Getting organized...

One of the plus sides to being relatively home bound during exam week is some time to get some long overdue projects finally taken care of while my boys are studying.  For example, my laundry room was starting to look like one of those rooms on "Hoarders", so I tackled that yesterday - what a great feeling to get the piles cleared out!

Today I've been going through my recipe folders to copy some to bring with me on our trip this summer.  We'll be visiting friends and family and I want to be able to contribute to the cooking!  There were a couple of really good recipes that I had to translate from Dutch to English and so I thought since I went to the effort of typing it out I would share one of my favorites here.  I've made this twice already and I really love it - the dressing is amazing and really makes the dish - I also served it to my friend Christine and she approved, so it's definitely a keeper!

Pasta Salad with Puy Lentils and Olives
(from Avalon restaurant in Gent)

For the salad:

½ pound whole wheat spirelli
¼ pound dry Puy lentils (or green or brown lentils)
2 T soy sauce
2 carrots, in julienne
6 green olives, sliced in rings
Fresh parsley or other herb for garnish

For the dressing:

3 T soy sauce
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 T roasted sesame oil
1 T olive oil
1 tsp agave
2 T coarsely chopped cilantro or parsley
½ t sea salt
Freshly ground pepper

Bring the lentils to a boil in a saucepan with 2x their volume in water and simmer for 20-25 minutes until they are tender and most of the water has been absorbed.  Add 2 T soy sauce to the pan and allow the lentils to sit and soak it up while you make the rest of the recipe.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Cook the pasta al dente, and in the last two minutes add the carrots.  Drain and rinse under cold water.

Whisk all the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl.

Mix the pasta, carrots, olives, lentils and dressing in a large bowl.  Chill for at least 30 minutes.  Garnish with herbs and enjoy!