Warm Salmon and Lentil Salad
with walnuts / olives / lemon dill vinaigrette
Roasted salmon serves as a light but filling protein in this entree salad with lentils, olives and walnuts. Top it off with a fresh lemon dill vinaigrette.
Ingredients
- Walnuts - 1/2 cup, chopped and toasted
- Olives, pitted (green or black) - 1/4 cup, sliced
- Salmon - 1 lb
- Salad greens of choice - 5 oz
- Dill, fresh - 1/2 tsp, chopped
- Lemon juice - 1 Tbsp
- Oil, olive - 3 Tbsp
- Mustard, Dijon - 1 tsp
- Vinegar, red or white wine - 1 tsp
- Honey - 1 tsp
- Lentils, dried (use double the amount listed if using pre-cooked lentils) - 1 cup
- Water - 3 cups
- Salt - 1/2 tsp
- Bay leaf (opt) - 1
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Lentils - If using pre-cooked lentils, skip this step. If using dried lentils, rinse and combine with water, salt and bay leaf in a stock pot. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and simmer until lentils are tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Add additional water, if needed to keep lentils just barely covered while they cook. Discard bay leaf. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Walnuts - Toast walnuts in a dry pan or skillet, stirring frequently until fragrant, about 3 minutes. When cool enough to handle, roughly chop. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Make vinaigrette - Chop dill. Combine with lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, vinegar and honey. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
- Olives - Slice olives. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
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Make
- Heat oven to 425F / 218C. Line a sheet pan with foil and place salmon, skin-side down on top. Pat dry and season lightly with salt and pepper.
- Bake salmon until it flakes easily with a fork, 15 to 25 minutes, depending on thickness of the salmon and your desired doneness (1 ½” / 3.75cm thick salmon takes about 20 minutes).
- When salmon is cooked, slice or shred with a fork into bite-sized pieces.
- Assemble salad by combining salad greens with salmon, olives, lentils and walnuts. Top with vinaigrette and enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
43 reviews
Maybe the best salad I’ve ever eaten, and I’m not even a vegetarian! The goat cheese cooked like this made the dish. I will definitely make this again and again!
0 HelpfulLove it! I couldn't find dill in my local store so I substituted tarragon from my garden. Dressing turned out very tasty!
0 HelpfulJust came back to this one as I happened to have all the ingredients on hand (except only had dried dill). It was easy and delicious. Doubled the dressing and loved the toasted crunch of the pecans we used instead of walnuts. On the favorites list!
0 HelpfulLoved it. Did what was suggested by others and doubled the vinaigrette as a marinade. Everything turned out really well and relatively quick and easy. Look forward to next time.
0 HelpfulWe loved this. I used smoked salmon and subbed crumbled feta for the olives (personal preferences). Will definitely make it again.
0 HelpfulThe olives are good to add a little more flavor to the lentils. The walnuts maybe didn't work so well in this salad but were fine.
0 Helpful