This salad is a looks beautiful on your plate and is totally delicious – it’s a huge hit in Organico Café. My favourite part of it is the Green Goddess Dressing, the name comes from a mayonnaise and sour cream laden dressing originally made in the 1920 in San Francisco, this is a very different version using avocados, much lighter, tastier and nowhere near the calories! - don’t be put off by having to get out the blender, it really is worth it. The result is a creamy, smooth dressing which if you reduce the water is delicious as a dip. This salad is packed full of antioxidants and healthy omega oils, and is naturally gluten free.

Salad Ingredients:

(As a main for 2 or 3 people depending on how hungry you are!)

150g Quinoa, couscous would work just as well
1 Avocado
100g good quality feta
Ten cherry tomatoes
Chopped Herbs (a small bunch each of chives and parsley)
Approx a 100g of mixed seeds (sunflower and pumpkin are the best) and tamari or soyu sauce to dress the seeds
150g of mixed greens

If you want to make the salad more substantial add grated carrot, grated raw beetroot, bean sprouts, cooked chickpeas, sundried tomatoes, spring onions, or toasted hazelnuts.

Salad Method:

Quinoa is easy to cook, just remember to rinse it in a sieve first to get rid of the slightly bitter coating off the seeds. Add the water (one cup of quinoa to one and half cups of water)and cook on a medium heat with a lid on for about 15 minutes, adding a little more water if needed towards the end. Take off the heat, tip into a bowl and allow to cool.
To the quinoa add olive oil, cherry tomatoes and chopped herbs.
Cut an avocado into chunks (approx ½ per person) and half a block of feta (50g per person) into the same size chunks. Toss with some lemon juice if you are not going to eat straight away.

Toast the seeds in a dry pan until golden brown, tip into a bowl and toss with a little tamari or shoyu, allow to cool. They should taste salty but not too salty...

Green Goddess Dressing (this will make more than you need - it will store for a day or 2):

2 avocados
1 clove garlic or a small bunch of wild garlic if its the right time of year and you’re lucky enough to have some in the garden
8-10 tbsp water
8 tbsp cider vinegar, or half and half with lemon juice
75 mls olive oil
75 flax oil
small bunch basil
small bunch parsley
big pinch of seaweed flakes
1 tsp agave syrup or honey
1 tsp salt and a twist of fresh black pepper

Blend the garlic clove with the olive oil in a food processor or with a hand blender. Add the water, agave, avocado and herbs, seaweed and blitz again. Slowly pour the ¾ of the vinegar in and taste, adding more if you like it a little more zingy. Finally add the salt, I use one teaspoon but do taste as you go.

To assemble the salad, on a large plate scatter some mixed greens, place the couscous in the center in a pile. Place half the feta and avocado on the couscous and drizzle with 3 or 4 spoonfuls of the dressing. Finish with a handful of toasted seeds on top and enjoy!