Toasted feta & pecan grain salad with cherries, green beans and herbs

Name: Toasted feta & pecan grain salad with cherries, green beans and herbs
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 300 g pack fine green beans, trimmed and halved; 200 g feta; 100 g pecan nut halves; 25 g pack flat leaf parsley; 25 g mint; 20 g dill; 250 g g packs Merchant Gourmet 5 Glorious Grains; 210 g pack pomegranate seeds; ½ red onion, finely sliced; 180 g pack dried cherries

Katie Bishop's grain salad deserves the main stage with it bold flavours and colours, but also works well alongside barbecued lamp chops or cutlets or for picnic outings.

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VegetarianHealthySource of fibre11 plant varieties

Serves8
CourseSide
Prepare20 mins
Cook20 mins
Total time40 mins

Please note, we take every care to ensure the product, allergen and recipe information displayed is correct. However, should a product be unavailable, alternatives may be displayed and/or a substitution provided. If you have an allergy or intolerance, please always check the product label before use.

300g pack fine green beans, trimmed and halved
200g feta
100g pecan nut halves
25g pack flat leaf parsley
25g mint
20g dill
2 x 250g g packs Merchant Gourmet 5 Glorious Grains
210g pack pomegranate seeds
½ red onion, finely sliced
½ x 180g pack dried cherries

For the dressing

5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing
3 preserved lemons
3 tbsp Belazu Sour Cherry Harissa
2 lemons, juice

Preheat the oven to 200ºC, gas mark 6. Bring a medium pan of water to the boil over a high heat. Trim and halve the green beans, add to the pan, bring back to the boil and cook for 3 minutes. Drain and cool under cold running water, then drain again and dry well.
Lightly oil a medium baking tray. Break the feta into 2cm chunks and scatter over one side of the tray. Roast for 10 minutes, then add the nuts to the other side of the tray and return to the oven for 8-10 minutes more or until everything is golden. When cool enough to handle, roughly break up a few of the nuts.
Meanwhile, remove the leaves from the herbs and discard the stalks (the stalks can be reserved for stock or soup). Roughly chop about half the leaves. To make the dressing, quarter the preserved lemons, scoop out and discard the insides, then finely shred the skins. Add to a bowl with the remaining dressing ingredients, season, and whisk together.
To make the dressing, toss together all the salad ingredients (reserve some whole herbs, feta, pecans and pomegranate to garnish) with most of the dressing. Transfer to a large platter, drizzle with the remaining dressing, top with the reserved ingredients and serve. Delicious with barbecued meats, especially lamb.

Cook’s tip

Toasting the feta and the nuts brings out a wonderful flavour and texture in them, so that step is definitely worthwhile. Resist lining the baking tray before adding the cheese. You want it to crisp up underneath. It sticks to foil, and parchment makes it too soggy. The extra washing-up is worth it! To cook our own grain blend from scratch, you will need about 250g dry grains to obtain 500g when cooked.

A large spoonful of houmous and some crusty bread on the side brings it all together as a truly fabulous meal.

Typical values per serving when made using specific products in recipe