Broccoli salad

“Back in the 17th century, Covent Garden was a market strictly offering flowers, herbs, fruits and vegetables. I decided to come up with a recipe that featured these elements. It may sound unusual to use condensed milk in a salad dressing, but it works really well. If you can’t get the tri-colour quinoa mix, any colour will be just fine.” Luke Nguyen, Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 100 g (½ cup) tri-colour quinoa
• ½ head broccoli, stems finely chopped and heads broken into little florets 
• 1 red onion, finely diced 
• 85 g (½ cup) raisins        
• 60 g (½ cup) walnuts, broken into small pieces
• 1 red apple, chopped           
• 5 wild garlic leaves, finely sliced
• drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
• large pinch of cracked black pepper
• large pinch of sea salt
• 10 garlic flowers (optional), to garnish

Dressing

• 60 ml (¼ cup) condensed milk
• 60 ml (¼ cup) malt vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard      

Instructions

Rinse the quinoa under cold running water for 30 seconds. Place in a small saucepan with 250 ml (1 cup) water and bring to the boil over medium heat. Cover, then reduced the heat to low and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until all the water has evaporated and the grains are tender. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Place the quinoa, broccoli, onion, raisins, walnuts, apple, wild garlic leaves, a drizzle of oil and the salt and pepper in a bowl and toss to combine well.

To make the dressing, place all the ingredients into a jar, seal and shake vigorously, then pour over the salad. Toss to combine well, then transfer to a serving platter and scatter with garlic flowers if using.  

Photography by Benito Martin. Styling by Lynsey Fryers. Food preparation by Alice Storey and Georgi Larby.

BO platter and Masen Saus salad servers, both from Country Road.

Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom starts Thursday 14 May 2015 at 8pm on SBS ONE and finishes 2 July 2015. Visit the Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom website to catch-up on episodes online, scroll through recipes or find out more about the show.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.