The pops of colour in this salad are beautiful, but are well and truly outdone by the flavour. Strawberries so often seem to belong in dessert recipes but they bring a lovely fresh sweetness to salads, complimented by a good Raspberry Vinegar dressing.
Serves 4
Vinaigrette Ingredients:
3 tbs Raspberry Vinegar
4 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Salad Ingredients:
1 cup tri-colour quinoa, uncooked
500g chicken breast fillets
2 tbsp olive oil
250g punnet strawberries, hulled and halved
1 ripe, but firm avocado, cut into 2cm cubes
1⁄4 cup dry roasted almonds, roughly chopped
1⁄2 cup goats cheese, crumbled
1⁄2 small red onion, thinly sliced
60g baby spinach and rocket mix
Method:
Cook quinoa according to packet instructions. Drain. Let the quinoa cool for 10 minutes.
Toss chicken fillets in olive oil and season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Heat a barbeque or chargrill pan to high heat, Cook chicken for 7 minutes on each side or until lightly charred and cooked through. Transfer to a plate, cover loosely with foil and rest for 5 minutes. Thinly slice.
For the dressing, in a small bowl whisk the raspberry vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper.
Spoon quinoa onto a serving plate or divide between four serving plates. Layer spinach and rocket leaves with strawberries, avocado, red onion and chicken slices. Drizzle vinaigrette over salad and top with almonds and crumbled goats cheese.
The great thing about a cheese board or grazing platter is you can easily put one together regardless of your cooking abilities. Be as creative or simple as you like. The more rustic and free it looks, the better! Here are some tips and tricks we've collected along the way to help you...
Once you've ordered your Bendigo Christmas Ham, you need a recipe to go with it. A quick Google can easily overwhelm you as there's so many "best christmas ham recipe" suggestions to scroll through. I've shared mine here. I love this recipe because it's not intimidating and it mostly uses pantry staples and easy to find ingredients.
The combination of tangy vs. sweet, but always juicy, is a reason why nectarines are always a favourite here. To me, they taste like a promise of summer to come. Equally at home in savoury salads alongside steak, and in creamy desserts alongside ricotta, they're a versatile stone fruit we love to cook with!
