Maple Tossed Rhubarb & Puy Salad

So sorry for the silence. We are bam in the middle of photographing our book. Fridge is crammed with vegetables. There are seeds, nuts and buckwheat flour all over our kitchen floor (and our living room floor … and hallway … and even some in our bed). Props are piled high in wood crates in our hallway (since we insist on the stupid idea to have our photo shoots on several different locations). Recipes are jotted down on phones, backside of receipts and in Elsa’s color books… It’s such exciting times, as food has completely taken over our lives. We think, breath and talk recipes and photos.

But this project is not only singing and dancing, it is also waaaaaaay more difficult than we imagined. Here on the blog we can share the feeling of each recipe by showing you six or seven images of it. In the book we need to fit that feeling into one frame. We have also been having many late night conversations about finding our own voice in the texts and photos. We have flipped through so many gorgeous cookbooks and saved a ton of beautiful photos on our desk. Being inspired by that is very easy, but seeing through it and finding our own style is much more difficult. So we  are trying to boil down our thoughts and feelings into a style that will be consistent enough for a book. We are crossing our fingers that it will come out exactly as wonderful as we want it to be.

Here are a few Instagram shots from these past two weeks.

We have practically lived on cookbook leftovers for the past couple of weeks, so there haven’t been much to show here on the blog. But since we had the day off today we could finally throw something together. This salad is a celebration of all the wonderful fruit and vegetables that are in season at the moment. We diced raw rhubarb thinly and tossed it with strawberries, asparagus, pearl tomatoes, basil, feta cheese and puy lentils. We used a maple based dressing, which works wonderfully together with the tartness from the rhubarbs. This recipe is almost too simple to blog about. But if you are like us and want to spend less time in the kitchen and more time outside during the summers, you probably agree that simple summer recipes rock!

Maple Tossed Puy Lentils, Strawberry, Asparagus & Rhubarb Salad
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 cup/2 1/2 dl puy lentils

2 fresh thin rhubarb stalks, thinly sliced
1 small box strawberries, sliced
1 small box of pearl tomatoes, halved
10 stalks asparagus, chopped into 1 inch (2,5 cm) pieces
15 fresh basil leaves
150 g feta cheese

Dressing
3 tablespoon maple syrup
3 tablespoon olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
sea salt and black pepper, seasoning

Cooking lentils: Rinse the lentils under running water and cook in 2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Let it boil 2-3 minutes before reducing the heat to medium. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until tender. When done, add a pinch of salt and set aside to cool. We add the salt at the end, otherwise it will toughen them during cooking.

Making the salad: Prepare all salad ingredients (except feta cheese) and place in a large bowl. Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing, add to the salad and toss with your hands. Top with feta cheese and a couple of basil leaves.
Serve with a piece of sourdough bread or as a side dish on the barbecue table.

Ps. Last week we also updated our app with 6 new recipes. It now has 60 recipes and is available for both iPhone and iPad. If you haven’t downloaded it already you can check it out here.

38 Comments

  • Looks absolutely fabulous! It goes on both my blog and my "to-make list" instantly together with the Strawberry Peanut Butter Milkshake. With all credits to you off course!
  • If the book is as beautiful as your Blog...it will be a major hit !! Best wishes from Switzerland.
  • Wow, what a beautiful blog and the salad looks amazing. Cant wait to try it. Have a look t my new blog if you like, www.leasgreenseasons.blogspot.com :) All the best, Lea
  • Sini
    Wow! Raw, thinly sliced rhubarb? I absolutely love and adore rhubarb but have never thought of serving it raw. How come? Well this salad sounds like the perfect summer lunch. I also like the idea of a maple dressing. I really can't wait to see the result of your hard work. The publication day of your cookbook will be a great one.
  • Dittekind
    My god! This was one of the tastiest sallads I ever tasted! Thank you GKT so much, for all your nice and happy tasty recepies, I get SO insprirated by your website, evryone I know I send a link! Just SO wonderful, Love it all!
  • Hi GKS, Congrats on working on your new cookbook I'm sure it will be amazing! I'm a holistic chef and just finishing up my last edits for my first cookbook and I can relate to everything you just said. It has been a fantastic journey and I can't wait to see the final copy of my book and yours as well. I look forward to trying this recipe it looks fabulous!
  • Hello! I'm wondering where in Stockholm I can find medjool dates? I don't seem to look at the right places and I'm really looking forward making your hemp protein bars...
    • Hi Hedda, we always go to Hötorgshallen in Stockholm to buy dates, nuts and seeds. Look for 'Pieras Livs'. They also have the hemp that you need for the bars. Good luck! /David
  • melanie
    love, love, love... Everything! Thank you for such lovely inspiration!
  • Amazing salad, and I love hearing about how your cookbook is coming along...I know it's going to be great!
  • I love the idea of adding raw rhubarb to a salad. I am so glad that rhubarb has been reinvented in so many creative ways these days (way beyond pie). Can't wait to see the cookbook! Already the pieces look stunning.
  • I've been getting more curious about rhubarb lately... I'm thinking this salad would be a perfect way to work it into a meal! Good luck on all the cookbook craziness! I can't wait to see the finished product. :)
  • Wonderful and so fresh, really I love it !! Isabelle.
  • Wow, what a great way to use rhubarb, thanks! I always wonder what else I can do with it besides a pie!
  • belen
    hej! i love your blog, its so inspiring!
  • What a gorgeous and inventive salad! Definitely got to try it. Love reading all the stuff about your book too, even as a red-blooded meat eater :)
  • Just stumbled across your website via Zite. Seriously, guys some of the most exciting recipes I've come across. Can't wait to try them. Congratulations! Sadly, I Can't seem to make the link to your iPad app work.
    • Hi Lauren, thanks for your kind note. The link seems to work when we try, strange?! However, you can also find it by clicking here! /David
  • Wow, your photography is absolutely amazing!! and that salad looks delicious! thanks for the great recipe!
  • What an interesting combination of ingredients! I've never thought to combine strawberries and rhubarb with lentils, but I can see how the bright, tart, fruity flavor would be good with the earthy legumes in a salad.
  • Lovely pictures as always! The salad looks delicious! Can't wait for the book.
  • Gorgeous salad! I have some rhubarb that I have to use and it would be perfect in your salad!
  • Congrats on your book. SOunds like an exciting theme to have for a book. The Salad looks fresh and so inviting. Lovely photos!
  • Seeing how you set up your shots on the tripod out in the garden is really interesting. Good luck with the project and enjoy every minute.
  • This sounds like an intense process but I cannot wait for the final result, and this salad though simple I am glad you posted it because it is too beautiful, and I didn't know you can eat rhubarb raw! So trying it this weekend!
  • hmmmm... I love your blog. - and the photos are amazing, - like always!
  • GOOOOOD grief, you guys. That's THUH prettiest salad ever in the world.
  • emily
    I will be making this recipe for our barbecue on Sunday. I am certain it will be a smash hit! It looks so amazing! Love the thin slices of rhubarb. Good luck with the rest of your book. Oh how I look forward to ordering it! I am sure it will look mind blowingly beautiful!
  • More rhubarb, yes! That salad looks way too good. I haven't even thought using rhubarb this way, so thanks for the inspiration. I can only imagine how much work it is to make a book like that. The Instagram shots look great, so I'm guessing the book will look pretty awesome as well. Wishing all the good with the project!
  • I can only imagine how time (and energy) consuming a project of that magnitude must be! But also inspiring. It's so exciting to be compiling treasures for print! I personally can't wait to see the finished product. Love the romantic photos.
  • lisah
    What is that delicious-looking cake? ...the salad looks good too ;)

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