Pesto Quinoa tossed with Roasted Veg & herb Salad – GF,Vegan
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
I like to bulk cook on the weekends for my lunches for the coming week. That way I don’t have to waste time every night preparing for the next day. This recipe pretty much covers me for the 5 days. I just pop a couple of heaped tablespoons in an air tight plastic container, topped with mixed lettuce leaves and drizzle over some of my dressing. And viola! A nutritiously delicious lunch! If I’ve cooked salmon the night before or some chicken, I’ll add some to my lunch box. I alternate the Quinoa with G/F Pasta, Brown Rice, Millet or Amaranth. All work just as well.
Author: thefussiesteater.com
Recipe type: Salads, Grains
Serves: 5
Ingredients
- 100g Quinoa – washed thoroughly and allowed to soak until in use
- ROASTED VEG
- 1 small Butternut Squash – peeled, diced 1cm cubes (place in a seperate bowl)
- 3 Carrot – diced
- 2 Courgettes – sliced
- 20 Cherry Tomatoes
- 1 Red Onion – peeled & cut into wedges
- 1 small Sweet Potato – diced into 1cm cubes
- ½ Red Pepper – cut into 1cm squares
- ½ Green Pepper – cut into 1cm squares
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Rock Salt
- Cracked Pepper
- Hungarian Paprika
- pinch Chili Flakes
- Ground Cinammon
- Dried Thyme
- Dried Basil
- GARNISH
- small bunch of Parsley – finely chopped
- small bunch of Chives – finely chopped
- 20 Black & Green Olives
- 10 Sundried tomaotes – roughly chopped
- 30g Toasted Pinenuts
Instructions
- MAKING THE PESTO QUINOA
- Cook the Quinoa either using the directions behind the packet or by following my fool proof directions. You can find this under ‘Techniques’ called ‘Cooking Quinoa’.
- Once Quinoa is cooked I like to spread it out on a flat surface to cool.
- In a small saucepan on med heat add 1-2 heaped tablespoons of my ‘Basil Pesto’. (Recipe will be posted alongside this post)
- Allow the Pesto to heat right thru, and then stir in the Quinoa. Make sure you don’t mash the Quinoa. Try to fold the Pesto thru the Quinoa. This should take only a couple of minutes.
- Turn of the heat.
- MAKING THE ROASTED VEG
- Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius
- Place the Squash in a separate bowl to the rest of the veg, pour over a few squiggs of balsamic vinegar and toss
- Place the Cherry tomatoes in a separate small bowl – season and sprinkle some Basil, put aside
- Marinate all the other veg including the Squash with Salt, pepper, chili flakes, cinnamon and paprika. Combine well.
- Lay the veg on one level, on two non stick roasting trays – except the tomatoes
- Cover completely with foil
- Cook for approx 1hr 10min
- Remove the foil, add the tomatoes
- Cook for a further 20-30min
- Remove and allow to cool completely
- TOASTING THE PINE NUTS
- Pre-heat on the lowest temperature a small non-stick frying pan, preferably a cast iron pan.
- Add the Pine nuts and toast for a few minutes. Toss occasionally. Be careful you don’t burn them as they cook quiet quickly.
- ASSEMBLING THE DISH
- In a very large mixing bowl, add the Roasted veg, sprinkle the quinoa over the top, and gently stir with a large metal spoon
- Add the herbs, Olives, Pine nuts and sundried tomatoes
- Gently stir in
- Store in a large air tight container
- Serve with mixed lettuce leaves
- Delicious!
- Enjoy!
This post was submitted to ‘Summer Salad Sunday! 6/17/2012′ @ http://easynaturalfood.com and to ‘Slightly Indulgent Tuesday; 6/19/12‘ @ http://simplysugarandglutenfree.com and to ‘Fat Tuesday: June 19, 2012′ @ http://realfoodforager.com
Yummy, this looks great! I love all of the ingredients, and I could definitely eat this for lunch every day too! Thanks for sharing this with Summer Salad Sundays, look forward to seeing you again soon.