steam to escape the potatoes before mixing them with the dressing and other ingredients. Steaming the potatoes instead of boiling them is a good way to ensure that excess moisture isn't trapped inside.

To keep your salad from falling apart into mush, it's important to use the best potatoes for potato salad. Skip the russet potatoes and use a waxy variety instead, like Yukon gold, red potatoes or fingerlings. Learn more about which types of potatoes you should use for different recipes.

Black Lentils (Beluga lentils)

Thanks to the robust flavor, these lentils pair well with meaty veggies and marinated proteins like mushrooms, tofu, and seitan. Best of all, black lentils are the most nutritious variety of lentils, boasting the highest amount of protein, plus high levels of calcium, potassium, and iron.

French lentils can also be subbed in for green or brown lentils, just keep an eye on the cooking time as they take longer to become soft.

Woodsy herbs like sage, rosemary, and thyme are natural partners to the lentil's earthy flavor, so any of them (or any combination of them) can go into the pot, too.

Is Soaking Beans Necessary? Don't worry about soaking lentils, split peas, or black-eyed peas (or cowpeas). Lentils and peas are softer than dried beans. They'll cook within 5 to 20 minutes without any soaking time.

It's highly recommended that you rinse and sort lentils before cooking them. Because of their small size, plus how they are grown and harvested, they are particularly prone to having bits of grit and chaff clinging to them.

Rinsing potatoes helps remove excess starch, so it is recommended to rinse the potatoes before cooking. To ensure even more starch is out of the way, it's recommended that they even be quickly rinsed after boiling. We recommend using hot water for rinsing after boiling and cold water prior to boiling.

Why don't you peel potatoes for potato salad? ›

There's no reason at all, so my advice is to leave the skins on. The skin on a potato adds a nice texture and flavor to the potato salad and it's also the healthiest part.

Undercooking or Overcooking The Potatoes

Don't let them cook long enough, and you'll be left with firm, crunchy potatoes — not a texture potatoes should ever take on in this dish. Cook them too long, and you'll have mushy potatoes. → Follow this tip: The potatoes should be cooked so they're soft, tender, and creamy.

Waxy potatoes are generally considered the best for classic potato salad because they retain their shape, you don't have to peel them, and they have a smooth texture. People who prefer a creamy potato salad that soaks up dressing like a sponge, though, opt for a starchy potato.

If you want your potato salad to be a little thicker, starchier, then don't rinse the starch away, but spread the potatoes out on a baking sheet to cool and make sure you drain them out of the boiling water just before you think they are perfect.

There are four main categories of lentils: brown, green, red/yellow, and specialty. Brown lentils are the most common variety – any bag in the grocery store that says “lentils” without any other descriptor is most likely full of brown lentils.

French Green Lentils are an excellent source of Iron, providing 40% of your recommended daily allowance. Iron is used to make blood and to move oxygen around your body, giving you energy.

While both are legumes, split peas and lentils come from different varieties of legumes. Split peas are a type of field pea, which is a pea grown specifically for drying, while lentils are their own type of legume, harvested as the seed of the plant and dried.