sun-dried tomato & basil pesto quinoa salad & lemon oregano chicken
you guys!!! i can not believe this is my very first post of 2018! january was a little bit of a blur over here in my world. if you follow me on instagram {don't? come join!} you will know that at the end of january i ran my very first food photography & styling workshop with the ever so sweet and talented hayley of birch & berries. i pushed through some of my biggest fears {public speaking being number 1}, made it through my anxiety and the day went off without a hitch.
it was so beautiful and the ladies that joined us for our intense one-day shop were just so incredible! they truly made the day so worth it, seeing them soaking in everything we were sharing and then implementing that information into their own photographs {the before and afters have been so so so awesome to watch} was worth pushing it through every single one of my silly anxious thoughts.
hayley and i have been in the talks of having another one this spring or summer so if you were not able to make it to our first one, do know that we hope to have more in the future, you can sign up to my newsletter here (just scroll to the bottom) so you don't miss out on registration when it is announced!! however, if you are looking to really hone in and delve deep into everything i have to share about photography, styling, social media, blogging, branding etc etc then you might want to check out my 3-day workshop retreat coming up in june, down in kentucky! co-hosted with the super skilled and beautiful lauren of harvest & honey, all the information is right here under my workshop tab!
i wanted to start you guys off with something super simple and super healthy for the new year....yes I realize that it is a month into the new year but with prepping for the above workshops and starting a whole house reno, january just seemed to slip by me! stay tuned for all of our reno details, before and afters and the story of our house, it is coming next week along with a decadent raspberry truffle you won't want to miss!
this pesto salad is so incredibly versatile and something i have been making all sorts of ways for yeas and years. don't like quinoa use farrow or wheat berries or lentils or even pasta {paul's favourite way}. don't like broccoli use cauliflower (or both!), the veggies can be mixed and matched to whatever is in season or whatever you may have laying around in your fridge crisper. you honestly don't even have to measure the pesto ingredients, i usually NEVER do, i just kinda go off my gut and throw everything into a food processor and whiz away! the whole thing takes under 20 minutes to make (aside from waiting for the grain or pasta to cool)....cooling story below...
have you ever had one of those fool-proof recipes of your own that you make all of the time go so so wrong the moment you have to make it for a group of people you don't know?! it happened to me, with this salad, at the above workshop!
i like the quinoa, or whatever grain you may choose to use to be room temperature before mixing it with all of the veggies and pesto {it just keeps the veggies crisper, if you mix in the grain while still hot it will slightly steam the veggies}...well the night before our workshop hayley and i were running around the kitchen prepping and preparing all of the food and props and finalizing workshop details and because of this said rush i decided to cool the quinoa by soaking it under a cold running tap. not only did this lose all of the quinoa's beautiful fluffy factor but after letting it drain off for not enough time i mixed in the veggies and pesto and because the quinoa was still pretty wet it turned out kinda mushy and the pesto ended up losing so much of its flavour because it was essentially washed out!
my go to recipe was a go to failure! we didn't have time to really re-make the entire dish so i slightly salvaged it by adding a crap load more nutritional yeast and garlic powder (an ingredient i don't even use in the recipe haha) but i was nonetheless disappointed and mad at myself! so my lesson for you is to have the patience to allow the grain to cool down to room temperature on its own. if you are using pasta you can run it under cold water and just let it drain really well after. allowing the grains to cool at their own rate still keeps them nice and fluffy and it soaks in all the pesto goodness instead of watering down the pesto!
now i didn't make this chicken for our workshop but kinda wish i had! the flavours are outstanding and the lemon gets all nice and gooey and caramelized in the oven that it just melts in your mouth! it is almost like preserved lemons but even better, you can eat the rind and all!! i have a very similar thyme and oregano chicken here too if you want to check it out!
these two are great together and great on their own. the salad makes an awesome potluck option and the chicken gets even better the next day so don't be scared to double the recipe! hello health lunches for the week ahead...
quinoa pesto salad & lemon oregano chicken
salad ingredients
1 cup cooked room temperature quinoa (or grain/pasta of your choice)
1 cucumber
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 crown of brocolli
1 pint small cherry tomatoes
pesto
14 or 1/2 cup of sun dried tomatoes
1 large bushel of basil
juice one of lemon
1/4 cup almonds
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup parmesan or nutritional yeast
salt and pepper to taste
oregano & lemon chicken
4 chicken thighs
3/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup bone broth or chicken stock
6 stems of oregano roughly chopped
1 large lemon sliced thinly
5 garlic cloves minced
2 shallots minced
directions
pesto salad:
cook the quinoa according to the directions on the package. once cooked fluff it up with a fork and let it cool down to room temperature.
while its cooling, roughly chop all of the veggies into small bite size kind of pieces. set aside
in a food processor blend all of the pesto ingredients together. once the quinoa has cooled add it to a large mixing bowl, throw in the veggies and toss it all with the pesto (you may not need all of the pesto but it keeps amazing in the fridge to use throughout the week on toast, eggs, pasta etc). serve with some extra parmesan or nutritional yeast on top and some fresh chopped basil!
chicken:
preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
in a large oven safe (cast iron is best) pan on high heat add in some olive oil and butter (about 2 tbsp of each), season the chicken generously with salt and pepper and brown on both sides. once browned place the chicken on a side plate. in the same pan on medium heat add in the minced garlic and shallot and brown. de-glaze the pan with the white wine, then add in the bone broth or chicken stock, chopped oregano and thinly sliced lemon.
place the chicken back into the pan and transfer to the oven for 40 minutes, turning the chicken half way through. this allows for the chicken to get real nice and tender with the white wine and stock and the lemon slices get almost caramelized, melt in your mouth!