Quinoa Salad with Broccoli, Feta and Pine Nuts

Day 107

Welp. This is a salad for rich people so it's unlikely I will be making it again anytime soon. However - it is fantastic. Great textures, great flavors, and healthy to boot. But oh, so pricey. Boooooo!

Quinoa Salad with Broccoli, Feta and Pine Nuts

In bad taste, maybe, and I hate to fixate on price, but I appreciate saving money, getting deals, and finding inexpensive recipes to make. I really wanted to try this recipe though, and at first I really didn't realize how much it was going to cost.

Here are the ingredients we already had on hand:
Olive oil
Rice vinegar
Kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper
Shallots

Here are the ingredients I bought specifically for this recipe:
Lemon $0.89
Broccoli $3.99
Quinoa $ 3.36
Pine nuts $5.55
Feta $4.08
Fresh herbs $6.00
Total: 23.87

Who pays 25 bucks for a salad? Us *sigh* So, as much as that sucks, here are the pros:

• Delicious
• Super-duper nutritious
• Very filling
• Made enough to have for lunch and another supper

So, there's all that. When you divide it into 6 meals, 3 for me, 3 for her, it's really only 4.00/plate. Here's how it's made:

Salad Dressing

Original recipe here.
7 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
1 shallot, minced

I mixed it all up in a 250 ml Mason jar, which turned out to be the perfect size for the amount of dressing. Since it incorporates oil, vinegar and lemon, in a Mason jar, you can screw the lid on tightly and give it a good shake to blend it up well.

Squeezed lemon

The recipe called for shallots! Thankfully we still had shallots left that Laura grew in the garden last summer. One thing we didn't have to buy!

Minced shallots & bowl of shallots

Quinoa

Original recipe here.
1 1/2 cups red quinoa
4 1/2 cups water

Overall, this was an easy recipe. The quinoa is cooked just like rice or oatmeal or any grain. Combine it with water, bring to a boil, turn down the heat, cover, cook until done - in this case, 15 minutes. Then drain any extra water off (there wasn't much), cover again and let sit 15 minutes; fluff with a fork. Not much to it, and nothing you could consider to be "work".

Raw red quinoa in water

Quinoa has a chewy texture like barley and sort of a nutty flavor. I enjoy it.

Cooked quinoa

 Broccoli

1 lb broccoli florets
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt & pepper

The broccoli was easy, too - baked in a baking dish in olive oil and tossed with salt and pepper. Then it goes into a 450 degrees F oven for 15 minutes, but you have to toss it after every 5. So, twice, I hauled it out of the oven and gave it a stir. WORK.

Raw broccoli

Broccoli, half-cooked

The recipe didn't directly say that this should be served warm or hot. I served it cold because I thought it would be just as good. I cooked everything and then went to visit Mom for a couple hours, then came home and tossed everything together. So, I put the cooked broccoli in with the cooked quinoa, covered it and left.

Cooked broccoli & quinoa

Feta & Fresh Herbs

The rest of the ingredients in this salad include feta, pine nuts and fresh herbs. These are the pricey part of the dish (unless it's summer and you can get your herbs from the garden), but listen to me when I tell you, you don't want to skip them. The fresh herbs add so much flavor. And the feta is a good call, too.

Feta cheese

Italian parsley, cilantro & mint

Italian parsley, cilantro & mint

Pine Nuts

The pine nuts are the perfect complement for this. They are so expensive. This 1/3 cup of them cost $5.55. Which is obscene, but at the same time, they are so amazing. They're smooth and creamy with a mild flavor. Laura wants to grow a Korean pine or two so we can have our own pine nuts. Maybe we can retire early and sell pine nuts.

The recipe said to toast them and I was terrified I was going to burn more than five dollars worth of pine nuts. I put them in our small skillet and set the temp to medium low and watched them very closely, tossing them every minute or so. Did not burn them.

Perfectly toasted pine nuts

Quinoa Salad

Finally, all the ingredients were prepared so I got a big bowl, and poured in the quinoa and broccoli which was still slightly warm even after 3 hours. Next, I added the fresh herbs and toasted pine nuts. Then I gave the salad dressing a good shake and stirred it in well to coat all the ingredients. Finally, I crumbled the feta over and gave it a final stir. Finito.

Quinoa Salad with Broccoli, Feta and Pine Nuts

Reviews/Comments

I loved it. Laura was less than impressed and only ate half her bowl. She said she was full and that she really liked it except for the broccoli. She didn't like that it was cooked, since the salad was served cold. In her mind, cooked broccoli is for hot meals, raw broccoli for cold.

The question I ask myself is, price aside, if this was a $7.00 dish would I make it a lot? And, I would. I'd take this in my lunch all the time. I'd serve it as a side with other things, and I would definitely take it to potlucks. So, based on that assessment, I'm giving it a 10 as far as salads go. I would totally recommend it if the price isn't an issue. You could have it with some truffles or something.