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Superfood salad for sunday

I made this salad for the three of us today. It’s from the Leon cookbook. As they say ’It’s just a perfectly balanced lunch: great, goodie-packed ingredients, some simple cooking and away you go.’

The aioli is particularly moreish and the recipe below will leave plenty left over.

Serves 3
Ingredients


2 tablespoons quinoa
1/2 a head of broccoli
300g free-range chicken thighs, each cut into 4 or 5 pieces
2 handfuls of rocket
2 handfuls of baby spinach
½ an avocado sliced
6 vine-ripened small tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 lemon
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons aïoli
2 tablespoons toasted seeds (I used a combination of sunflower, pumpkin, sesame and pine nuts toasted in a non-stick pan for a couple of minutes)
a hefty sprinkling of chopped mint and parsley
salt and pepper

Method

Put 80ml of water into a little pan and bring to the boil. Stir in the quinoa and boil fast for 5 minutes, then turn the heat down and simmer for 5 minutes more. Turn the heat off, fluff with a fork, and leave until cooled.
Preheat your grill to very hot, or get your griddle pan smoking. Cut the broccoli into small florets and slice the stalks into 1cm thick circles. Drop the broccoli into a pan of rapidly boiling salted water for 3 minutes, then drain and run under the tap until cold.
Season your protein before you grill it: for chicken, grill for 5 minutes, turn it over, then 5 minutes more; While all this is going on, build your salad: toss the leaves, tomatoes, broccoli and peas in the juice of half a lemon and the olive oil.
Lift them on to whatever you’re serving them on, be it one big dish or individuals, then scatter on the cooled quinoa and alfalfa.
The next layer is the protein and top it off with the aïoli, seeds and herbs.


Chicken Marinade


Marinating your meat is a really good thing to get into the habit of doing. Instead of just letting it sit in your fridge, shrink-wrapped in man-made packaging, why not give it some space and some friends to mingle with? Our recipe is simple and hasn’t changed since we opened; it does exactly what we want – flavour and tenderness.
Makes enough marinade for 1kg diced free-range chicken
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1–2 cloves of garlic, chopped
Combine all the ingredients and leave the chicken to marinate overnight

Aioli

MAKE AHEAD: The aioli can be refrigerated in an airtight container for about 1 week.

Ingredients


• 2 medium cloves garlic
• Pinch salt, plus more to taste
• 1 large egg plus 1 large egg white
• 120ml sunflower oil
• 200ml whole or low-fat Greek-style yogurt
• Juice of 1/4 to 1/2 medium lemon

Method

Mince the garlic with a pinch of salt, then place in a bowl and whisk with a hand-held electric mixer along with the egg and egg white.
Beat on medium-high speed for 3 to 4 minutes, until the mixture is pale and fluffy.
Drizzle in the oil to form an emulsion (as if you were making mayonnaise)
Use a spatula to gently fold in the yogurt, then incorporate the lemon juice to taste. Taste and adjust the salt as needed.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.

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