Recipes

Quinoa Salad

Quinoa is an extremely high nutrient seed that cooks a lot like rice and tastes great in salads. Add it to your rotation of healthy foods

By Caren McSherry /

Credit: Flickr / Geoff Peters 604

Toss your quinoa with some roasted veggies and an easy dressing, and you’ve got yourself a meal

This easy-to-prepare quinoa salad will help maintain your resolutions to eat right

And it’s so delicious you’ll never even realize that it’s good for you!

Ingredients

  • 1-½ cups quinoa
  • 2-½ cups water
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 large red pepper, roasted and diced, or 1 jar fire-roasted peppers
  • 4 cobs fresh corn shucked, or 2 (14 fl. oz.) cans kernel corn, drained
  • 1 heaping cup edamame beans, cooked and shelled
  • 1 cup large green olives, pitted and chopped coarsely
  • 1 cup fresh Italian parsley, leaves only
  • ½ cup fresh basil leaves, shredded
  • 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
  • 1 cup toasted almonds

Dressing

  • 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • ¼ cup champagne vinegar
  • ½ cup hazelnut oil
  • Fresh ground pepper to taste
  • Fleur de sel to taste

Instructions

  1. Rinse the quinoa with fresh water and rub the grains with your hands for about 15 seconds.
  2. Drain and place the quinoa in a pot.
  3. Add the 2-½ cups water and pinch of salt.
  4. Cover and bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer for about 15 minutes or until the water is absorbed.
  5. Remove the cover and fluff quinoa with a fork. Allow to cool.
  6. Roast the pepper or use the jarred variety, dice and set aside.
  7. Cut the corn from the cobs if using fresh corn.
  8. Heat a frying pan to medium-high heat and dry-roast the kernels until they begin to blacken. (Canned corn will take longer to roast, so blot dry with paper towel to rid some of the moisture before frying.)
  9. To prepare the dressing, stir the mustard, garlic and vinegar together.
  10. Slowly whisk in the oil and season with salt and pepper. Set aside until ready to assemble the salad.
  11. To make the salad, place the cooled cooked quinoa in a large bowl.
  12. Add the diced pepper, roasted corn, cooked edamame, parsley leaves, basil and olives.
  13. Toss to evenly distribute the ingredients. Pour the dressing over and combine.
  14. Sprinkle the crumbled feta over top, along with the toasted almonds.

Serves 6 to 8.

Listen to Caren McSherry Thursdays between 11 a.m. and 11:40 a.m. on CKNW 98.

Originally published in TVW. For daily programming updates and on-screen Entertainment news, subscribe to the free TVW e-newsletters, or purchase a subscription to the weekly magazine.