Green Summer Grain Bowl

Green Summer Grain Bowl

By Caroline Gladstone, from the Hawarden Estate Farm Shop

Mixed grain salad, spinach, peas, zucchini, slow roasted tomatoes, green goddess dressing and popped pumpkin seeds make for a delicious meal!

-Serves 6-

For the slow roast tomatoes:

6 tomatoes, halved horizontally
olive oil
pinch of Himalayan salt
freshly ground black pepper

For the lemon mayo:

2 large egg yolks
2 tbs water
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp Dijon mustard
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
pinch of Himalayan salt

For the green goddess dressing:

2 ½ Tbs. watercress leaves (handful)
3 ½ oz plain yoghurt
¼ cup lemon mayo
1 green chilli, roughly chopped
2 Tbs. cilantro leaves
juice of 1 lemon

For the popped pumpkin seeds:

1 cup pumpkin seeds

For the grain bowl:

1 cup quinoa (dry weight)
1 cup buckwheat (dry weight)
pinch of Himalayan salt
1 cup raw baby spinach
1 ½ cup peas, blanched and refreshed
3 small zucchini, sliced on the mandolin

To serve:

Crumbled feta

Flaked hot smoked salmon

Arrange the tomatoes on a roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Roast at 350 F for an hour and a half. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Next make the lemon mayo. Add all the ingredients to the beaker of the stick blender and blend until emulsified. Season to taste with salt. Take ¼ cup for the green goddess dressing and store the rest in an airtight container in the fridge. It is so delicious it won’t stay there for long!

Now make the green goddess dressing. Pulse all the ingredients in a blender or food processor, adding a little more yoghurt or water if needed. Refrigerate until required.

To make the popped pumpkin seeds, tip the seeds into a dry frying pan and put them on a high heat. Keep moving them in the pan until they start to pop. Be very careful not to let them burn. Once most of the seeds have popped, remove from the heat, leave to cool and put into a small bowl.

Add the quinoa to a pan with 1 ¾ cups of cold water and season with salt. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and cook for 20 minutes until all the water has been absorbed. Put to one side to cool. Add the buckwheat to a pan with 1 ¾ cups of cold water and season with salt. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and cook for 10-12 minutes until all the water has been absorbed. Put to one side to cool. While the grains cool, put the spinach into a bowl and dress with a couple of generous glugs of olive oil and the juice of a lemon. Do the same to the peas and then the zucchini. Once the grains have cooled, tip them into a bowl and add the spinach, peas and courgettes. I find it easier to combine everything with my hands at this stage.

I like to let people help themselves to this, so I serve the green grain bowl alongside a plate of the tomatoes, a bowl of crumbled feta, a plate of flaked hot smoked salmon and a bowl of popped pumpkin seeds and a jug of the green goddess dressing.