Image by Bec Doyle Photography from the book Eat Right for Your Life, Wilkinson Publishing.
Looking for a salad to serve on Christmas day? For this recipe the salad is served with lamb, but it goes just as nicely with roast turkey or a BBQ! It can be made ahead of time, but here is a quick tip - add the spinach and mint at the last minute! Look closely at the picture above - your salad will look a lot greener than this as I tried to be clever and freeze the cous-cous mix for our photo shoot day and soon realized that spinach doesn't freeze so well and ends up a limp soggy mess. So do a better job than me and you will have a fresh, vibrant and tasty salad!
For more Christmas eating ideas, have a read of my blog post Christmas eating for athletes - tips to eat well through the festive season and leave your details on my Thoughts page for nutrition news and recipes sent directly to your email.
Or if you are looking for a last minute gift idea, I have copies of my book Eat Right for Your Life available at a special Christmas price of $10. Contact me via the Get In Touch tab on my website to order copies.
Lamb salad with chickpea, spinach and mint cous-cous
Serves 4 as a main
1 cup/185g dry couscous
300g/10.5 oz can of chickpeas, drained
100g/3.5 oz spinach leaves
2 tbsp chopped mint
¼ cup/42g dry roasted almonds, roughly chopped
¼ cup/30g cranberries
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
Extra oil for cooking
600g/1.3 lb lamb filet or lean lamb steaks
Salt and cracked pepper
Low-fat Greek yoghurt
1. Cook the couscous according to packet instructions and allow to cool.
2. Stir through the chickpeas, spinach leaves, mint, almonds and cranberries.
3. Combine the lemon juice and oil, drizzle over the salad and stir to combine.
4. Sprinkle the lamb with salt and cracked pepper. Heat oil in a pan and cook lamb for 3-4 minutes each side, or until cooked to your liking. Rest for 5 minutes.
5. While the lamb is resting, place the salad onto warmed serving plates then slice the lamb and serve with the couscous salad and a dollop of Greek yoghurt.
