Epic Spring Salad With Broad Beans, Mint & Yoghurt
And, just like that it's Spring! The arrival of Spring feels especially lovely this year doesn’t it? There's a sense of relief and hope about it. With the newness, there's also some lovely seasonal produce to welcome back onto the menu.
To help us celebrate Spring, I have a gorgeously green salad with loads of texture. The hero of this Epic Spring Salad is most definitely the broad beans. Here they are combined with rice and quinoa and a creamy, minty yoghurt dressing. It's fresh and super easy.
I can't help but think toasted almonds would be a delicious addition? Also, fresh is best and of course broad beans are in season in Australia, but frozen will work perfectly too.
Makes 4 serves
170g brown rice and quinoa mix (if you can get it. If not, 100g brown rice and 70g brown quinoa).
130g peas
350g broad beans
40ml olive oil (plus extra for drizzling)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 brown onion (sliced finely)
½ cup mint leaves
½ cup fresh dill
YOGHURT DRESSING
200g Greek yoghurt
1 garlic clove (crushed)
Pinch sea salt
Pinch cayenne pepper
Optional - a good handful of chopped, toasted almonds to sprinkle on top
In a medium pot, add 6 cups of cold water to the brown rice and quinoa, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 mins – or until cooked. Drain and set aside to cool (you could make this ahead of time).
Boil the peas for two mins until just cooked, run under cold water and set aside. Separately, boil the broad beans for three minutes and until just tender. Rinse under cold water and peel away the broad bean outer shells. Set aside.
In a medium pan, caramelise the brown onion in the oil until soft. Set aside.
In a large bowl combine the rice and quinoa mix, onion, lemon juice, peas and broad beans. Toss the mix through and pour onto a serving plate.
In a small bowl, mix the yoghurt with the sea salt and cayenne pepper and swirl through the salad in big blobs.
Sprinkle over the mint and dill, more olive oil and some extra sea salt.
Enjoy!
Oh and speaking of salads, you should give this one a go if not already, and whack some broad beans through it: Quinoa Salad with Zucchini, Peas and Preserved Lemon.
