michelle picker cooks

This salad is adapted from a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe.

First chop a large eggplant (aubergine) into pieces, season with salt and fry in a little olive oil. Set aside in a large salad bowl. Cook 200g (7 oz) of quinoa (I used a mixture of red, white and black quinoa and amaranth) in plenty of boiling water until it’s not too crunchy then drain in a fine sieve. Cook 200g (7 oz) of rice (I used half red rice and half basmati rice) according to instructions and place (still warm) into the bowl with the quinoa and eggplant. Heat a little olive oil in a small pan and fry 4 thinly sliced cloves of garlic until just colouring then add 3 tablespoons each of chopped oregano and sage leaves and cook for 1 minute more. Pour over the quinoa and rice. To the bowl add 4 thinly sliced spring onions, 6 tablespoons of sliced fresh mint, 2 tablespoons of grated dried lime or lemon (available in Middle eastern stores) and 170g (6 oz) of feta cheese (broken into pieces). Season with salt and pepper to taste and mix well to combine. Serve still slightly warm or at room temperature.