This week’s recipe is like a harbinger of summer, belying the cool, damp weather we’ve been having in Vancouver. Its salty, lemony-ness makes me think it would be just the thing to bring to a seaside picnic, provided shellfish was also on the menu.

The recipe calls for lentilles du Puy, but I was nearly out of those, so I used some organic black lentils I had on hand. I also used a tapenade based on Moosewood’s Olivada recipe.

My only other variation was an attempt to approximate the preserved lemons I needed for the recipe. I used this recipe, which creates a pretty reasonable substitute in half an hour or so. I used a whole lemon in the salad, but next time I’d reduce it by about half. The diced preserved lemon is added to the lentils along with tuna and chopped scallions, then dressed with a vinaigrette featuring mustard, the tapenade, and red wine vinegar.

Dorie suggests serving this garnished with a tomato and red pepper salad dressed with olive oil and cumin, but I omitted the second dressing and served it with a mixture of chopped tomatoes, red pepper and scallions. I liked the freshness of the vegetables against the salty complexity of the lentil salad.

It’s not quite time for picnics of any variety quite yet, but I’m keeping this salad in mind for sunnier days to come.

You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Lentil, Lemon, and Tuna Salad