The Dressing Room Quinoa Salad

by Nick Saltmarsh

To describe The Dressing Room as a restaurant specialising in salad would be to seriously under-sell the amazing food they create and serve in quirky East London venues – here’s what they say about themselves:

A tasty rebuttal to the idea that salads are solely for the health conscious, The Dressing Room serves filling and delicious dishes full of inventive textures, with an emphasis on the dressing. The clue is in the name. Everything comes with DIY dressings for the diner to complete the dish themselves.

The Dressing Room’s seasonal menu is an inspired twist on Salmagundi, a hearty, 17th century English dish of meats, seafood, vegetables, leaves, fruits, nuts, flowers and dressings.

The Dressing Room’s recipes are created by Tom Sarafian, then a resident chef at Moro, Exmouth Market by Moro. With previous stints at the Michelin starred restaurants St John and Petersham Nurseries, Tom is committed to fresh and contemporary dishes that give a playful nod to the past.

Here’s what Tom did with our Essex quinoa – it’s delicious!

Serves 4

Ingredients for the Salad

• 250g Quinoa
• pinch of saffron (or try a good pinch of dried marigold flowers)
• 150g pistachios
• 1 medium pomegranate
• 500g broad beans (in pods)
• 3 spring onions
• 1 large red onion
• 1/2 bunch parsley
• 1/2 bunch mint
• 1 bunch Dill
• 500g cherry tomatoes
• 1 large cucumber
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• 100 ml extra virgin rapeseed oil

Ingredients for the Dressing

• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
• 3 teaspoons sumac
• 3 lemons, juiced
• 80 ml extra virgin rapeseed oil
• Sea salt (to taste)
• Cracked black pepper (to taste)

Method

1. Infuse 100ml warm water with the saffron
2. Boil a medium size pot of water
   Add quinoa
   Cook for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally
   Strain
   Transfer into a tray
   Season with salt and pepper
   Add oil and saffron water
   Mix well and set aside to cool
3. Meanwhile prep the vegetables for the salad;
   Pod broad beans
   Wash and dry all vegetables and herbs
   Boil a small pot of water and blanch broad beans for 3 minutes then refresh in cold water
   Strain and roughly chop broad beans
   Dice cucumber and red onion
   Slice spring onion
   Halve tomatoes
   Halve pomegranate and take out seeds, reserving any juice
   Roughly chop herbs
   Toast pistachios and roughly chop
   Set aside
4. Mix all dressing ingredients in a bowl with a whisk and season with salt and pepper
5. Gently combine quinoa with vegetables and herbs
   Add dressing and mix well
   Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary
   Serve in a large bowl
   Scatter pomegranate seeds and pistachios on top

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