Super Salads!

After all that yoga and focus, I wanted to feed our guests yummy salads at lunch to accompany soup and a hunk of bread. Salads are wonderful in adding colour to the table, and where there is colour there is health.
But there's no calorie counting here, I also baked two cakes a day which I will pop in my next post. Healthy living is about balance and that means having little indulgences that bring a smile to the lips. The salad above is so simple but has big fresh flavours with wonderful texture contrast. 
Simmer green beans, topped and tailed for 4 mins, retaining their bite and dress with salad dressing of garlic, orange zest, lemon juice, dijon mustard, olive oil and salt and pepper.
Slice oranges and add more zest with toasted hazelnuts. This recipe is inspired by a wondeful little book put together by Blues Agency, although they use spinach and watercress not beans, and I served the goats cheese on the side.

This next salad was a make it up as I went along type of salad, I just wanted to make something super green, crunchy, juicy and good for you. So, for 15 people (scale down if need be)..
Cook two handfuls of wild red rice and 500g of quinoa in separate pans and cool. 
Roast 3 red peppers, skin and chop (or you know, open a jar and chop)
Steam and chop up asparagus
Chives, spring onions, basil, parsley, walnuts, cucumber, chop chop like crazy.
Mix all together in a big bowl, and dress with lemon oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic and a good grassy olive oil. Bliss.

This last salad is my all time favourite from Ottolengi. 
I don't have his recipe so this will be slightly different from memory.
Roast wedges of aubergine for 25 minutes in a hot oven, sprinkled with olive oil and (I add Za'atar)
and lay on a plate.
Make a saffron yogurt by infusing a pinch of saffron strands into a little hot water and then stirring into greek yogurt with a squeeze of lemon juice and garlic, S and P.
I sprinkled with parsley but as I write this I have an inkling he sprinkles his with pomegranate seeds which is sod's law remembering this now as we have a pomegranate tree in the garden. Damn.