Quinoa and lentil salad with asparagus

This is a wonderful dish eaten on it's own or as a side. We love it in the summer with roast chicken, we have it for lunch or when we are having a BBQ - basically anytime is good! We often serve it when we have friends and they love it - I think it is one of my most requested recipes. 

Ingredients

250g puy lentils (I buy the Merchant Gourmet pouches)
250g quinoa and brown rice - (Tilda pouch)

3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Sea salt, freshly ground black pepper
16 spears asparagus, woody ends removed, spears cut into 2.5cm pieces
Juice + finely grated zest of 2 limes, plus extra lime cheeks, to serve
1 punnet (250g) cherry tomatoes, quartered
3 spring onions, trimmed + finely sliced
1 long green chilli, deseeded, thinly sliced
1 large handful mint leaves, very roughly chopped

Method

1. Place the lentils and quinoa and rice in a large bowl mix well and add the olive oil and red wine vinegar, season well with salt and pepper. 
2. Half fill a small saucepan with water, bring to the boil and add the asparagus. Cook for 2-3 minutes until al dente, then drain and plunge immediately into a bowl of iced water. Drain again and add to the bowl with the lentils and quinoa.
3. Add the lime juice, along with the tomatoes, spring onions, chilli, mint and lime zest, then season well with salt and black pepper.

Serves 4 as a side