Warm Quinoa Salad

This quinoa salad is the perfect summer side. I first tried it at Bacaro (an amazingly good restaurant in PVD) and then went back and had it again and again and almost again but it was OFF THE MENU. So, what did I do? I tried making it at home – because I was that obsessed with it. And I’m not going to lie, I nailed it. It tastes exactly like it did at Bacaro.

I just used my photographic memory to remember the essential ingredients off the menu and voila! Unbelievable quinoa. I bet you didn’t even think that was possible. I have to warn you, there are two ingredients that I had to order ahead of time because I wanted it to be exactly like it was in the restaurant (Zisola olive oil and Castelvetrano olives). I think you can get away with using another good quality olive oil – but you will need to use these particular olives. You can find them in many specialty stores and I simply ordered them off of Amazon.

Print Recipe

Warm Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
• 3 tbsp pine nuts
• 1/2 tbsp butter
• 1 cup fresh sugar snap peas, sliced and blanched
• 1/3 cup pitted and chopped Castelvetrano olives (I used 10)
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 lemon (you need the zest and the juice)
• 1/3 cup Zisola olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cook the quinoa according to the package directions
2. In a small frying pan, melt the butter over medium heat
3. Add the pine nuts to the butter and stir frequently until they're golden brown - transfer the nuts to a paper towel lined plate and set aside
4. Slice the sugar snap peas diagonally and blanch until tender crisp - transfer to an ice bath to stop the cooking; strain and set aside
5. Zest the lemon and set aside
6. In a small bowl, whisk together the juice of 1/2 the lemon and 1/3 cup of olive oil season with salt and pepper (this will be your dressing)
7. Once the quinoa is cooked, add in the browned pine nuts, blanched sugar snap peas, chopped olives, parsley, lemon zest and stir to combine
8. Pour the lemon and olive oil dressing over the quinoa and mix well - taste it to adjust the salt and pepper and if it you prefer more lemon and/or olive oil add it now

Inspired by Bacaro