Quinoa Tabbouleh
Nobody likes to heat up the kitchen in summer, and often times I find myself whipping up a cool but hearty tabbouleh salad, and passing a plate of something to grill over to the capable grill master.
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa white or red or a mixture, rinsed and drained
- 1 ¼ cups water
- 2 lemons
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove of garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 english cucumber seeded and cut into a half-inch dice
- 1 pint of cherry tomatoes halved (or 1 ½ cups of diced tomatoes)
- ¼ cup chopped fresh mint
- 1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley chopped
- salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring 1 ¼ cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the salt and the quinoa, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and keep covered for an additional 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and transfer to a serving bowl.
- While quinoa is cooking prepare the dressing. Whisk the juice from one lemon with the garlic. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, while whisking, until the dressing is completely emulsified. Add salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle half of the dressing over the hot quinoa and set aside the remainder.
- After quinoa mixture cool to room temperature, add the cucumber, tomatoes, mint and parsley and toss well. Drizzle over the remaining dressing and toss again. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary. I usually add the juice from one additional lemon at this point, because I prefer my tabbouleh on the tart side. Do it to your taste. Serve at room temperature or cold.