I had a similar salad to this at a good value veggie restaurant in Soho called Mildred's this week and it reminded me how delicious this sort of big crunchy salad can be. This one comes from the Guardian's food columnist Allegra McEvedy whose Leon restaurants are also a great place to go for a healthy lunch. It comes from the Fairtrade Everyday Cookbook

As it contains a fair number of ingredients I've made a couple of suggestions for keeping the cost down. In fact the ideal thing would be to double or treble the recipe and make it for a crowd.

Ingredients
Serves 2
Preparation time 15 minutes
Cooking time 15-20 minutes

30g (1oz) Fairtrade quinoa
200g (7oz) broccoli, cut into bite-sized florets
120g (4oz) fresh or frozen peas (frozen are cheaper FB)
100g (3 1/2 oz) cucumber, cut into slim batons
100g (3 1/2 oz) good quality feta cheese*, crumbled
20g (3/4 oz) alfalfa
20g (3/4 oz) toasted seeds (we use Fairtrade sesame seeds and sunflower, flax and pumpkin seeds**)
50g (1 3/4 oz) Fairtrade avocado cut into bite-sized chunks
Small handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Small handful mint, roughly chopped
2 dessertspoons juice of a Fairtrade lemon
4 dessertspoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Fairtrade black pepper

Method
Put the quinoa in a small pan. Cover with cold water plus about an inch (2.5cm) then let it gently simmer until the water’s gone - about 15 minutes. Spread it on a baking tray to cool to room temperature.
Pour an inch of hot water into a saucepan with a pinch of salt and cover it. Once boiling drop in the broccoli and peas and put the lid back on. Drain after three minutes and run the veg under cold water to take all the heat out and keep them crisp and green
Build your salad in layers now, either individually or on a big plate to share - this is more of a flat salad than a big bowl affair. Start with the first ingredient on the list and end up with the chopped herbs.
Lightly whisk the lemon juice and oil together with some seasoning but only dress the salad just before you eat it.

TOP TIPS
* You could use a crumbly white cheese such as Caerphilly or Wensleydale instead of feta or tofu, of course, if you're vegan

* It would be quite pricey to buy all these different seeds just for two. I'd use a ready-prepared seed mix designed for scattering on salads

* If you wanted a variation the Mildred's version included carrot, fennel, sprouted seeds and sultanas with an apple, lime and ginger dressing. Also the seeds were toasted which gave it a nice additional crunch . . .

For more information about Fairtrade certified foods visit www.fairtrade.org.uk

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