Warm salad of quinoa, roast tomatoes, chorizo and avocado with lime crème fraîche recipe

This works well both as a main course (with a side of spicy black beans or roasted corn on the cob) and a side dish – it's lovely with spicy chicken.

Prep time: 10 minutes | Cooking time: 40 minutes

SERVES

four as a main course, eight as a side dish

INGREDIENTS

• 8 plum tomatoes
• 2½ tbsp olive oil
• ½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp harissa
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 200g quinoa (mixed red and white if you can get it)
• 100g bulgur wheat
• 2 small avocados
• 3 limes
• 250g chorizo
• 25g baby spinach leaves, torn
• 6 spring onions, trimmed and chopped
• 10g coriander, roughly chopped
• ½ tbsp white balsamic vinegar
• 6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

To serve

• 200g crème fraîche
• finely grated zest of 1 lime
• juice of ½ lime

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas mark 6. Halve the tomatoes and put them in a single layer in a small roasting-tin or oven-proof dish. Mix 2 tbsp of the olive oil with the balsamic, cumin and harissa and pour over the tomatoes, coating them all over. Leave them cut-side up, sprinkle with the sugar and season. Roast for about 40 minutes, or until the tomatoes are caramelised in patches and slightly shrunken.
2. Meanwhile, toast the quinoa in a dry frying-pan for a couple of minutes, then put into a saucepan with the bulgur wheat and cover with water. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat a little and cook, covered, for 15 minutes.
3. Halve and de-stone the avocados. Cut into slices, lengthways, then carefully peel the skin off each slice. Season and squeeze over the juice of one of the limes.
4. Cut the chorizo into rounds or little chunks and sauté in the remaining ½ tbsp olive oil for about four minutes, until the chorizo is golden-brown and cooked right through.
5. Fork the quinoa and bulgur wheat, season assertively, and put it into a large, flat serving dish. Gently mix in the chorizo, baby spinach, spring onions, coriander, avocado, the juice of the other two limes, the white balsamic and extra-virgin olive oil. Dot the roast tomatoes on top and taste for seasoning.
6. Mix together the lime crème fraîche ingredients and serve with the quinoa.