This is one of the quickest and easiest mmmmeals to make, and makes a perfect weekend lunch, especially during the summer.
The anchors of this dish are the humble chick pea, olive oil and lemon juice. After that, you can add juggle ingredients according to whatever you have in the fridge, whatever your dietary requirements might be, or simply what you love. BUT you need good quality and fresh ingredients. A rubbish, flavor-free tomato is a sad and pointless thing.
The lovely thing about this is that the chick pea is such a subtle base that you can experiment with adding stronger flavours, so be brave.
What to use – serves one fairly greedy individual (i.e. me)
Chick peas – half of a 400g can – I take them from a can – I don’t have time to soak and boil myself. If you are on a low salt diet, just check that the chick peas are in water and not brine.
Quinoa – a table spoon of quinoa per person (dry) is all you need. Boil for 20 minutes, drain and cool for 10 minutes before adding to the salad mix.
Olive oil – table spoon of organic extra virgin or Avocado oil – I often use this as an alternative to olive oil.
Lemon juice – squeezed fresh or from a bottle if you have no lemons. Just make sure the funnel is properly on the bottle before pouring (a mistake I won’t make twice).
Sea salt – I use Maldon sea salt flakes. The more I cook and eat without salt, the less I notice it. My advice would be try it without first, and only add if the ingredients you have really need bringing to life. Using prawns, feta, chorizo or ham should give you enough flavour without the need for more salt.
Cherry tomatoes – 4, halved – I use Natoora Sicilian tomatoes
Avocado – a smallish one, cubed
King prawns – about 100-150g
Basil – fresh, torn
How to use it
Drain and rinse the chick peas. Cube the avocado. Halve your tomatoes. Boil and cool your quinoa. And put it all in a bowl, add your lemon juice and olive oil (and salt) and mix well. Serve with torn basil. It’s that simple and so worth it.
Mmm rating: mm mm mm
Cost per person: £6
Calories: circa 500
What to listen to: Ellie Goulding – Love Me Like You Do
What to watch: A Jamie-Dornan-filled episode of The Fall, preferably the first one if you haven’t seen it, obviously.
eatburpsleep 