Greek lentil salad with roasted beetroot & sour goat cheese

What a perfect way to celebrate fall than with a salad?

Greek lentil salad with roasted beetroot makes an awesome healthy lunch on its own…

This Greek lentil salad with roasted beetroot will definitely win you over.
You’ll be surprised to see how well sweet roasted beetroots, sour goat cheese and lentils go
together.
Our inspiration for this salad came from one of our favorite taverns in the center of Athens.
They serve a similar Mediterranean lentil salad with beetroot which we absolutely love!
In this recipe, we used Beluga lentils.
They owe their name to their glorious appearance, as they really look like the famous Beluga
caviar.

Beluga lentils are smaller than regular lentils and are pitch black, rather than brown.
They are suitable for salads, as they keep their shape extremely well and don’t become
mushy when boiled.
When cooking Beluga lentils, it’s important to let them simmer on medium heat.
This will prevent the lentils from splitting.
Also, you need to let them cool down and drain really well, before mixing them with the rest
of the ingredients.
Beetroot lentil salad should be served cold or at room temperature.

…you can substitute spicy soft feta cheese for sour goat cheese

We choose to roast our beetroots in the oven rather than boil them.
If you’ve never had them this way, you’ll be impressed with how the earthy and sweet flavor
of the beetroot comes out.
The secret is to wrap them in tin foil and sprinkle with coarse salt.
Beetroots should have cooled down to room temperature, before mixing them in the salad.
A tip to remember, is to peel back the skins while the beetroots are still warm.
This will allow the beetroot skin to peel back smoothly, without any difficulty.
While you let the beetroot quarters cool, mix in the thinly sliced onion.
This will give your onion a beautiful red-purple colour and a lovely sweet flavor.

Sour goat cheese is a white soft cheese, with a subtle tangy flavor.
It goes wonderfully well with fruits and sweet root vegetables like beetroot.
If you can’t find it where you live, spicy crumbled feta cheese will also work really well!
When all the ingredients have cooled down, you’re ready to combine them!
Simply toss everything together and sprinkle with fresh parsley and balsamic vinegar.
This beetroot and lentil salad, keeps great in the fridge, for a couple of days.
I would advise to keep the goat cheese separately and mix it in the lentil salad whenever you’re ready to serve!
Have a lovely fall everyone!

Beluga lentils are known as “the poor man’s caviar”…