Quinoa Herb Salad with Salmon
This dish is on repeat at my place, and has been since I created the recipe for our third book, It’s Always About the Food.
Cook the salmon however you wish – it works well on the BBQ, on a ridged grill or in a frying pan. You can also bake it in the oven, wrapped in baking paper.
In the video on my instagram, I am serving it on a gorgeous platter and bowl, and eating from the matching plate, from my current favourite new ceramic range, Bondi-Ev.
Ingredients
Method
- One hour before cooking, marinate the salmon in the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.Toss the sliced onion with the lemon juice and olive oil and set aside.
- To cook the salmon, heat a barbecue or frying pan until hot. Cook the salmon for a few minutes until a crust has formed. Flip the salmon over and cook for another 3 minutes or so (for rare salmon) or until almost cooked to your liking and then remove the salmon from the heat. The salmon should be undercooked at this stage as it will continue to cook while it is resting. Allow to rest, for at least 20 minutes, loosely covered. This can be done 2 hours ahead of time.
- Cook the quinoa in plenty of salted boiling water until al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water and drain well again. Reserve a few of the parsley and mint leaves for garnish if you wish, and roughly chop the remaining leaves, along with the rocket.
- To make the tahini yoghurt sauce, mix the tahini with the yoghurt, lemon juice and salt. Stir until thickened and season to taste with lemon and salt. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
- To make the salad, toss together the quinoa, herbs, rocket, walnuts, chili and pickled red onion. Add the olive oil, lemon juice and sumac. Toss well and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- To serve, place the salad on your platter. Break up the salmon fillets into large chunks and place on top of the salad. Sprinkle with reserved walnuts and the extra sumac. Dollop the tahini yoghurt on top or serve in a bowl on the side.
- Serves 6, generously
Notes
*my preference is NZ Ora King salmon
