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It’s been raining pretty persistently here. We’ve been stuck indoors and I’ve been dreaming of summer (whilst shivering in winter woolens). The best way to escape when you don’t have the time or the cash to escape? Through your taste buds, of course! An early spring picnic on the floor of the dining room… good hearty food, lots of vegetables, drinks with fruit in them… can’t you smell spring? It’s coming!!
Warm Quinoa Salad
Ingredients:
For the saald:
1 eggplant
1 – 2 zucchini
1 yellow capsicum
2 handfulls of mini roma or grape tomatoes
2 large handfulls of fresh herbs (Mint and corriander pair particularaly nicely with this dish)
2 cups of cooked Quinoa
Mixed leaves to serve (mesculin mix works well)
For the dressing:
1 cup of natural greek yoghurt (homemade is best)
Juice of half a lemon
2 tsp cumin
Fresh mint leaves
dash of water
Method:
For the dressing: Mix yoghurt, lemon juice and cumin together in a bowl. Add water as necessary until the mix is a good pouring consistency. If you use Kefir it is an excellent substitute for the yoghurt and water and gives the whole dish an extra health and flavour kick! You could easily pump up the flavour by adding some roasted garlic or chilli to the dressing… particularly if you aren’t feeding little people!
For the salad: Slice all large vegetables and then pan grill them until cooked but not too soft. Transfer vegetables to a baking tray in a warm oven and keep covered to maintain their warmth. Grill mini tomatoes whole to keep in their juice. Once all vegetables are warm and in the tray add hot cooked quinoa and stir through fresh herbs and green leaves. Serve immediately with lots and lots of dressing.
This salad is healthy, really quick to make and full of fresh flavours. It makes an excellent lunch or as a side for dinner (at a table or on the floor). I love yoghurt dressings and I love that I can swap whatever veggies I have in my fridge as just about any combination works really well. It is easy to turn this side into more of a meal by adding some more protein or more filling vegetables like pumpkin and sweet potato. The combinations are endless and delicious!!
Eat local and in season as much as possible. Enjoy!
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This post was brought to you by Target Australia. Target gifted to me some of the beautiful homewares products that you see featured this post. Geo placemats, Jamie Oliver Pizza board, Jamie Oliver Terracotta server and the RACO grill pan.
You can purchase all of the products in store now.
