Jennifer Aniston Salad
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Serves: 6
- 1 cup/190g/6.7ozs quinoa, uncooked
- 2 cups/500ml/1pint chicken or vegetable stock
- 90g/3ozs pistachios
- 1 Lebanese cucumber (around 160g/5.6ozs)
- 80g/3ozs. red onion
- 20g/0.7ozs parsley leaves
- 20g/0.7ozs mint leaves
- 125g/4ozs. feta
- 400g/14oz tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup pomegranate arils (optional)
- 100g/3.5ozs. cherry tomatoes, halved (optional)
Salad dressing
- 1/4 cup/60ml//2flozs lemon juice
- 1/4 cup/60ml//2flozs extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Step 1 - First cook the quinoa and roast the pistachios. You can cook the quinoa up to 2 days ahead of time and keep in an airtight container in the fridge. Rinse the quinoa well in a sieve and then place in a saucepan with the stock and bring to a boil. Place the lid on and reduce the heat to low and steam for 15 mintues (do not open lid). Then uncover, stir and turn the heat off, replace the lid and leave for 10 minutes. Remove lid, fluff with a fork and cool. Roast the pistachios spread out on a tray in a 180C/350F for 5 minutes. Chop roughly.
Step 2 - Place the quinoa in a large bowl. Chop the cucumber into small bite sized chunks and then finely chop the red onion and add both to the quinoa. Roughly chop the herbs and drain the chickpeas and add these to the quinoa along with the pomegranate arils and cherry tomatoes. Crumble the feta into the bowl and add the pomegranate and cherry tomatoes and toss gently.
Step 3 - Place the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a jar and fit the lid on tightly and shake to emulsify. Pour over the salad and mix in. Lastly add in the chopped pistachios just before serving so that they retain their crunch. Toss to distribute everything.