Makin' it Monday - a simple little salad

Even though the weather is a little cooler (and it's bucketing down with rain!) I just felt like concocting a salad, with some warm bits....

I already had cooked some beetroot - I boiled mine but it's also yummy if you roast it.

I cooked some of those little blueish Puy Lentils, they don't need any soaking and only take 20 - 25 minutes to cook.
Just place 1 cup of lentils in a saucepan with 3 cups of water, partially cover the saucepan when the water comes to the boil. Drain off any excess water.
Mix the lentils with a couple of chopped tiny roma tomatoes, or about a half a big tomato, and a 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion. Mix in 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar (or brown balsamic, or cider vinegar) and 2 tablespoons virgin olive oil, plus a couple of tablespoons of fresh herbs (I used oregano and coriander, but you could use parsley, basil, mint or whatever you have) and a bit of ground black pepper.

I  grilled a yellow capsicum until the skin blackened slightly, wrapped it in the foil it was resting on under the grill for a few minutes - this helps you to peel the skin off. Thinly slice the capsicum. (You could use a red or green capsicum if you don't happen to have a yellow one)

This would have been lovely with some blanched asparagus - but sadly there was no asparagus in my fridge, so I blanched some broccolini instead.

I put some baby spinach leaves on the plate, followed by the lentils and some crumbled feta, topped with the capsicum. Garnished with the beetroot and broccolini on the side.
You could eat it like this, but I love salad dressings, so I mixed a quick dressing of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and whole grain mustard and drizzled that over the top.

So colourful! And so yummy!