Quinoa and Salmon Salad.

At the risk of sounding like a middle-aged, middle-class, food neurotic, I made Quinoa today and liked it!

I have been keeping a food diary (neurotic) recently and it has sparked a real interest in nutrition and the like. Its really fascinating and quite complicated once you start picking it apart. NB I still firmly believe that, for the most part, eating what you want when you fancy it is the healthiest rout to take with food.

Ingredients:
for the Salmon
* Salmon fillet
* Olive Oil
* Garlic, 1 Clove
* Parsley, a handful
* Black Pepper
* Lemon
* White wine

for the rest
* Quinoa
* Stock Cube
* Courgette
* Celery
* Avocado
* Cherry Tomatoes
* Spring Onions
* Feta Cheese
* Seed Mix (Pumpkin, Sunflower, Sesame, Golden Linseed)

Method:
Having sung Quinoa's praises I have this to say- its fucking hard to cook. Or rather its hard to cook 'right'. It should be light and fluffy (and aldante, like pasta) and not, as mine was, mushy gloop. I followed these instructions and I think it must be me, rather than the instructions, that are at fault. Apparently the trick is to use a 1:1 ration rather than the more popular 1:2 ratio suggested on most packets i.e. use less water.

* Soak Quinoa in cold water for around 15 mins.
* Drain using a fine mesh sieve, run under cold water until the water runs clear (it stops foaming).
* Place in Quinoa in a pan and add the same amount of water as you have Quinoa, in my case 2 cups Quinoa and 2 cups water. Add stock and seasoning.
* Bring to the boil, then place a lid on the pan and turn the hob onto a low heat. Apparently it ought to take about 30 mins. but mine was one in a flash (10 mins. max)
* Once cooked set to one side.
* Everything else goes in raw so all you need to do is chop, dice, cube etc and add once the Quinoa has cooled a bit.

Celery and Spring Onions

Avocado and Cherry Tomatoes

I have been meaning to try raw Courgette for a while, and so purchased myself a peeler and gave it a while. I have to say the results were damn tasty!

The fish is super easy and super quick.

* Get yourself a longish piece of tin foil and fold in half (so you have a double layer).
* Dribble some olive oil onto the foil and smear around a bit.
* Put Salmon (or fish of choice) in the centre of the foil.
* Chop up a clove of Garlic (or more if you like it- I do) and sprinkle over the fillets.
* Chuck a handful of parsley over the lot
* Squeeze half a lemon over the fish
* Add a few tbl. sps. of white wine, and a little Olive oil
* Bring the sides of the foil up and roll down, pinch up sides of the foil and fold round to make a parcel.
* Whack in the oven for about 20 mins. You'll know when its done- it smells delicious! (should take about 15-20 mins. depending on the oven temp and the type of fish).

To serve:
* Spoon Quinoa into a bowl/plate
*Add other ingredients (Obviously in an ideal world (where Quinoa is fluffed to perfection) you would already have added these bits).
* Add fish- pour on the juices left in the foil
* Add an extra squeeze of lemon, and a fuck load of black pepper.
* Sprinkle on seed mix, Parsley and Feta

I meant to add petites pois to this meal but totally forgot them! I added them to my lunch, which brings me to another point; this recipe works fabulously well as a packed lunch the following day- YUM!

xXx