Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

I admit, I have been avoiding the quinoa recipes in this book (there aren't all that many), and if you have been following my blog, you may have read my earlier review of Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Tomatoes. As I stated there, I'm just not a big fan, but in the spirit of preparing all 1000 recipes, sooner or later I have to address the ones that use quinoa. Recently I got a new kitchen appliance called the Instant Pot (an electric pressure cooker/rice cooker/slow cooker/steamer), and I'm not saying that this has totally changed my opinion of this grain, but when I used the Instant Pot to prepare the quinoa for the "Mediterranean Quinoa Salad" (page 89), I have to admit, I liked it more than I ever have in the past! J There were enough other players in this salad to make it interesting, and this particular preparation reminded me of tabouli with the chickpeas, tomatoes, green onion, and cucumber. But the list of ingredients doesn't stop there. Add to that cured olives, toasted pine nuts, and fresh basil, not to mention the dressing, and no wonder I liked this salad! The vinaigrette style dressing calls for ¼ cup olive oil, but I completely omitted this without any substitutions and had excellent results. With the moist ingredients (tomato, cucumber, and olives) you hardly need anything else to "dress" the salad, and it is flavorful enough to stand on its own, although a squeeze of lime is a nice addition.

 

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

 

ü Omit the oil in the dressing. No substitution is necessary.