The
inspiration for this came from The Hungry Australian website. (http://hungryaustralian.com/ ) She posted a recipe for “Brilliant Rice
Salad” and my creative juices were intrigued.
I made this for a lunch with family last weekend. It was very good! Full of flavor, healthy, relatively easy to
make and a dish that is quite versatile.
You can add or omit whatever ingredients you’d like from the quinoa
salad. And, if you don’t like quinoa –
then substitute that for rice. But, if
you’ve never had quinoa – I encourage you to give it a try. It’s very yummy!
Ingredients
& Directions:
Chicken
Tenders (enough for two to three per person, depending on how many you’re
serving)
1/3 cup olive
oil
Juice of one
lemon
1/3 cup white
wine
3 cloves
garlic
Salt &
Pepper
4 – 6” of
rosemary
Place
everything except the chicken tenders into a small blender or food
processor. I use the “Bullet” for this,
and all my marinades and salad dressings.
It works like a charm.
Put the
chicken tenders in a bowl, dish or Ziploc bag.
Pour marinade over the tenders and work the marinade around to cover
each tender. Place into the fridge for
at least 1 hour. I usually marinade this
overnight – or for at least eight hours.
While the
quinoa is cooking or while assembling the salad - grill the tenderloins for
about 3 minutes per side. I use my
nonstick griddle for this. But, you
could use a skillet instead. Be sure to
drizzle a little olive oil on the cooking surface so that the chicken gets some
grill marks.
1 ½ cups
quinoa (quinoa should ALWAYS be thoroughly rinsed before using)
3 cups chicken
broth
1 tbls. turmeric
2 tsp. ground
cumin
1 tsp. ground
coriander
Pinch of salt
Put everything
except the quinoa in a saucepan. Bring
to a simmer; add quinoa and stir to mix.
Bring to a boil; lower heat and cover.
Simmer until all of the liquid has evaporated.
Remove from
heat, fluff with a fork and place cover back on pot. Allow to sit for about 15 minutes. While it’s resting you can prepare the other
ingredients.
4 tomatoes
chopped
3 ribs celery,
finely chopped
1/16th
of a red onion, finely chopped
4 green
onions, chopped
½ of a
cucumber, peeled – seeds scooped out and chopped
15 dried
apricots, chopped
¼ cup dried
cranberries
3 Tbls pine
nuts **See note at end of recipe
3 Tbls pepitas
(pumpkin seeds)
Chopped
flat-leaf parsley and basil
After the
quinoa has set for 15 minutes, spread it out on your serving tray to promote
quicker cooling. You can mix all of the
above ingredients together in a bowl and then sprinkle over the quinoa on the
platter. OR, you can do as I did and mix
the quinoa with all of the ingredients in a bowl.
3 tablespoons
garlic infused olive oil
2 teaspoons
red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon
honey
1-2
tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Zest of the
lemon
Salt &
pepper
Mix the above
together and sprinkle over the ingredients on the platter – OR, if mixing
everything in a bowl before placing on the platter, pour this over the
ingredients in the bowl. Toss well and
then arrange on the platter.
** I have
eaten pine nuts for years with no adverse reactions. However, ever since I had this salad last
weekend and again on Monday, I have had a bitter taste in my mouth which is
exacerbated when eating/drinking anything sweet. I’ve Googled these symptoms and found they
are attributed to “Pine Mouth” – a temporary reaction some people get to pine
nuts. The articles all say the symptoms
should disappear within a week or two.
They have lessened over the week, but definitely flare up when eating or
drinking anything sweet – including things that contain natural sugars. (i.e. carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, milk,
etc.) I only mention this as a “public
service” notice. So, you can add the
pine nuts – or not. But, I will definitely
be omitting them when I make this in the future.
