Quinoa Salad with Beets and Cucumbers

Happy Father’s Day!   I hope you are all celebrating the amazing fathers and men in your life.  After a filling family breakfast and looking at all the cards the kids decorated for Eric, we sent him off for a long hike with some of his good friends.   The kids absolutely adore their dad, as do I. I think about my father often, but especially today.  This is my fourth Father's Day without him.   I picture him playing bridge somewhere and passionately discussing politics while eating Chinese food, or maybe a big plate of onion rings.   To this recipe he would say keen-what?  And I would reply, Keen-WAH, Dad - Try it, it's really good for you.  You'll like it .  And by the way, you would have loved the hike I went on today.   The lupine were just incredible.  If only I could tell him about it.   If only he could hike with me again.

I am not sure if I had even heard of quinoa four years ago. This is a great summer meal.  It is perfect for lunch, dinner, or potlucks.  It keeps well so you could make it on Sunday and take it to work for lunch over the next several days.  It’s also great to take camping for the weekend. I had just roasted some beets and hadn't decided what I was going to do with them yet.  I looked in the index under beets in this fabulous cookbook called La Tartine Gourmande by Beatrice Peltre, and came across a beet and quinoa tabouli, as she calls it. Perfect. Roasting the beets takes about an hour and the quinoa needs to cool down so this is not a last-minute type recipe.   You need about an hour and a half— even though it's really only 15 minutes of active cooking time. I changed some of the ingredients, adding basil and cucumbers, and omitted a few others, but otherwise followed her recipe.   This cookbook is truly one where every time you turn the page another delicious recipe appears after another.  I used red quinoa because it is what I had on hand but I think it would look prettier with white quinoa  (as Beatrice uses), and the beets would turn it a light pink. Enjoy!

Summer Quinoa Salad (serves 6) adapted from La Tartine Gourmande Cookbook

Ingredients

• 1 Cup quinoa (red or white)

• 2 Cups water or vegetable broth

• 1 large beet, roasted and diced

• 1 cup diced cucumber

• 1/4 cup Feta crumbles

• 2 TBSP pine nuts (optional)

Vinaigrette

• Zest of 1/2 lemon

• Juice of 1/2 lemon

• 4 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

• 2 TBSP basil, chopped

• 1 TBSP mint, chopped

• TBSP parsley, chopped

• Pinch of salt

• Pinch of pepper

Directions

1. Wrap the beet (unpeeled) in tin foil and place in a 400 degree oven and roast the beet for 45 min.-1 hour.  

2. Let cool and then peel off the skin with your fingers and dice it. 

3. Meanwhile, rinse the quinoa well in a fine mesh colander.  Add it to a pot with 2 cups of water or vegetable broth and a pinch of salt.   When it comes to a boil, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, until all the water is absorbed.  Remove from heat, let it stand for 5 minutes and then put it in a bowl to cool.

4. In a small bowl, add all the ingredients for the vinaigrette and stir well.  Add the beets and cucumbers to the quinoa and stir well. 

5. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad and mix together. 

6. Then add the Feta crumbles and pine nuts on top.