Recipe today: quinoa salad.
Quinoa shminoa. Another one! and why are all the food bloggers always making quinoa salads? Are you annoyed? I’m annoyed, and mostly at myself. But annoyance quickly faded to insatiable desire for more quinoa when I took one taste of that quinoa soaked with the lemon herb vinaigrette. Holy summer freshness. That is something I need to be eating more of, all the time, every day.
HERBED QUINOA GARDEN VEGGIE SALAD
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 8
Recipe Modified from: pinchofyum
Ingredients
- For the dressing
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons warm water
- 1 or 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon agave nectar
- juice of one lemon
- salt and pepper to taste (I started with ¼ teaspoon salt)
- a handful of parsley leaves
- For the salad
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
- 8 leaves romaine lettuce
- 3 large carrots, peeled
- 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
- ¾ cup chopped herbs of choice (see notes)
- Parmesan cheese for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Puree the dressing ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Store in fridge until ready to use.
- Cook the quinoa according to package directions. When finished cooking, chill in the fridge or freezer. The texture of the salad is better when the quinoa is cool and crumbles a little more easily (instead of hot and sticky).
- Shred the lettuce into long, thin pieces (or to whatever texture you like). Cut the carrots into a few big chunks and mince them in the food processor with 3-5 pulses. Toss the tomatoes, carrots, and chopped herbs together. Toss the cooled quinoa with the dressing; add the carrots, tomatoes, and herb mixture. When ready to serve, toss with the lettuce.
Notes
For my herbs, I did ¼ cup each of basil, parsley, and green onions (plus a little lemon thyme! yum).
Photo Credit: pinchofyum