Beetroot and Buckwheat Salad

So when sitting at La Cigale French Markets with my sister, enjoying a piece of Raw Cheesecake we watched lines of nike-clad youths weave their way through carts of fresh produce, eyeing up the cheap organic vegetables and fruit on offer and realized how awesome that was. That in this generation the ‘cool’ thing to do is to eat fresh, healthy foods and care about how you fuel your body. That practicing yoga, running a marathon or enjoying sunrise walks was the new trend. As a young generation we often get a traditional bad wrap from society as selfish, tech consumed street-youths who are up to no good, but no one can deny that the awareness and care about our health, fitness and use of our earth is vastly improving. So yes, we do listen to music too loud and probably yell a lot in public (especially if we catch sight of a friend) and are generally super annoying to any adults, but I can definitely say that I feel like our future is in the strongest, most sustainably aware hands yet. Which is pretty darn exciting.

Okay so enough about my rant of how important healthy eating is in this generation, and lets get into this buckwheat salad. Often mistaken for wheat due to its deceptive name, this food is in fact fruit seed with a number of health benefits, hence its newfound popularity. Its one of the best sources of high-quality, easily digestible proteins making it an excellent meat substitute as well as being gluten free and pretty easy to cook up (yay). 

Buckwheat, beetroot & feta salad 

Ingredients

•                3-4 fresh beetroots (or a small packet of salad beetroot)

•                100g roasted buckwheat

•                50g feta cheese

•                5-6 Florets of Steamed broccoli/cauliflower

For the dressing

•                2 tbsps olive oil

•                2 tbsps lemon juice

•                sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method     

If you are using fresh beetroots, top and tail them and put them into a pan of boiling water. Cover and cook for one hour until tender, then cool and gently peel away the skin. Use gloves if you don’t want to stain your fingers.

In a separate pan, cook the buckwheat according to the packet instructions. Usually, this means rinsing the buckwheat and placing it into a pan, then bringing the water to a steady boil and cooking for fifteen minutes until tender. Drain and rinse well with cold water.

To make the dressing, mix two tablespoons of olive oil with two tablespoons lemon juice, and a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pour it over the buckwheat and stir until well coated.

Next, scatter the buckwheat onto a large plate. Chop the cooked beetroot and scatter over the top. Crumble the feta cheese using your fingers and scatter over the buckwheat and beetroot.