Not Quite The Real Greek!

 

I adore Greek salad – the mix of tomatoes with Feta cheese, olives and herbs never fails to please me. Here’s a variation on this classic but to make it more of a main meal dish we’ve added some cooked lentils and topped

with some strips of lamb fillet.

We used canned lentils but you can cook your own or use a vacuum pack for speed and convenience. We’ve also used a ready-made fat-free vinaigrette sharpened with a little lemon juice but you can of course make your own with oil, lemon juice and seasoning. Just make sure that you don’t add too much salt to the dressing as the feta and olives will have a high value.

This is a one dish meal but you can serve with crusty bread for those with larger appetites, good bread tolerability or non-WLS eaters. It’s also amazing as a leftover dish for the following day – pack some into our bariatric bento box for a lunchtime treat.

 

GREEK STYLE LENTIL SALAD WITH LAMB FILLET

Ingredients

METRIC/US

2 X 240 g/8 oz cans lentils, drained

150 ml/2/3 cup fat-free French dressing or vinaigrette

juice of 2 lemons

200 g/7 oz feta cheese, crumbled or roughly chopped

250 g/8 oz cherry tomatoes, halved

1 small cucumber, deseeded and diced

½ red onion, finely sliced

12 pitted black/ripe olives

1 tbsp chopped fresh mint

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

600 g/1¼ lb lamb fillet

low-fat cooking spray or mist

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp chopped fresh mint

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

 

 

Method

1.  Place the lentils in a fine sieve and rinse with plenty of cold water, then leave to drain thoroughly.
2.  Mix the dressing with the lemon juice.
3.  Place the feta, tomatoes, cucumber, onion and olives in a large mixing bowl with the lentils. Mix, cover and ideally leave to rest in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.
4.  Preheat a non-stick saute pan over a high heat. Spritz the lamb with low-fat cooking spray or mist and place in the pan. Season, reduce the heat and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, reduce the heat further and continue to cook until done to your preference and the thickness of the fillet. Leave to rest for 2 minutes.
5.  Season the lentil mixture and add the mint and parsley then place on a serving plate. Cut the meat into strips and place on top of the salad mixture. Serve with bread if liked.

SERVES 6

WLS PORTION: ½

 

CALORIES PER PORTION: 276

PROTEIN: 35.8g

CARBOHYDRATE: 14.3g

FAT: 8.3g

 

Recipe adapted from and image courtesy of www.tastyeasylamb.co.uk