recipe: french lentil and roast butternut squash salad

I've never really liked anything sweet first thing in the morning. Even fresh fruit has to be preceded by a piece of plain dry toast or something, and my favorite breakfast is just homey Korean fare: a bowl of fresh white rice, some kind of clear savory soup, an assortment of banchan, maybe a piece of fish or a fried egg with sesame oil and soy sauce.

As such, when I work at the yogurt shop on Sunday mornings I never really eat anything until I get home in the afternoon. I'll nibble some toasted nuts and maybe sneak a sample cup of the greek yogurt or something, but for the last year or so Sunday breakfast has always been at three in the afternoon, once I get home from work.

I made this lentil salad last night and put it in the fridge to snack on throughout the coming week, but Camden and I polished off two thirds of it already.

Ingredients:

1 small butternut squash
1 medium yellow onion
4 cloves of garlic
2 - 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely minced and set aside; reserve the parsely stems
juice and zest of 1/2 a lemon
1 1/4 cups de Puy lentils, rinsed and picked over
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Peel and cut the butternut into 1" cubes, then halve the onion and cut into large-ish wedges. Coat everything with the olive oil, salt to taste, and roast with two cloves of oiled garlic until everything is tender, about thirty minutes.

While that's roasting, put the rest of the onion, garlic, and reserved parsley stems in a pot of water and bring it to a lively simmer. After it's simmer for ten minutes fish out all the vegetable matter and salt the broth, then add the lentils and cook until done.

Toss the roasted vegetables and the lentils together in a large bowl with the lemon juice and zest, as well as more salt and pepper if needed.

Eat warm or cold.