Salad for Dinner: Quinoa, Roasted Red Skins, Asparagus & Feta
by Maggie Noble
SERVES: 2 grown ups as a big main dish or 4 as a side.
INGREDIENTS:
redskin potatoes 6 medium sized, skin on, 1/2 inch dice. OR a 1 pound bag of small ones, halved.
olive oil 2-3 Tablespoons. I prefer olive oil to vegetable oil as the former has been available since God was a boy and the latter has only been made possible by the industrial revolution…either works.
quinoa 1/2 cup
asparagus 1bunch. Stems trimmed and stalks sliced to1 inch pieces.
lettuce mix of choice. 4 heaping handfuls. Rinsed if needed. I go for spring mix with baby spinach from Wholefoods when I don’t have anything in the garden, which is maybe 99% of the time ;)
balsamic vinaigrette dressing of choice. About 3-4 Tablespoons or however much you like. Start with less, you can always add more. Yes, you can make this yourself and I promise a recipe soon but our go to is from Cindy’s Kitchen and is available at Wholefoods.
feta cheese about a 1/4 cup crumbled. Skip to make this dish vegan.
salt & pepper to taste
TOOLS:
chef knife and cutting board
sheet pan
bench scraper, not essential but makes moving chopped product so easy.
1 quart pot (smaller) for quinoa
2 quart pot (bigger) for asparagus
cooking spatula I’m enjoying the silicon heatproof variety but a wooden spoon is a standard kitchen tool.
spider or slotted spoon or basket sieve for blanching asparagus
mixing bowls (small for asparagus, big for whole salad)
tongs
METHOD:
preheat oven to 400F.
toss potatoes with oil right on the sheet pan. Season liberally with salt and pepper.
roast potatoes, stirring occasionally for about 25 minutes ( until fork tender and brown color is achieved).
cook quinoa. Combine the 1/2 cup quinoa and 1 cup of water in a small pot. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce to a low simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, uncovered. Turn heat off. Cover with lid for 5 or so minutes to steam. Remove lid and fluff. It’s that easy. If you pay attention to it, you won’t mess it up. If you do, let me know. We’ll talk it out.
blanch asparagus. This is also easy. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add a heaping pinch of salt (the water should taste like the ocean). Add asparagus. Boil for 2 minutes but taste before draining to make sure there is still crunch but it is not too crunchy. Drain asparagus and set aside. See notes on blanching below.
Bring it all together. In a large mixing bowl, toss lettuce, warm quinoa, hot potatoes and room temp asparagus. The warm temp is nice especially if this is main course but it can all be cooked two hours before assembly if needed.
Toss with vinaigrette and feta and season with salt and pepper to taste.
NOTES:
Blanching means to shock or bring something out of a boil and into freezing cold to stop the cooking process. It ensures proper doneness and no ‘carry over cooking.’ If I’m in a professional kitchen, I do this. At home, I don’t do the shock bit. Not at this point in my life, anyway. The ice bath set up is kind of a pain and I’m usually cooking with a baby on my hip so I adjust by boiling for less time than I would if I were to use an icebath to stop cooking.
I like this salad because, as mentioned above, it can be made up to two hours before dinner or in stages over the course of a couple hours…stay at home caregiver approved method. Please let me know how yours turns out by sharing in the comments below. Add something yummy or serve with a protein, please share that, too!