The Jennifer Aniston Salad, Tweaked

Serves 6-8

I’ve jumped on the band wagon. Albeit a tweaked version. Mine is gluten free, dairy free and vegan. Although I included the feta element as a side dish which I’ll also detail so dairy eaters can include it in their salad. Anyway, it is delicious and can totally see why it was a staple on the set.

Ingredients:

2 tins of chickpeas

1 large cucumber, diced

1 red onion, finely diced

100g nuts (Jennifer Aniston uses Pistachios, I used chopped cashews)

500g (cooked weight) quinoa

30g parsley, chopped

15g mint, chopped

2 lemons, juiced

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Optional whipped feta:

200g feta

2 heaped tbsp Greek yogurt

Step 1: N.b. this is optional, but I like to do it as it makes the chickpeas softer and nicer to eat. Pour the contents of both tins into a sauce pan (including their water) and bring to the boil for 20 minutes to make them soft to eat. Then drain and allow to cool. If skipping this step simply drain your tins of chickpeas.

Step 2: Combine the cooled chickpeas, the quinoa, cucumber, red onion and nuts in a large bowl. Only add the herbs just before serving as the mint will go black after it’s been chopped.

Step 3: Mix together the lemon juice, a pinch each of salt and pepper and about double the quantity of olive oil to lemon juice. Just before serving mix the dressing and herbs through the salad and serve.

Optional extra – whipped feta.

In a food processor blitz together the feta and Greek yogurt to create a thick dip. Serve on the side for non-vegans.