I just love quinoa. It has a really light texture, which makes it so versatile! In this starter, it combines so beautifully with the freshness of the other ingredients.
RECIPE
Type: Vegetarian
Approx. Preparation time: 10 mins
Approx. Cooking time: 20 mins
Serves: 2
Ingredients
- Half a cup of quinoa
- Half a cucumber peeled into long strips
- 1 perfectly ripe tomato slices thinly
- 50g Feta
- 1 handful of fresh mint leaves
- 1 squeeze of lemon
- Balsamic vinegar glaze, to drizzle
Preparation Steps
- Rinse the quinoa in cold water.
- Peel the cucumber’s skin off. Discard the skin. Then keep peeling the cucumber lengthwise to make long cucumber strips. Set aside.
- Very finely slices the tomatoes. Set aside.
- Keep a couple of mint leaves to the side for decoration. Finely chop the rest of the mint leaves and set aside.
- Keep some feta aside for decoration.
Cooking Steps
- Boil some water in a small pot. When the water is boiling add some salt and add the quinoa. Leave to boil for 20 minutes.
- When the quinoa is cooked, sieve it and pop it back into the pan with a dash of olive oil.
- Mix the feta into the quinoa and mix well to combine the two. Add the finely chopped mint and a squeeze of lemon juice into the quinoa and mix well.
- Put the cucumber strips into a small bowl and add a dash of olive oil, a dash of balsamic vinegar and a little pinch of salt, pepper and paprika.
- To assemble:
- Place the quinoa at the centre of the plate (if you don’t own plating mould rings, NOW is the time to get your own – they will change the way your plates look!)
- Place some tomato slices on top of the quinoa
- Top with the cucumber strips
- Place a mint leaf on top of the cucumber, for decoration
- Crumble some feta over the whole plate
- Finish with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar glaze around the quinoa
- Voilà!