Let’s have a warm salad experience: Baby Arugula with Lentils, Millet and Strawberries (+Balsamic-Mustard Vinaigrette)

  
I love fruit and I am crazy about berries. Especially strawberries. There is no other berry that makes my heart jump with more delight than strawberries do.
This strawberry love is deeply engrained in me since my childhood when we lived at the other end of the city, only one step away from strawberry fields. Every June my Mum and I would grab a few Tupperware containers and walk to the nearby fields to fill them with red berry goodness. We always went home delighted and with bellies full. Taste-testing, you know.
Although I am now in my twenties, I still go to the same old fields I went to when I was a child.
I go there every year, and  it seems as if nothing has changed. The same fields, the same faces that sell their family’s fresh produce. Picking strawberries my kind of relaxation, my way of remembering those happy childhood days. It’s something I will always remember and keep locked in my heart even when one day, I’ll live somewhere else.
But let’s get back to the food. Strawberries make me kind of soppy, I guess ;).
Normally I have my strawberries plain, with some yoghurt or ice cream. Cake is also great but sometimes my cravings call for something hearty.
So, yesterday I made a salad, using baby arugula. To make it a filling meal, I added lentils and millet to go with it, and I really liked the mix of warm and cold in this dish.
The balsamic-mustard vinaigrette is my go-to recipe when it comes to arugula, and I think it also went very well with the sweetness of the strawberries.
This salad is like the main and the dessert all in one dish. The best of two worlds.
Enjoy!

                        

Let’s have a warm salad experience: Baby Arugula with Lentils, Millet and Strawberries (+Balsamic-Mustard Vinaigrette)

Dressing:
(makes enough for 3-4 people)

1 heaping tsp sweet mustard
1 tsp yellow mustard
1 Tbsp agave syrupe
2 Tbsp dark balsamic vinegar
3 Tbsp light balsamic vinegar
1 /4 cup (60ml) olive oil
½ tsp salt
Pepper to taste

For the salad:

1 cup (200g) brown lentils + 3 cups (750ml) salt water
1 cup millet (225g) + 2 cups (500ml) salt water

Per person you’ll need:
1 large handful (approx. 65g) baby arugula
250g strawberries, halved or quartered


Add all ingredients for the vinaigrette into a wide bowl and whiks with a wire whisk until emulsified. Set aside.

                   
Cook lentils in salt water for about 25-30 minutes on low until tender but not mushy. Drain and set aside.
Cook millet after packaging directions, approx. 10 minutes and let sit covered for additional 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

To arrange the salad, add a few tablespoons of cooked lentils on a plate. Then add arugula to a bowl and add desired amount of vinaigrette. 

    


Now comes the fun part: Use your hands and massage the salad slightly to cover everything evenly with dressing.

                             

 Add onto the lentils. Top with millet and chopped strawberries . 

 
Add more salad and vinaigrette. Serve.