This protein rich salad jewelled with pomegranate seeds is perfect with a bowl of soup or as an accompaniment to a holiday meal. This salad only takes half an hour to prepare once you learn the trick of whacking a cut open pomegranate with a wooden spoon to remove the arils!
Ingredients:
serves 4-6
- 11/2 cups of uncooked quinoa
- 2 tsp. of pink himalayan salt
- 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive or avocado oil
- 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp. dijon mustard
- arils from one or two pomegranates
- 3/4 cup of roasted pecans, chopped coarsly *
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 3/4 cup of flat leaf parsley, chopped
- lots of fresh cracked pepper
* To roast the pecans bake at 350 for 6-8 min. on a cookie sheet.
Combine the quinoa with 2 cups of water and the 2 tsp. of salt in a small saucepan. Cooking the quinoa with the salt ensures that it is distributed evenly. Cover, bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 min. Allow to sit for 10 min. before fluffing with a fork. While the quinoa cooks, prepare the rest of the ingredients.
The dressing:
Whisk the oil, balsamic vinegar and mustard together in a small bowl. Toss the dressing with the warm quinoa in a medium sized bowl. Allow it to cool to room temperature while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
To prep the pomegranate:
Score the outer skin of the pomegranate in 1/2 with a knife.
Pry it apart with your fingers and then gently pry each half apart slightly to loosen the arils.
Holding the pomegranate half over a bowl, whack the outside of it with wooden spoon. The arils will all pop out into the bowl!
Remove any little bits of the yellow membrane that may have fallen into the bowl as well.
Add the arils, roasted pecans, green onion, and parsley to the dressed, cooled quinoa.
Mix well and top with plenty of fresh cracked pepper!
Tasty?