Serves: 6

I am not someone who buys many ready-made products but I do love a shortcut and I’m a huge fan of ready-cooked grains, including spelt and quinoa. I have lost count of the numbers of times I have wanted supper in a hurry and simply opened one of those packets, added some leftover chicken or salmon, a chopped avocado, a load of cherry tomatoes and a bag of rocket or spinach, squeezed over a lemon and had a great meal ready in minutes. You can cook the spelt from scratch and let it cool if you want to, but why bother? Oh, and I cheat with the squash, too!

Recipe taken from CHERISH by Anne Shooter, published by Headline Home 2018.

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Ingredients

Name: Spelt, butternut squash, cranberry and basil salad
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 125g spelt (or use a 250g pouch of cooked spelt) 1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks (or 400g prepared squash) 1 garlic clove, unpeeled 2 red onions, cut into wedges 2 tbsp olive oil salt and freshly ground black pepper a pinch of chilli flakes 100g dried cranberries 100g pistachios, shelled a small bunch of basil leaves, picked off the stems but kept whole a small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped 85g baby spinach leaves 150g mild goats’ cheese, crumbled (optional) For the dressing 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard 1 tbsp date syrup (silan) or honey salt and freshly ground black pepper

125g spelt (or use a 250g pouch of cooked spelt)

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks (or 400g prepared squash)

1 garlic clove, unpeeled

2 red onions, cut into wedges

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

a pinch of chilli flakes

100g dried cranberries

100g pistachios, shelled

a small bunch of basil leaves, picked off the stems but kept whole

a small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

85g baby spinach leaves

150g mild goats’ cheese, crumbled (optional)

For the dressing

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

1 tbsp date syrup (silan) or honey

salt and freshly ground black pepper