Mediterranean Roasted Vegetable and Quinoa salad

It's salad and holiday season here in tropical Australia, when a delicious salad is the perfect meal at the end of a long Summer's day. I am always excited when I come up with a new salad recipe, which also just happens to be healthy and very tasty. A grain salad makes perfect sense, as it keeps so much longer when refrigerated than a green leafy one, as much as I enjoy those as well.

I have made this delicious salad using quinoa as the significant grain, as quinoa is a wonderful supporter of flavours. I also found a whole packet of quinoa in my pantry which needed to be used, win, win. Quinoa is packed with protein so is perfect for a lazy weekend meal or a Meat Free Monday meal. However, I love using Bulgur Wheat as well for this kind of salad, or bulgur when combined with quinoa is a nice mix of grains. Well cooked grains are kind to our guts, very easy to cook with and budget friendly. They are also a healthy alternative to rice and couscous, if you are after a high-fibre meal. Ancient grains are just the best.

Working with quinoa in this salad reminded me of when Mr. HRK and I were travelling through Peru and Chile in February 2020, when so many meals we were offered, particularly in Peru,  were primarily based on quinoa. You would remember, that this period in time was also just before the  world was put on hold with the advent of Covid 19. We arrived home from South America just as Covid 19 was being announced as a major health threat. We now realise that in South America when we were there, they were already very aware of the reality of Covid. We weren't.

 Above is a photo of me in February, 2020, the day after my birthday, shopping at the incredibly interesting local markets in Lima, Peru with our cooking class chef, where many varieties of quinoa, or quinua, were available to buy in bulk. Photo taken by Mr. HRK. In Peru we were told that because of the increasing export potential of quinoa from South America, many of the people living there could no longer afford to buy quinoa as the cost of the grain had risen so much. I hope the situation has improved for them by now. We drove past fields and fields of quinoa. Just a little aside note, unfortunately I never received the recipes from this cooking class, as excellent as it was. I think Covid hit, the tourist industry collapsed, and our chef was sadly out of business.

The Lima markets were full of packets of quinoa for sale, brown, white and black,  as you can see in this photo. Many locals as well as tourists were shopping there.

This is a simple but perfectly cooked fish meal we ate in Santiago, Chile, resting on a tasty bed of quinoa. 

Let's make this amazing Quinoa salad:

INGREDIENTS:

SALAD :

1 cup dry quinoa, rinsed

1 red capsicum (or bell pepper), seeded and diced

1/2 cup sliced red onion, sliced again into medium julienne pieces

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt

One 400-420 g (15 oz) can chick-peas, drained

One 400-420 g (15 oz) can artichoke hearts, packed in water or olive oil, drained (not canola oil)

1/2 cup diced cucumber

1/2 cup halved and pitted kalamata olives

1/4 cup minced tarragon or dill (I used tarragon because we grow it in our garden)

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

VINAIGRETTE:

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 garlic clove

Method:

Preheat your oven to 400 deg. F or 180 deg. fan forced. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Add the quinoa to 2 cups of boiling water, in a medium saucepan.

Cover, and decrease the heat down to medium-low.

Allow to simmer until the quinoa has absorbed all the water, this will take about 15 minutes.

Remove saucepan from the heat, let quinoa rest in the saucepan for 5 minutes, with the lid on.

Fluff up the quinoa with a fork and put to the side.

Take the chopped capsicum and red onion, place on the prepared baking sheet,. Spread a little olive oil through the vegetables, and sprinkle with some salt.

Pop the veggies in the oven, and roast for about 15 minutes, until soft. Set them aside.

Let's make the Vinaigrette:

In a small jug or bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, oregano and garlic. Whisk together until well mixed.

Let's assemble the salad:

Combine the quinoa, roasted vegetables, chickpeas, artichoke hearts, cucumber, olives, parsley and tarragon or dill, in a large bowl. Add as much vinaigrette as you want, and toss until well mixed.

A few Cooking notes:

• This is such a refreshing and light salad to eat, which is perfect for this time of year. It's the holidays and time for salads.
• Any fresh Mediterranean style herb would work well in this salad. Rather than buy dill, I used tarragon straight from our garden, it's thriving at the moment. Parsley from our garden was delicious in this dish as well.
• Salads always lend themselves to some substitutions. Instead of using artichoke hearts which can be expensive, use another pickled vegetable such as eggplant or fennel. However, the artichoke hearts are very tasty and Dr. Mindy Pelz says that they are a great prebiotic, important for our health. 
• I think it's a good idea to add the chopped cucumber just before serving the salad, so it keeps fresh.

This recipe is based on one by Dr. Mindy Pelz, in her new recipe book called Eat Like a Girl, however I know that the Boys will enjoy these recipes too:)

Warm wishes,

Pauline