"Mediterranean flavors are at the core of this recipe. A combination of pasta and lentils with kalamata olives, feta cheese, red onion, and fresh herbs."
Say no more. I don't know how I stumbled on this one at allrecipes.com, but that description was right up my alley. I made this first for a potluck party, and I absolutely loved it.
Being cheap and lazy, I think little of using dry herbs, but since I don't have dried mint (does it exist?), I begrudgingly picked up some fresh dill with the fresh mint. And oh my, what a difference. The fresh dill really makes this one. In fact, the mint flavor isn't strong at all; I'll have to try more next time.
A few personal tweaks. The recipe says to chop the olives...ever tried to chop squishy kalamata olives? I painstakingly sliced them into tiny pieces, for no reason, as it turns out. Half-olives work better anyway, to get a nice blast of olive flavor in bites, and more of them than the recipe calls for. I also cut down the amount of red onions, as they can be overpowering. I found the lentils needed more water and more time than the recipe calls for, but adherence to that detail isn't essential; any cooked soft lentils will do.
This salad is filled with flavors I love, and keeps for quite a while as well. It's one ingredient (feta cheese) away from being vegan, and one ingredient (orzo) away from being diabetic-friendly, though a half the amount of whole-wheat orzo might be acceptable. There were some good suggestions in the Comments that I haven't tried yet: cucumbers instead of olives, couscous instead of orzo. Mmm.
As usual, I'm the only one in my family who will even consider eating a bite of this (well, my younger son might), so this one lies in wait for welcoming guests. Or the next time I can't bear to throw away some fresh dill.
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