A Superfood Salad (aka the Second Best Salad Ever)

This wasn't supposed to be a blog post.
This was just another salad thrown together.
But booooy was it tasty... I can't keep it to myself.

As a result - I don't have photos of the stages, just the finished product and that was hard enough to get because it was wolfed down in about 2 minutes.

1. Boil your kettle
2. Peel a garlic clove
3. Rinse quinoa
4. Crush garlic into pan, add boiling water and then quinoa (cook for 15 mins)
5. Chop a red onion (watch this for expert tips but miss the last step so that your onion slices are long and thin)
6. Put the onion in a frying pan on medium heat with a good glug of olive oil, a sprinkling of sugar, a few dashes of red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar, and some rosemary if you have it

(I just grabbed some on my way in..... helloooo my darling rosemary bush)

While that's cooking away you can get on with your vinaigrette and veg prep.

7. For a really simple vinaigrette, put a generous teaspoon of french mustard in a mug, add the juice of a third of a lemon, about 3 tablespoons of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and mustard and whisk together with your teaspoon. Taste and add whatever you think is missing!

I put my salad leaves on a chopping board to make it more exciting and built it all up from there

8. Lettuce, baby leaves, rocket... whatever takes your fancy
9. Then layer on the garlicy quinoa, the caramelised onions, a chopped avocado, some pomegranate seeds (spot the heart shaped seed!!), the goats cheese
14. And finally, drizzle over your vinaigrette and some balsamic glaze

Serve with pitta breads, some beetroot and plenty of water :)

SERVES 2-3

Ingredients

Quinoa

• 1 garlic clove
• 3/4 cup quinoa
• 1.5 cup water 

(we used an actual cup..... I like to call it guestimating but the rule is ratio 1:2 - quinoa:water)

Caramelised onions

• 1 red onion
• 1 glug of olive oil
• 2 big pinches of sugar
• 3 glugs of balsamic vinegar
• 2 glugs of red wine vinegar  

Vinaigrette

• 1 teaspoon french mustard
• 1/3 lemon, juice
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Ensalada

• 1 romaine lettuce, 1 bag of babyleaf & rocket
• 1 avocado
• 1 pomegranate
• 100g soft goat's cheese

There are so many layers of taste and texture - the crunch of the lettuce & the creamy goat's cheese, the sweetness of the onions & the sharpness of the pomegranate seeds. SO BLOODY GOOD.


for Jess & Coral