April 13, 2013

13.04.13 | SUPER SALAD WITH ROASTED RED PEPPER DRESSING


Every now & then I post a picture of something that I've made on twitter or instagram, or even my own personal facebook page now that I'm totally OK with real life friends knowing about the blog (ok, so not totally ok, that is still a little bit strange) but none the less, every now & then people go mad get a little more interested than usual for what i've made and they contact me wanting the recipe or asking when it will go live on the blog (which is awesome by the way - thank you!)

But, you can bet your life that those times it's almost always going to be something I got majorly lucky on taste wise. 

It's also almost definitely going to be something I made up out of god knows where. 

And I can pretty much guarantee that it's going to be the one time i didn't have my camera next to me snapping every stage. 

So of course this is exactly what happened when I made this Super Salad, which is why it's taken me ages to get it on the blog. I had to scurry around in my (still very much baby) brain remembering what i used, what I did and in which order I did it in, but I finally did and here it is. Yaay for that...




For the roasted red pepper dressing you will need:
- 1 cup jarred roasted peppers (like these)
- 1/4 cup low fat mayo
- 1- 2 tbsp cider vinegar

And you will need to do this:
1. In a food processor whizz up the roasted red peppers and the mayo to a smooth paste.
2. Add your vinegar to taste and whizz again. Simple!
3. Transfer to a bowl, cover & refrigerate until required (2 days max)


For the Super Salad you will need:
(serves 2)
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed (this will make about 3 cups, so you will have some left over)
- 1 small butter nut squash, peeled & cut into bite sized chunks.
- 1 cup  tinned chick peas, drained & rinsed
- 100g baby leaf spinach, washed & drained
- 10 baby plum tomatoes, halved
- 1 large carrot, peeled & then 'peeled' into ribbons
- 1 1/2 cucumber, 'peeled' into ribbons
- red pepper dressing (as above)
- olive oil
- sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

And you will need to do this:
1. Pre-heat your oven to 180C/350F/GM4
2. Place your bite sized butternut squash chunks on a roasting tray. Drizzle with olive oil & season with a sprinkling of salt & pepper. Roast in your oven for roughly 40 - 45 minuted until tender & golden brown in places.
3. Meanwhile, cook your (very well rinsed) quinoa according to pack instructions. It's a good rule of thumb that generally 1 cup of quinoa will require 2 cups of water to cook & will result in 3 cups of cooked. (1, 2, 3 - get it?). It will take about 20 minutes.
4. Now it's time to prep those salad plates:



- spinach first
- then your tomatoes
- next up your cucumber ribbons
- followed by those carrots

5. Once your quiona is cooked, drain well & set aside.
6. Once cooked, remove your squash from the oven and continue to dress the salad:

- scatter over 1/2 cup of cooked quiona over each salad (more if requitred) 
- top with your chickpeas
- then add your roasted squash
- and finally drizzle over your red pepper dressing.



ENJOY! And eat LOADS - this is super good for you :)

2 comments: