Today, after spotting some new season pomegranates in my local store, I made my Quinoa Salad with Feta, Tenderstem and Pomegranates. It’s a super healthy tonic of a salad with a good quantity of protein in its make-up. It is wonderful as a side dish with deli fare but I just ate it ‘al desko’ as a light but nutritious lunch dish.
Pomegranates were favourites of mine as a youngster and my sisters and I would pick out the seeds from a freshly-cut one with a pin. It took time, kept us quiet for a while and so my mother thought they were well worth the money! Now they are not so exotic and the price is very affordable and indeed you can buy them (at a price) ready to use out of their skins. But just recently I have learnt of the best and easiest way to remove the seeds from the skin – check out the video clip below and prepare to be amazed….
QUINOA SALAD WITH FETA, POMEGRANATE AND TENDERSTEM BROCCOLI
Ingredients
METRIC/US
200 g/7 oz dry quinoa (or use a 250g/9 oz sachet of ready-cooked)
200 g/7 oz Tenderstem broccoli, cut into small bite-sized pieces
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
100 g/4 oz light or reduced-fat feta cheese, crumbled
seeds from 1 pomegranate (see how to prepare below)
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
3-4 ripe tomatoes, chopped
8 spring onions/scallions, chopped
6 tbsp fat-free French dressing
salt and freshly ground black pepper
METHOD
1. Cook the quinoa according to the packet instructions, leave to cool in a large mixing bowl.
2. Meanwhile, boil or steam the broccoli until just tender about 4-5 minutes then leave to cool.
3. Heat a small non-stick frying pan, add the pumpkin seeds and lightly toast until they are slightly crunchy. Remove from the pan and leave to cool.
4. When all are cool, mix the quinoa with the broccoli, pumpkins seeds, feta cheese, mint, parsley, tomatoes, spring onions/scallions, dressing and salt and pepper taste, mixing well. Serve at once or chill until required.
SERVES 4
WLS PORTION: 1/2
V suitable for Vegetarians
CALORIES PER PORTION: 300
PROTEIN: 15.7g
CARBOHYDRATE: 41.4g
FAT; 7.4g
Image courtesy of www.tenderstem.co.uk
And here’s a wonderfully simplistic and best way to extract the seeds from a pomegranate!