Recipe: Mardi Gras Confetti Salad

Recipe

Mardi Gras Confetti Salad

Pastel orange lentils, sunny yellow corn, crisp red onion and verdant sweet peppers create a festival of colors, tastes and textures. This dish sings out with the spirit of a New Orleans Mardi Gras, so crank up the Dixieland and crank out the salad! As they say in New Orleans, we're cooking with jazz!

Ingredients

mardi gras

2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup orange lentils
1/2 cup walnut oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
2 teaspoons Maille or Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons corn oil
2 shallots, minced
1 cup fresh (or frozen) corn kernels
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

Bring the broth to a boil in a small saucepan. Simmer the lentils in the chicken broth for 12 minutes or until tender but still with a bit of bite to them. Drain the lentils.

While the lentils are cooking, whisk together the walnut oil, vinegar, rosemary, mustard, horseradish, sugar, salt, cayenne and black pepper. Set aside. (Whisk ingredients together again to blend before each use.)

While the lentils are still warm, place them in a mixing bowl. Stir in half of the dressing. Set aside.

In a small skillet, heat the corn oil over high heat. Add the shallots and corn and cook until the corn is tender and browned on the edges. Stir the warm corn mixture into the lentils.

Stir in the remaining ingredients. Add the remaining dressing to taste—you may not need all of it. Let the mixture sit 5 minutes before serving for the flavors to blend.

This Month's Global Gourmet Recipes Recipes:

Mardi Gras Confetti Salad
Rice-Paper Chorizo Taquitos
Spring Rolls & Dipping Sauces

This Archived Page created between 1994 and 2001. Modified August 2007

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