You know when Summer is your fave season and everyone is banging on about how good Autumn is? And it’s mid-October and all you long for is sunshine and seaside? And your best friend has just left for Sydney to enjoy Summer in full swing? Yep, OK. I thought you did. I’m glad my blog posts are sooo relatable!
I made this salad because it’s warm and comforting, and kinda summery. But it’s also so easy to knock up for a quick lunch and can be made-ahead too and kept in your lunch box for the next day. You can heat the whole thing through in the microwave once you get to work, and it just makes all the flavours come alive again, yum!
Serves 2 and takes about 20 minutes max.
What you need
- 120g tricolour quinoa
- 2 big handfuls spinach, roughly torn
- 1 sweet orange pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 pack tender stem broccoli, halved
- 10 piccolo cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 pack full-fat halloumi
- 2 tsp chilli puree (I use this one from Tesco)
- Juice 1 lime
- Small handful mixed nuts
- Teeny bit of rapeseed oil
What to do
Prepare and cook the quinoa as per packet instructions. Arrange the spinach and sweet peppers into shallow bowls – this forms the basis of the salad.
While the quinoa is cooking, drop the broccoli into a small pan of salted boiling water for three minutes. Drain and add the cooked broccoli to a bowl of ice-cold water immediately, to stop it from cooking. Set aside.
Heat a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat, add a few drops of rapeseed oil. Slice the halloumi into eight equal slices, then sizzle it in the hot pan until just golden on each side. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Turn down the heat slightly and add the halved cherry tomatoes to the same pan. Gently char them for 3-4 minutes until just soft with blackened edges. Mmmmmm.
Drain the quinoa as well as possible, add the chilli puree and juice of one lime, as well as a load of freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of sea salt. Give it all a good stir, then a taste, and adjust the seasoning if needed (rememeber not to add too much salt as the halloumi is deliciously salty!)
Add the cooked broccoli to the seasoned quinoa and mix to combine.Take the tomatoes off the heat once they’re charred to perfection.
Now, assemble your salad. Top the spinach leaves with the quinoa and broccoli mix, the halloumi and tomatoes. Sprinkle over the chopped nuts end enjoy!
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