Quinoa Salad with Beets

It’s one of those rare hot weeks in the Bay Area. It’s actually 90° in my house right now. For Wordless Wednesday I thought I’d share a great summer salad recipe with you. I know I’m not exactly being Wordless but this salad is too delicious to not talk about.

The original recipe is from epicurious.com but I tweaked it a bit (thanks to advice from my friends at rel.ish catering). I added Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar from Trader Joe’s and feta cheese. If you don’t have the orange vinegar you can add a splash of orange juice to get the sweet flavor.

Enjoy. Be sure to let the quinoa cool in the fridge for 2 hours before adding the other ingredients. I got impatient once and threw it all together while the quinoa was still hot and ended up with a big bowl of mush, still tasty but not as pretty. I prefer to use golden beets, if you use red beets the whole salad turns red.

Epicurious recipe:

quinoa salad with beets

Created by Susan Spungen
The whole grain quinoa in this salad helps you feel satisfyingly full long after the meal is finished.
5-6 Servings
Submitted by anadeau
December 14, 2008

ingredients
• 1 1/4 cups quinoa
• 1 1/8 teaspoons salt , plus more for dressing
• 4 medium beets , trimmed
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Freshly ground pepper , for dressing
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 large, seedless cucumber , chopped
• 1 pint yellow cherry tomatoes , halved
• 1 cup green beans , blanched and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

preparation
Rinse quinoa thoroughly. Place in a medium saucepan with 2 1/2 cups water. Add 1/8 tsp. salt; bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook until quinoa is tender, 12–15 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate about 2 hours.

Meanwhile, place beets in a large saucepan; cover with cold water (by about an inch). Add 1 tsp. salt; bring to a simmer. Cook until beets are tender when pierced with a paring knife, 35–45 minutes. Drain; cover with cold water. Let sit until cool enough to handle. Peel and cut into 1/2-inch cubes.

In a small bowl, mix vinegar, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Slowly whisk in oil. In a large bowl, combine quinoa, beets, cucumber, tomatoes, green beans and parsley. Toss in dressing to serve.