Fruit and Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad

Fruit and Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad

A quinoa salad studded with fresh berries, roasted vegetables, goat’s cheese, nuts, and drenched in a honey-lemon dressing

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Course: Main Course, Mains, Rice and Grains, Salad, Side Dish, Vegetarian

Cuisine: Western

Diet: capsicum, corn, goat's cheese, quinoa, strawberries, zucchini

Total Time: 40

Servings: serves

Author: Eff | Food Daydreaming

Equipment

Ingredients

For the Quinoa

1 cup quinoa
1 tablespoon butter
½ tablespoon vegetable stock powder, or a bouillon cube
1 ¾ cups water*

For the Salad

2 corn cobs
1 zucchini
1 capsicum
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt, to taste
250 g cherry tomatoes, halved
1 avocado, thinly sliced or cubed
12 strawberries, quartered
20 blueberries
120 g goat’s cheese
30 g pistachios, roughly chopped

For the Dressing

¼ cup olive oil
½ lemon, juice and zest
1 to 2 tablespoons honey, to taste
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Pour the quinoa into a fine-meshed strainer and rinse thoroughly with cold water to remove the outer bitter coating. Drain well.
1 cup quinoa
Over a medium heat, melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Add the rinsed quinoa and the vegetable stock powder and stir to coat and toast the seeds for a minute or so until the water has evaporated and the seeds have heated up.
1 tablespoon butter, ½ tablespoon vegetable stock powder, 1 ¾ cups water*
Add the water, stir once more, then put the lid on and let the quinoa cook via the absorption method for 15 to 20 minutes, until the water is completely absorbed and you can see the quinoa’s exterior germ, or tails. Set aside to cool.
Whilst the quinoa is cooking, set the oven to 200°C. Trim the corn cobs of any exposed silk strands and roast in them in their husks for 10 minutes.
2 corn cobs
In the meantime, chop the zucchini and capsicum, toss them in the olive oil and salt, and add them to the roasting tray. Cook all the vegetables together for a further 15 to 20 minutes until they just start to caramelise. Set aside to cool a little.
1 zucchini, 1 capsicum, 1 tablespoon olive oil, Salt
When cool enough to handle, strip the husks from the corn, and using a sharp knife, slice the kernels off the cob.
To make the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together, and then dress the warm quinoa with three quarters of the honey-lemon dressing.
¼ cup olive oil, ½ lemon, 1 to 2 tablespoons honey, 1 tablespoon parsley, Salt and pepper
To pull the salad together, put the dressed quinoa in a large bowl, add the roasted vegetables, the cherry tomatoes, avocado, strawberries and blueberries and mix gently to combine. Crumble the goat’s cheese on top, add the pistachios and drizzle the remaining dressing all over.
250 g cherry tomatoes, 1 avocado, 12 strawberries, 20 blueberries, 30 g pistachios, 120 g goat’s cheese
Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cook along with me

Notes

I use water to cook quinoa and season it with powdered stock as premade liquid stocks can vary in thickness and affect cooking time. However, once you’re used to the way quinoa cooks, you can try substituting the water for stock for extra flavour if you’re serving the quinoa as a side.

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