Tabbouleh salad with or without beef

Rather than the authentic bulgar wheat, I used cous cous to make this tabbouleh as I'd run out of bulgar wheat. It is still the delicious salad we expect from the name, and you could use quinoa, too.

1 bunch spring onion
6 ripe medium tomatoes
Juice of 1 lemon
100g bulgar wheat/cous cous/quinoa
1 tsp vegetable bouillon
4 large sprigs mint
a handful parsley
a large glug of olive oil
season to taste

optional - 1 beef rump steak
pine nuts

Serves 2

1, Begin by slicing the spring onion and tomatoes into medium dice. Place these in a large bowl and stir in the lemon juice.
2, Cook the bulgar/cous cous/quinoa to packet instructions, adding a teaspoon of bouillon to the water you cook it in for flavour.
3, If using the beef: Heat a heavy bottomed pan with a small amount of rapeseed oil and fry the steak on both sides for 1 minute for blue/rare or 2 minutes for rare/medium. Sprinkle the beef with a pinch of salt when it first goes into the pan. Remove the beef from the heat and cover it with foil to rest - this will tenderise the meat as the proteins rebuild as it cools.
4, When the grain has cooked, add it to the spring onions and tomatoes and give it a good stir so it can absorb the flavours.
5, Wash your herbs until cool, running water and then chop finely. Add these to the bowl.
6, Season the salad well and add a good glug olive oil.
7, If you're poshing it up a bit and using pine nuts, toast these off in a dry pan until golden. These delicious nuts are currently super expensive (due to a crop failure in China) and if you're not feeling so flash this week, use sunflower seeds or cashew nuts in the same way, or omit.
8, By now, the beef will be beautifully tender and cooled enough to not ruin the delicacy of the salad. Slice it finely and either mix through or place on top of the salad when serving.

This was a lovely mid week meal - very easy and fast to prepare. I took my second serving for lunch, and it had stayed fresh well. Bulk the tabbouleh up and serve as a side salad at a barbeque or dinner.

Quinoa and griddled veg salad

A sweet spring day, and lots of work to do.

This salad is filling, healthy and delicious. It can also be served hot or cold, making it perfect for next days lunch. Although I've not tried it, the ingredients would make a lovely vegetarian kebab for a BBQ, served on top of the quinoa as a straight salad. And if you don't fancy the quinoa, you could substitute it for cous cous or bulgar wheat.

Serves 4
100g quinoa - I'm using Biofair tricolore for a more colourful base
1 bunch spring onions
200g feta cheese
A handful of mixed seeds, toasted
1 aubergine
3 courgettes
Artichoke hearts in oil
Sweet peppers in oil
1 lemon
Olive oil
A handful fresh mint
Salt and pepper

1, Rinse the quinoa in a sieve under running water, then add 200ml water. Cover with a lid and simmer for ten minutes, then remove from the heat and leave (lid on) until all the water is absorbed.
2, Cut the aubergine and courgettes lengthways into cm thick slices and brush with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
3, Heat a griddle it until smoking and in batches cook the aubergine and courgette until coloured. You can also use a grill to do this if you don't have a griddle.
4, Colour the artichoke hearts and the peppers on the griddle as well.
5, Transfer the quinoa to a large serving bowl.
6, Slice the spring onions and add to the quinoa with the toasted seeds. Mix the griddled vegetables through and squeeze over the juice of the lemon, a good glug of olive oil and salt and pepper.
7, To serve, crumble the feta and tear the mint over the salad.