hi and welcome to my new favourite segment. what’s sammy having for dinner tonight?

something kinda healthy tonight were the instructions, and quinoa (the most popular grain in my cupboard… or maybe second after du puy lentils.), some kinda assortment of tomatoes, asparagus, shallots, smoked salmon or not if ya don’t feel like it and hopefully some fresh herbs from a window box or one of those dodgy tubes in the deepest, darkest corners of your fridge.

so nice and simple. a kinda quinoa tabouleh type salad, with or without smoked salmon.

first cook some quinoa, 1 cup should be ample for a young lady of gelfling descent.
put in a pot and cover with about 3 cups water. bring to the boil a simmer for 15-20 minutes. keep an eye on it after the 10 minute mark as it will soon open up like little tadpoles or sperm, and this is the signal that they are ready.
drain through a sieve and rinse with cold water to arrest the cooking process.
now roughly chop a handful of mixed tomatoes, a coupla shallots, a few spears of blanched* asparagus and a handful of parsley and/or mint.

combine all ingredients and a few slices of smoked salmon if you’re keen (you could also use any kind of leftover roast right here aswell), dress with 3 Tblsp olive oil, juice of half a lemon or a splash of your favourite vinegar and a good hit of salt and pepper.

as per usual, when you are done it’s time to eat it up in your face head.

and just in case you haven’t figured it out yet, cooking is 9/10th’s intuitive. if you want to try something else in there go for gold. if dill is your favourite herb whack some in. don’t like tomatoes? take them out, etc, etc…. we’ll work it out. you just wait and see.

*blanched – to submerge quickly in boiling water to take a bit of the raw bite away, but still have crunch