Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Over the summer I enjoyed a few different versions of Mediterranean Quinoa Salad at various restaurants around town.  Well, with a revolving cycle of cherry tomato harvests I figured I might test my memory and attempt to recreate my own version.  Here's my best current effort, it's quickly become a favorite of mine.

Quinoa is super easy to cook, just quinoa and liquid.  My quinoa has worked well with a ratio of one part quinoa to two parts liquid.  Some suggest rinsing the quinoa prior to cooking to reduce a taste of bitterness.  I didn't rinse my dry quinoa before cooking and still ended up being pleased with the taste.

Mix the quinoa and water in a saucepan and place over high heat.  Bring to a boil, occasionally stirring.  Once it reaches a boil reduce heat and simmer until all of the water has been absorbed.  This should take somewhere between fifteen to twenty minutes.  Once the water has been absorbed remove from heat and allow to sit for five minutes.  Fluff with a fork, now it's ready to serve/use.

You could really play around with the amount of quinoa in the recipe depending on how hearty you want the salad to be. I enjoy the balance this recipe provides.

While the quinoa was cooking I chopped up my remaining ingredients.  I mixed them all up in a bowl, added the lemon juice and olive oil...I must say I was tempted to start eating right then.  It never dawned on me to make this type of dish, just a bunch of chopped ingredients with no main base.  I'm thinking I may need to try this very soon.

But!  With that said, the quinoa was not going to be left out on this round.  And after tasting the final product?  Well, I'm glad I was able to hold out.  At this point, I added the quinoa, mixed it all up, then added salt and pepper to taste.  Yum!

 
Within a day or two Arie and I went through the entire salad.  Since I still had all my ingredients laying around I went ahead and made round two.  This time I was out of black olives so I substituted with green.  I may have liked them better, but both were great. 

Do you have any quinoa salad recipes?  I'd love to hear about them, I'm afraid they may already have grown into a new obsession of mine.

Enjoy,

H

P.S.  Apparently I love making salads.