Carrie in the Kitchen is a new monthly column by our friend Carrie Havranek who runs The Dharma Kitchen. Each month, she’ll take on the challenge of creating a dish out of a few things left over in her pantry in an effort to show how to get creative in the kitchen.
The timing of this month’s challenge found me in a fortuitous position, with a pantry and fridge that was pretty well stocked. The folks at Culinary Exchange had their pick when it came to determining the four ingredients for this month’s assignment: carrots, kale, lentils and canned tuna. Somehow, right away, I knew what to do—I’d turn into a warm salad.
Last month’s inaugural installment Pumpkin and White Bean Pasta with Fried Sage Leaves came together fairly effortlessly—the main ingredients were pumpkin, penne, white beans and shallots. I was permitted, as now, to use other staples I had on hand. In my case, on hand also meant in the yard—hence, the sage. The ingredients just can’t be totally essential for the dish; you can omit it and it would still work. For example, I had celery left over in my fridge from the veggie tray for my boys’ birthday party, and they aren’t totally essential to this warm salad, but I was already 2/3 of the way to mirepoix, so why not use it?
The end result is a grain-based salad that you can use as a main or side dish and would be delicious served cold, or even at room temperature. You can play around with the herbs involved if you like. I settled on parsley, which typically pairs well with tuna and lemon; I wanted that bright zippy hit. While we’re at it, capers would work, too. See? This is the challenge, right?
If you want a more pronounced dressing, instead of just squeezing the lemon juice over the pot, use it in a quick vinaigrette with extra virgin olive oil (For a quick one, whisk 1/4 cup oil into 1-2 T of lemon juice until it comes together and emulsifies. Up the oil or add Dijon mustard or white wine vinegar if desired). For me, there was enough residual olive oil on the tuna to give the dish some flavor—just don’t rinse the tuna when you drain it.
- 1 cup green lentils, rinsed and sorted
- 3-4 cups water
- 2 T. unsalted butter
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 8 ounces of carrots, sliced into thin coins (approximately 1 ½ cups)
- ½ cup celery, chopped
- ½ tsp. dried thyme leaves
- 8 ounces (about 2 cups) of kale, shredded
- 1 can of tuna, preferably pole and troll caught, in extra virgin olive oil
- Juice of one lemon
- 1/3 cup chopped parsley
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Cook the lentils according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, melt the butter of medium heat in a deep sauté pan and add the onions, cooking until they start to become soft and translucent, about 5-7 minutes.
- Add the celery, carrots and thyme, and cook for another couple of minutes until the veggies are tender.
- Turn off the heat and add the kale, stirring until it gently wilts.
- Add the veggie mix to the pot of lentils, and stir to combine.
- Drain the tuna through a sieve and, using a fork, break up the tuna into smaller pieces—it doesn’t have to be as small as you might for tuna salad, but you don’t want huge chunks.
- Add the tuna to the pot of lentils and veggies, add the juice of one lemon and the chopped parsley, and stir to combine.
- Season with salt and pepper and taste, taste, taste.
That was very tasty! I added some chopped asparagus pieces! Will definitely make it again.