Super Food Salad

The veggie boxes have reached that point in the year when the main thing on the list is brassica of varying sorts, onions, and, thank goodness, carrots. 
Whilst we really enjoy carrot salad, and lovely though steamed calabrese and broccoli are served cold in a vinaigrette sauce, it’s good to ring the changes. With the unbelievably hot ten days just gone I was looking for something different that wouldn’t entail too much cooking. When I examined the contents of the fridge and the pantry I realised I had everything I needed to make this salad, and an added bonus were pomegranate seeds, spotted on the shelf in the supermarket.
We almost always have cucumber and celery in the fridge, as well as walnuts, cashews and almonds, short grain brown rice and chickpeas in the stock cupboard. 

This is one of those recipes where it’s impossible to give exact quantities and where, honestly, you can vary the ingredients to suit your personal taste.  Here’s a rough guide, anyway.  It will serve as a main course for 3 to 4 people with polite appetites, or two hungry people!

• 120g dried chickpeas (or a can)
• 200g short grain brown rice
• 25 – 30g each of cashew nuts, whole almonds and walnuts.  Don’t mix these nuts till you have toasted them
• 1 medium – large carrot, preferably scrubbed, not peeled
• ½ cucumber
• ½ head of calabrese broccoli, or several stems of tenderstem or purple sprouting broccoli
• 1 – 2 tablespoonfuls each of pumpkin and sunflower seeds
• 2 – 3  tablespoonfuls of pomegranate seeds
• Vinaigrette sauce made with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.  You may want to add a couple of cloves of crushed garlic, and could substitute organic rapeseed oil for the olive oil if you prefer it.
• Chopped fresh parsley – add marjoram and thyme if you have them.

If you’re planning ahead, soak the chickpeas for six hours, then cook in the usual way – place them in a pan and cover with water to a good depth, bring to the boil on the hob, then simmer for about 75 minutes.  Remember to reserve the juice when they’re cooked – it’s full of goodness and you can freeze it till needed.  If you prefer, substitute a can of ready-to-use chickpeas.
Cook the rice – it takes 20 – 25 minutes on a simmer (top up the liquid if it’s in danger of boiling dry).  Give it the bite test after 20 mins.  When you’ve drained it, rinse it under cold running water till it’s thoroughly cooled and refrigerate at once, till needed.  You’ll need approximately 2 large mugfuls of the rice once cooked. (If you have more rice than intended, freeze it till you can use it for something else, cooked rice that’s not properly stored can be an unsuspected vector of a nasty food poisoning bug, bacillus cereus).

Place the almonds in one baking tray, the cashews in another, and bake in a medium oven for about ten minutes, then remove the cashews, leaving the almonds for 2 – 3 minutes longer.  Don’t walk away and leave them in the oven, they can overbrown quite easily and will be bitter if singed.

Once they’ve cooled, add to the walnuts, chop them roughly and set aside.

Cut the carrot lengthways into slivers and then chop it roughly, but not too small.

Dice the cucumber, leaving the skin on it.

Using a mandolin peeler, remove as many of the stringy bits as possible from the celery, then slice into ½ centimetre chunks.

Divide the calabrese into florets then steam or blanch them.  This should be a quick process; if left to cook for too long the vitamin content is depleted and the florets will quickly become mushy. They should be pleasantly al dente. If using tenderstem or purple sprouting, chop the stems finely and cook for two or three minutes before adding the heads. As soon as they are cooked, rinse under running cold water to stop the cooking process.

When all the ingredients are cold, mix them together, leaving the calabrese or broccoli to one side for the moment.  Now add to a medium- to-large bowl containing the vinaigrette and mix thoroughly again.  If the mixture seems slightly dry, add more olive oil. Now add the chopped broccoli stems and mix lightly again.  Finally, add the calabrese or broccoli, don’t stir this in or it will get mashed up.  Sprinkle the chopped herbs over the top. 

Serve in individual bowls, garnishing with cos lettuce leaves.

Et bon appetit!