If you’re sick of the same old tossed salad or want something easy you can pack for lunch, a grain salad is a great way to go. This one capitalizes on the array of beautiful produce available in summer, but you can improvise any number of ways to keep things interesting (and seasonal) all year long.
This recipe calls for walnut or olive oil. Either is good…I used walnut just to mix things up for a change. If you don’t have any on hand, olive oil will taste just as good (and has the benefit of making this recipe nut free!).
Garden quinoa salad
Prep
Cook
Inactive
Total
Yield 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry quinoa
- 1 T grapeseed oil
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 1 small sweet onion, chopped
- 1 ear of corn (corn removed)
- 1 bulb fennel, grated
- ½ English cucumber, quartered and chopped
- ¼ cup Peppadew peppers, slivered
- 1 avocado
- 2 T basil, chopped
- One lemon (zest and juice)
- 2-3 T olive or walnut oil
- 1½ tsp. salt
- Black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Prepare the quinoa according to the directions on the package.
- While the quinoa is cooking, chop the onions, remove the corn from the cob, and grate the fennel.
- Heat the grapeseed oil over medium heat and add the onions.
- When the onions begin to look transparent, add the corn, fennel and tomatoes, plus ½ tsp of salt.
- Sauté the vegetables for 8-10 minutes, stirring often. Turn off heat.
- Chop the cucumber and peppers. Remove the zest of your lemon, then juice it.
- When the quinoa is finished coking, pour it into a large mixing bowl. Add the warm vegetables and remaining salt. Refrigerate to cool, or let sit until it reaches room temperature (30 minutes or so).
- Once the quinoa is cool, add all of the remaining ingredients.
- Garnish with sliced avocado.
Notes
Make sure to zest your lemon before juicing it...a lemon is nearly impossible to zest after it's been collapsed from being juiced.
This salad will keep nicely for up to five days.