Chicken, Butternut and Quinoa Salad

For someone who enjoys cooking so much, I am pretty bad at lunches. I don’t really like the distraction of getting up from whatever it is that I’m currently doing (sometimes that is cleaning but more often it’s the internet and cat videos). I’m also not much a fan of leftovers. I don’t really like eating cold food from the fridge either, but this salad has gone a long way towards changing that. Like most people, I fade in and out of trying to eat healthier. Some of it is the temptation but most of it I suspect, is lack of inspiration. I’ve never really been much of a salad person, so it’s been difficult to get out of the green leafy vegetable, tomato and cucumber with olive oil and balsamic dressing rut.

In an age of pre-packaged convenience, I was surprised by how much more difficult it is to shop at a market. I love markets, but supermarkets offer ready mixed salad leaves and trimmed cuts of meat. These days, I buy whatever lettuce I can get my hands on, and I’m lucky if I can eat it all before it goes off. For some reasons things spoil a lot quicker here, perhaps it is the heat.

This may surprise you, but as we head towards the end of the year, you dear reader, are going to get more healthy recipes for me. We’re heading back to Australia after a year and ten months of being away and I know I’m going to eat absolutely everything that is put in front of me, and not necessarily in reasonable quantities. Nectarines, cherries and blueberries but also salted caramel eclairs from Chez Dre, at least five flavours of ice cream at Messina and absolutely any soft cheese I can get my hands on.

So until then, eat healthy things like quinoa with me. Quinoa, which admittedly I have never ever cooked before is actually one of those things in the dubious category of superfoods that actually taste good. Ok, so it’s not great by itself, but it adds interest to salads, takes about 15 minutes to cook and keeps well after it’s cooked.

I still don’t like to spend a lot of time on lunch so I usually roast a large butternut squash on a Sunday evening, then store it until I’m going to use it i the week. While the quinoa cooks, I dice up the vegetables for the salad and it’s all ready to go in under half an hour. This holds up well if you’re cooking up a week’s worth of lunches too – just store the dressing separately so the salad doesn’t get soggy.

If you’re vegetarian or just looking for a salad to accompany a barbecue, just leave out the chicken. Grilled haloumi or firm tofu seasoned with a bit of kecap manis would be a great substitute.