Bean and Quinoa, Lemon and Herb Salad

Ingredients

• 50g Quinoa, £3.92/500g, 39p
• 2 spring onion, or half an ordinary onion, 3p
• a tin of cheapest baked beans, 29p
• 10g parsley, 84p/100g, 8p
• 10g mint, 84p/70g, 12p
• zest of a lemon, 28p
• Large pinch ground allspice, 80p/40g, 6p
• half tsp salt
• 2 tblsp veg oil, £1/litre, 2p
• Priced at Morrisons using mySupermarket 10Oct17
• Total cost £1.27, 63p each
• Nutrition per serving 287 calories, 8g protein, 16g fat, 28g carbs

Takes 15 min, serves 2

Instructions

1. Fine chop the spring onions or onion. Wash and shred the herbs. Rinse the sauce of the baked beans in a sieve. Retain the sauce if you like and use in the next soup, stew or casserole you make. Place everything in a bowl. Zest in the lemon. Season with about half a teaspoon salt and lots of black pepper

Cook the quinoa for about 20 minutes until soft. Drain well and add to the salad mixture. Add more seasoning if it needs it.

Divide the salad between two bowls and serve.

Verdict

This salad is wonderfully fragrant with multiple levels of flavour. I used my best oil, a hazelnut one, but I couldn’t really taste it. Perhaps I’ll use an olive oil next time.

One serving in a bowl doesn’t look like very much, but it’s really filling and sustaining, as things with beans in tend to be. We had ours with a wedge of chewy sourdough baquette and butter.

This is ideal for lunch at home or away, as well as at dinner time. Although the herbs are fresh, they last very well.

Use herbs that are free from the garden, and omit the allspice, and the price per portion drops to exactly 50p. I’ve priced the herbs as if you have to buy them as not everyone has space to grow herbs.

Variations

The quinoa is high protein for a grain, but you could change it to rice, millet or cous cous, or any of the larger lentils, or chick peas.

Any combination of herbs that you have to hand would work well. I have flat leaf parsley in the garden, and apple mint, so used that. I also have lemon balm and rosemary which I’ll try.

I added a piece of preserved lemon to ours, 10 black olives and 3 pieces of sundried tomato. Mike said that walnuts would be good in it, and they would. Any other nuts too would go well. If you are not going to eat the salad for a while, add the nuts at the last minute if you don’t want them to be soft.

You could change the flavouring by adding lemon juice and tahini, or perhaps some miso of any colour. A dash of honey might be nice.

You could serve this as part of a selection of salads, or have it with a piece of fish or chicken, or a slice of quiche.

I’m not sure I could taste the allspice. Next time I will add more, or you could just leave it out if you don’t have any