I have been on my detox for less than a week and I haven’t been entirely faithful. I’ve had a swig of coke, a glass of Pinot Grigio, a couple of oaty biscuits that looked healthy but actually had many ungodly things in them like “inverted sugar” (whatever that it), a bite of sausage, some delicious white bread and a pill of codeine. Many would have given up by now, concluding that their detox hasn’t worked out this time, yet I persevere. Why? Because it would be easy to give up, to go out and have fun and forget all about it, but if I do that I will destroy my own trust in myself. If I continue, then despite the setbacks, by the month’s end I will feel amazing and the odd glasses of wine and naughty bites of sausage will be forgotten, because they meant nothing anyway. Today has been a fantastic detox day, because I have invented “The Best Salad in the World possibly”
Ingredients
Watercress
Pearl barley
Turkey (free-range)
Pomegranate (Half per portion)
Linseeds (or pumpkin seeds perhaps)
Sunflower seeds
Spring onion
Honey
Soya sauce
Vegetable stock
Balsamic
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
It all started when I went out for lunch yesterday with some friends and I ordered the “Superfoods Salad” (along with the wine and the bread), in order to “be good”. This contained pumpkin, lentils, goat’s cheese, salad leaves and some kind of seeds from what I can remember. It sounds like nothing special, but I guess my body needed the nutrients because I wolfed it down with minimal food envy. I always have a minimal level of food envy, so this is normal. I am very greedy and always want some of what everyone else is having. The salad was so delicious that it inspired me to make my own version today. And, my goodness, that up there was the best salad I have ever eaten! I marinated the turkey in a bit of honey, soya sauce and pepper, while the pearl barley cooked in my home-made vegetable stock. Obviously, you can always use a stock cube for this. I toasted the seeds lightly on a dry frying pan. The one thing I would change about this salad in the future are the linseeds – I’d replace them with something less small and annoying. After taking the seeds out of the frying pan, I added some olive oil and fried the turkey strips, turning half way, for about 10min. While the sauce was caramelizing, I chopped the spring onions and took the seeds out of the pomegranate – my least favourite job. Finally, I added the pearl barley to the frying pan and removed it from heat. Mix it all in well so you don’t waste any of the delicious honey and soya flavours. Add the pomegranate. Prep the watercress, and add the contents of the frying pan to the plate. Sprinkle with toasted seeds, chopped spring onions and an artistic flair. Now, I challenge you to make a better salad that this. Without blowing my own trumpet (that’s a lie, but here in the UK it’s unseemly to be seen blowing it, so we pretend not to), I’m not sure it can be done
