La Bella Ro

Vegetarian Quinoa Salad

  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Prep time: 15 min
  • Cook time: 50 min
  • Serving: 6 persone
  • Cost: Low

Ingredients

INGREDIENTS FOR 30 BALLS

  • Quinoa 2 cups (400 g) - (already cooked, following package instructions)
  • Yellow peppers 1
  • Fine salt to taste
  • Taggiasca olives 3 spoonfuls
  • Chives to taste
  • Basil 10 leaves
  • Pine nuts 4 spoonfuls
  • Red peppers 1
  • Extra virgin olive oil to taste-
  • Black pepper to taste
  • Feta cheese 7 oz (200 g)
  • Parsley to taste
  • Mint 4 leaves

FOR THE CITRONETTE

  • Lemons 1
  • Garlic 1 clove
  • Mustard 1 tsp

FOR GARNISH

  • Feta cheese to taste - to crumble

Preparation

How is quinoa cooked and what is it? We encourage you to explore the colors of this vegetarian quinoa salad before we go into further detail! An excellent one-dish option to the traditional rice salad or pasta salad, this salad is great for summertime office lunchbox meals or beach picnics. Quinoa is a beet-derived “pseudo-cereal” that is inherently gluten-free. It is related to amaranth. It’s a very filling and highly nutritious food. We have combined it with feta, Taggiasca olives, and roasted bell peppers in this recipe as a tribute to the Mediterranean flavors that have always gone well with summer salads!

To prepare the vegetarian quinoa salad, place the bell peppers on a baking sheet, drizzle with some oil

  1. and massage them to coat evenly. Bake in a preheated static oven at 390°F for 30 minutes until well roasted. 
  2. Then place them in a food bag, still hot, and let them rest for 10 minutes
  3. Now you can easily remove the skin, along with the seeds and stem
  4. Cut them into pieces
  5. and place them in a bowl. Roughly chop the olives
  6. Cut the feta into cubes
  7. Chop the chives
  8. and parsley

  9. Toast the pine nuts in a pan

  10. In the bowl with the bell peppers, also add the feta, olives, chopped herbs, and the hand-torn basil and mint
  11. Flavor with the zest of half a lemon
  12. Set aside the dressing and prepare the citronette: pour the juice of one lemon
  13. and the mustard
  14. into a tall glass.Add the oil 
  15.  and finely chopped half garlic clove
  16. Blend everything with an immersion blender to get an emulsion
  17. Now dress the quinoa with the ingredients collected in the bowl
  18. the toasted pine nuts 
  19. and the citronette
  20. Mix to season.Adjust with salt and pepper
  21. Serve with crumbled feta if desired
  22. The vegetarian quinoa salad is ready to be enjoyed

Storage

The vegetarian quinoa salad can be stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 days in an airtight container. Freezing is not recommended.

Tips

If you don’t want to turn on the oven, you can roast the bell peppers on a grill or barbecue.

For quinoa preparation, you can follow the instructions on the package you purchased. Once ready, let it cool before dressing. If it is too moist, you can add a bit of breadcrumbs, if too dry add a little oil or water.For a non-fried version, bake the balls in a static oven at 390°F for 20 min.

Source: Giallo Zafferano

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