Quinoa, pea and bacon salad

2 servings Prep: 10 mins, Cooking: 20 mins
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An underrated ingredient in a summery braai salad with goats cheese.

By Food24 November 13 2013
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Ingredients (9)

1 cup quinoa
1 - 1½ cup water
1 cup peas — frozen, baby
100 g bacon — streaky, cubed
75 g goat's milk cheese — or feta cheese
1 fresh mint — chopped
2 pine nuts — toasted
1 lemon juice
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
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Method:

Using a fine-meshed sieve, rinse the quinoa thoroughly under cool running water.

Then, to a medium-sized saucepan, add the quinoa along with 1.5 cups cool water.

Turn the heat to high, bring the water to a boil, then place the lid on the pot, turn down to a gentle simmer and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat, add in the peas to thaw, and leave to rest with the lid on. This steaming further dries out the quinoa as it steams, ensuring a fluffy result.

Meanwhile, fry your bacon in 1 Tbsp olive oil on med-high heat until crispy and golden. Then remove and drain on kitchen paper.

To serve, drizzle the remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil over the quinoa and toss through the bacon, cheese, mint and pine nuts, drizzle over lemon juice, add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper and enjoy.

Tips and variations:

Although I do think of this as a complete meal, we sometimes serve this alongside something light such as grilled trout or healthy chicken skewers.

Instead of the peas and bacon, or in addition to, you could stir through baby spinach leaves to wilt as the quinoa steams once it’s cooked, as well as crispy fried chorizo bits.

Shred the meat of a roasted chicken and add that in along with a little roasted butternut and red onion, make a quick honey-mustard dressing and you have another little salad feast.

Use beautiful red quinoa instead of the creamy wheat-coloured kind, and add in cubed apple or pear, raisins and salted cashew nuts with lashings of fresh herbs.

Recipe reprinted with permission of Sarah Graham.

 



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