If you’ve been reading Tasty Tuesday for some time, you may have gathered I have a thing for salads. I bloody love a good salad.

I’m not talking about flimsy, floppy, leafy salad… I’m more a fan of your robust, filling, vibrant and flavoursome ‘proper meal’ kind of salad. Over the years I’ve shared a bunch of my personal FAVE salads to cook at home – amongst them, this amazing winter tabouli, and my all time favourite green broadbean salad with pine nuts and preserved lemon, and so many more!

This month, though, I’m veering into slightly new territory. The truth is, having recently become a new Mum, I’m craving super satisfying, healthy meals, but I am seriously short on time. I have a new obsession in the kitchen, and it’s called EFFICIENCY.

So, I’m having a little break from my favourite salads, which often require a whole lot of measuring, careful slicing and hard-to-find ingredients. Instead, I’m stocking up on delicious pre-cooked bits and pieces, in an effort to plate up something super tasty each day with a minimum of fuss. My fridge is stocked with smoked fish and chicken, store-bought dips, canned chickpeas, even those 2-minute microwaveable brown rice sachets can mean the difference between eating a decent lunch or succumbing to cheese on toast for the third meal in a row!

This month is more about quick and healthy meal inspiration than actual ‘recipes’. Each dish is a super simple, healthy, tasty meal idea, using ingredients found in most supermarkets, and requiring the bare minimum of prep time.

We’re kicking off today with one of my all time favourite super quick meals – smoked trout, wild rice and edamame bowl.  About 10 minutes prep, from fridge to table!

Ingredients

(Serves One)

1 single serve hot smoked trout fillet (available from most supermarkets)

1 cup cooked brown rice or wild rice (try those brown rice microwave sachets if, like me, you’re super short on time)

1 cup frozen edamame

Handful of green leaves (something peppery like watercress or rocket is nice)

Half a ripe avocado

2 or 3 small radishes

1 lemon

1 tbsp sesame oil

Few sprigs of fresh dill

Sesame seeds and/or Japanese ‘gomasio’ sesame seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Cook your rice according to packet instructions. Be aware wild rice (as pictured here) takes way longer to cook than brown rice, which takes longer than white rice. If you’re short on time, you could try the brown rice microwave sachet things, which seem like an appalling idea in principle but have somehow become surprisingly acceptable to me now that my priorities have been completely reshuffled!

Once the rice has cooked, fluff it slightly with a fork, and season with a generous drizzle of sesame oil, a squeeze of lemon, some lemon zest, sesame seeds and/or Japanese ‘gomasio’ sesame seasoning, salt and pepper. Seasoned rice really makes this meal taste 1000% better, so don’t skip this step.

Cook your frozen edamame, which takes about a minute in a pot of boiling water.

Slice your avocado, radish and wash your green leaves. Wash and roughly chop dill.

Plate up a serve of your seasoned rice, the cooked edamame, flaked trout straight from the packet, green leaves, sliced radish and sliced avocado. Drizzle some more sesame oil over everything, with a squeeze of lemon. Garnish with lemon zest, sesame seeds, the dill and salt and pepper. Voila! Healthy, filling, deliciousness, prepped in approximately 10 minutes.