The Scottish Mail on Sunday - You
HAPPY EATING!
Tuck into a feast of fell-good mood food with recipes form Rachel Kelly’s book The Happy Kitchen
Colourful goat’s cheese, avocado, beetroot and quinoa salad
Many recipes use these ingredients, but we hope you will like our version. It contains a good balance of carbohydrates, fats and protein to stop you waking from hunger in the night. SERVES 4 (OR 2-3 GENEROUSLY) 350g uncooked quinoa 3 medium-sized cooked beetroots 2 ripe avocados 100g soft goat’s cheese with rind 3 tablespoons pomegranate seeds 1 tablespoon olive oil juice of ¼ lemon
Wash the quinoa thoroughly under a tap in a sieve before putting it in a saucepan with roughly double the quantity of water to quinoa.
Bring it to the boil, then turn down the heat and leave it to simmer gently for 12-15 minutes. At this point most of the water should have been absorbed, so turn off the heat and leave it to steam for 5 minutes with the lid on.
Taste the grains to check they are cooked. They should be a little nutty but not overly crunchy or starchy, and translucent in appearance. Leave them to cool.
While the quinoa is cooking, slice the beetroot into small wedges. (Or dice into small cubes, similar in size to the pomegranate seeds if you prefer.) 5 Do the same with the avocado. 6 Cut or crumble the goat’s cheese into slightly bigger pieces than the beetroot and the avocado.
When the quinoa is no longer piping hot, stir through three-quarters of the beetroot, goat’s cheese, pomegranate seeds, olive oil and lemon juice.
Serve the salad in a dish or on plates and sprinkle over the remaining ingredients. The avocado is best added last so it doesn’t heat up too much and go soft.