Recipe: 3 Seasonal Super Salads

We all know that we should be eating seasonally don’t we? And that in doing so we could have a huge positive impact on food sustainability.

However a BBC poll revealed that only 1 in 10 of us actually know when our favourite fruits and veggies are in season.. So I thought I would share with you 3 of our favourite Retreat Salad Recipes – not only are they delicious but they are also in season right now…win win!

These were brought to our Retreats by one of our wonderful chefs – Elspeth Humm:

  1. Broccoli, Sun-dried Tomato, Roasted Aubergine & Tamari Sunflower Seed Salad;
  2. Beet, Apple & Walnut Salad; and
  3. Quinoa, Squash, Roasted Red Pepper & Green Leaf Salad.

Broccoli, Sun-dried Tomato, Roasted Aubergine & Tamari Sunflower Seed Salad

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 Heads of Broccoli cut into florets
  • 100g Sun-Dried Tomatoes thinly sliced
  • 2 Aubergine
  • 6tbsp Roasted tamari seeds*
  • 4tbsp Salad dressing* 

For the roasted tamari seeds*:

  • 200g Sunflower seeds
  • 1tbsp Olive oil
  • 4tbsp Tamari/gluten-free soy sauce or if you fancy something a little sweeter then use Teriyaki sauce

For the salad dressing*:

  • 400ml Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
  • 200ml Apple cider vinegar
  • 2tsbp Wholegrain mustard
  • 6 Cloves garlic thinly sliced
  • 1tsp Salt

DIRECTIONS

  1. Chop the aubergine into large cubes, place into a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and salt and place on a baking tray and roast in the oven on 180 degrees celsius for about 20 minutes.
  2. Fill a saucepan with water and add 1tbsp salt, place on high heat and bring to a boil. Put the broccoli florets into the water and cook for approximately 4- 5 minutes until at dente. Pour the water away through a colander and leave the broccoli to cool. Alternatively if you have access to a lot of ice then have another bowl with icy cold water in and place the broccoli florets inside to stop the cooking process and to keep them nice and crunchy.
  3. Once the aubergine are cooked, remove and place everything into a bowl including the salad dressing and seeds and toss until seasoned. Sprinkle with salt and serve.

For the roasted tamari seeds*:

Put the oven on 180 degrees celsius. Place all ingredients into a bowl with a pinch of salt and mix with a spoon until the sunflower seeds are coated. Put on a baking tray and roast in the oven for approximately 5 minutes turning or stirring half-way through. They should be nice and crunchy when they are ready.

For the salad dressing*:

Start by finding a jar or something that you can fit all the salad dressing ingredients in which can be shaken. Thinly slice the garlic and then place all ingredients into the jar and shake well. That’s it! Super easy to make and the longer you leave it the better it gets.

Beet, Apple & Walnut Salad

INGREDIENTS

  • 8 Medium sized beetroot
  • 4 Apples – I love Pink Lady or Jazz but anything that is nice and crunchy is perfect!
  • 1⁄4 Juice of lemon
  • 100g Walnuts
  • 5tbsp Salad dressing (see recipe above)

DIRECTIONS

  1. If you have raw beetroot then you can place them into a pot of cold water and put on a high heat. Bring to the boil and then turn the temperature down slightly to a rolling boil. Cook for about 20 – 30 minutes until you can slide a knife through without any resistance. Strain and run under the cold tap to cool them down slightly. Whilst they are still warm peel them (this can be easily done with your hands though you might want to put gloves on) and then chop the tops and ends off. Cut into medium sized chunks and place in a medium sized bowl with half of the dressing, toss and set aside.
  2. Core the apples and cut into medium sized chunks placing them into another medium sized bowl with the lemon juice on top to stop them from going brown.
  3. Either crush the walnuts in your hands or roughly chop them and add to the apple bowl. Add the remaining salad dressing and mix.
  4. When you are ready to serve then mix both bowls together. The reason for not doing this sooner is because the apples go pink and it’s nice to have the differentiation of colours on the plate!

Quinoa, Squash, Roasted Red Pepper & Green Leaf Salad

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 Butternut squash cut in half lengthways
  • 4 Red peppers
  • 500g Quinoa 
  • 1 Bunch fresh parsley
  • 4tbsp Capers
  • 1 Jar Black pitted olives
  • 1 Juice and zest of lemon
  • 4tbsp Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
  • 1 Large spinach bag
  • 3tbsp Pumpkin seeds
  • 3tbsp Sesame seeds
  • Tahini – I love the brand Belazu!

DIRECTIONS

  1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and place the squash and red peppers inside and roast. The peppers will need approximately 20 minutes and the squash 30 – 40 minutes, they are cooked when a knife slides through easily. Once the peppers are cooked, remove and place into a bowl and put cling film or similar to seal the bowl so that the peppers steam their skins off.
  2. Cook the quinoa. You will need approximately 1 litre of water and 1tsp salt. Set aside once cooked.
  3. Place the olives, capers, lemon zest and parsley leaves onto the chopping board and roughly chop the, altogether. Place in a bowl and pour the lemon juice and EVOO on top and then add everything to the quinoa and give it a good stir with a pinch of salt.
  4. Place the pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds onto baking tray and roast in the oven for 3 – 4 minutes until the sesame seeds brown and the pumpkin seeds puff up.
  5. Remove the seeds from the butternut squash and then dice the squash into medium sized cubes. I love to put some seasoning onto the seeds and put them back into the oven to crisp up as a snack. Any sort of seasoning such as smoked paprika and sea salt or chilli powder and sweet paprika is really nice.
  6. Remove the red peppers from the bowl, you should find that they are nice and soft and the skin should peel away easily. Remove the skin and then cut into long thin strips.
  7. Place the spinach onto a serving platter and then pour the quinoa on top. Sprinkle the butternut squash and red peppers on top and lastly the seeds and then a good drizzle of tahini all over.

Dive in, we hope you enjoy serving up these super salads as much as we do on our retreats!

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