Broccoli Quinoa Salad with Blue Cheese

Happy 2015! With Christmas and New Year behind us for another year I look forward to the beginning of a new chapter. I hope I bring you more delicious ways of packing in nutrients and flavour on your table, yet simple and easy to make.

I like this wonderful festive time of year though feeling sluggish after an array of indulgent food and drinks is not my favourite. To beat all that post-holiday blues and bloats, fresh salads immediately spring to my mind. This simple salad is packed full of flavour. Crunchy broccoli, spiced nutty quinoa and fragrant salty blue cheese are a sublime combination. Adding spices when cooking quinoa is lovely and flavourful and is my favourite way of cooking quinoa.

Wishing you all a safe, healthy and fabulous new year x

quinoa salad
Ingredients

1 head of broccoli floret
1/2 cup chopped zucchini
1 cup of tricoloured quinoa
1 pinch of saffron
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp roasted sesame seeds
pepper to taste
50g blue cheese
1 tbsp olive oil

Wash, rinse the quinoa and cover with cold water in a pot. Add saffron, turmeric and cumin into a pot and bring it up to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until cooked. Take it off the heat and set aside. Finely chop broccoli and zucchini. To assemble, place cooked quinoa, chopped broccoli and zucchini in a large mixing bowl. Season with pepper. Add olive oil and crumbled blue cheese. Gently toss to combine. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.