Winter leaf and apple salad with crispy quinoa and cider vinegar Dijon dressing

This salad looks beautiful served on one large platter or try serving individual bowls of salad in a selection of pretty side dishes.

Credit: Petrina Tinslay

• serves

  8

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  25 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• ½ cup multi-coloured quinoa
• ¾ cup water
• pinch salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup cider vinegar
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp honey
• salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 3 witlof, broken into individual leaves
• 1 small radicchio, broken into pieces
• 2 handfuls wild rocket
• 2 gala apples or any other red winter apples
• ½ bunch continental parsley, broken into springs

Instructions

Place the quinoa, water and salt in a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain any excess water from the quinoa. (see Note)

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium high heat and fry the quinoa for 7-8 minutes until golden brown and crispy, it will crackle as it cooks. Remove from the frying pan and allow to cool.

Combine the extra virgin olive oil, cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey and salt and pepper in a jar and shake to combine the dressing, set aside.

Arrange the winter greens – witlof, radicchio and rocket, on a serving platter.

Core the apples and cut into slices toss with 1 tablespoon of the dressing to prevent browning and then arrange over the greens. Sprinkle over the quinoa and top with a scattering parsley sprigs and a drizzle of the dressing, serve immediately.

Note

• When cooking quinoa to fry, use much less water than you normally would to cook it, that way it dries out more quickly when you fry it and becomes crispy – yum!

Photography by Petrina Tinslay, styling by David Morgan and art direction by Anne Marie Cummins.

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.