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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Black Quinoa Salad with Lemon Avocado & Pistachios


I had a huge bunch of beet greens that I wanted to use when I saw the recipe that came along with our CSA produce box, a Black Quinoa Salad with Lemon, Avocado and Pistachios by Deborah Madison and I immediately decided I would try out the recipe.  I know that lots of good things have been said about quinoa already, but it is an especially good carb for diabetics since it is digested very slowly in the body and won't spike your blood sugar.

I had never cooked with black quinoa before this so I never realized that black quinoa is much crunchier than other quinoa.  At first I thought maybe I misjudged the cooking time!  It makes for an interesting texture and the color adds aesthetic interest, but I think if I were to make this again, I'd mix the black quinoa with some of the other quinoas...it's just a little too crunchy for my personal taste.

However, the dish itself was beautiful and very easy to throw together.  I loved the dressing and it went perfectly well with all the herbs mixed into the salad.






{Black Quinoa Salad with Lemon, Avocado & Pistachios}
From Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison

Ingredients:

2cups cooked quinoa
8oz of cooked greens chopped
zest of 1 lemon
1tbsp lemon juice
3tbsp olive oil
1/2tsp ground cumin
10 mint leaves minced
1tbsp sliced chives
1 avocado
crumbled feta or ricotta
pistachio nuts chopped coarse

Directions:

1.  Toss together the cooked quinoa and chopped cooked greens.  (I just sauteed the greens beforehand in a pan with salt & pepper)

2. In a bowl, whisk together lemon zest, juice, olive oil, cumin and salt & pepper to taste.

3.  Pour over the quinoa mix, add mint and chives and toss together.

4.  Serve quinoa mixture with slices of avocado, feta, and pistachios.






6 comments:

  1. Wow the dish looks amazing! I've never had black quinoa on its own, but I might like the extra crunch!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks - I realized that I prefer the softer quinoa but I can see why some people would like the extra bite :)

      Delete
  2. I've never seen black quinoa before!

    ReplyDelete
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  4. Beautiful presentation, Emily. This tasty salad is good seasonally with pomegranate or persimmon, and varied greens from beet to amaranth to purslane to spinach. I just made it with white quinoa, but the red or black would be gorgeous. And, if you are fortunate enough to have at hand Deborah Madison's stunning new cookbook, Vegetable Literacy, you'd know that red and black quinoa take successively additional time to cook, as much as twice as long for black.

    ReplyDelete

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