Friday, April 2, 2010

Quinoa Salad with Kale

I had the pleasant surprise of kale from around the corner show up in my refrigerator today, and I was already planning to make this cool quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) salad, so I threw the kale in with it. It's a nice spring dish to get me through this seasonal transition.

1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
2 cups water
1 bunch of kale leaves pulled away from stems and torn into bit size pieces
3 carrots, shredded
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
1 cup frozen green peas or shelled edamame
1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 2 lemons
1/4-1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon Dijon style mustard
1 teaspoon local honey
salt and pepper to taste

Place rinsed quinoa and water in a saucepan with tight fitting lid and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and set timer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, shred carrots in a food processor, cut onion, and place in large bowl.
Make vinaigrette by mixing together last  6 ingredients in a jar with tight fitting lid and let sit.
Heat 1-2 Tablespoons of water in a skillet with tight fitting lid on medium heat. When water begins to steam, place kale in skillet, cover, and cook for about 1.5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
When timer goes off for the quinoa, put the frozen green peas (or edamame) in the pot on top of quinoa to defrost. Replace lid and remove from heat.
Let quinoa cool and peas/edamame defrost, then combine with carrots, onion, and kale. Add vinaigrette and mix thoroughly. Eat immediately or chill and serve later over salad greens with walnuts sprinkled on top.

No comments:

Post a Comment