Chicken & Quinoa Power Salad

Ingredients

• 350 g chicken breast
• salt and black pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 180 g quinoa
• 100 g baby spinach
• 100 g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 50 g toasted pumpkin seeds
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3 tbsp warm water
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 lemon, juiced
• wholegrain pitta breads, to serve
• cucumber and yoghurt dip, to serve

Method

1. Tip the quinoa into a pan of well-salted water — it should taste like the sea, and this is your only chance to season the grains from the inside. Simmer for 12–15 minutes until the little tails have unfurled and the grain still has a slight bite. Drain thoroughly and leave to steam-dry in the sieve while you crack on.
2. Pat the chicken breasts dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means no colour. Rub all over with the olive oil, smoked paprika, and a generous pinch of salt and black pepper. Don't be shy with the seasoning; this is the only salt the chicken gets.
3. Heat a stainless or cast-iron pan over medium-high until properly hot — a drop of water should skitter and vanish. Lay the chicken in away from you and leave it alone for 6–7 minutes until the underside is deeply bronzed and the paprika has bloomed into the oil, fragrant and almost smoky. If you're cooking both breasts, give them space — crowd the pan and they'll steam in their own juices instead of browning. Flip and cook another 5–6 minutes until the thickest part hits 68°C; carryover takes it to 72°C off the heat. Lift onto a board and rest for 5 minutes before slicing on the diagonal — cut early and the juices run onto the board, not into you.
4. While the chicken rests, whisk the tahini, lemon juice, minced garlic, honey, warm water and a pinch of salt in a small bowl. It will seize and look broken at first — keep going and it loosens into a pourable, glossy dressing. The raw garlic mellows in the lemon juice; if it still tastes too sharp, give it five minutes to settle. Loosen with another splash of warm water if it tightens.
5. Tip the warm quinoa into a large bowl with the baby spinach and toss — the residual heat wilts the leaves just enough to take the squeak off them without collapsing them. Taste now and adjust the salt; warm grains absorb seasoning, cold ones don't.
6. Divide the quinoa and spinach between two wide bowls. Fan the sliced chicken across the top, tuck in the avocado slices and halved cherry tomatoes, and scatter the toasted pumpkin seeds generously over the lot. Spoon the lemon-tahini dressing in long ribbons across everything, then warm the pitta breads in a dry pan for 30 seconds a side and tear them alongside, with the cucumber and yoghurt dip in a bowl for dunking. Taste a forkful — a final crack of pepper or squeeze of lemon if it needs lifting.