The Kitchen Chronicles

Adventures in City Cooking

Broccoli Quinoa Salad

I have a well-documented obsession with bulgur, I adore farro in preparations from soups to salads, I have about 8 jars filled with different types of rice, and I think pearled barley is incredibly underrated. But I typically give quinoa a big “no, thank you.”

I’m not saying no to quinoa just because it seems like the rest of the world is saying yes and I like to take the contrarian view. Rather, I find that its texture (somewhere in between chewy and crunchy, but not enough of either), its size (too small) and its flavor (nutty yet somehow bland) do not appeal to me whatsoever. But as I was flipping through The Lebanese Kitchen looking for a side dish, I spied this recipe and besides the quinoa, it contained a slew of ingredients that I loved, and knew I loved together.

So I made quinoa! And guess what- I didn’t hate it. I didn’t even NOT LIKE it or JUST TOLERATE it. I loved it. I savored every bite. I snacked on it out of the refrigerator between meals.

I think what I like most about this quinoa is that there’s a lot going on. The quinoa is really in the background, just barely a vessel for the various other ingredients. And those ingredients are a textural symphony- there’s blanched broccoli, there’s just barely flash-steamed, crunchy broccoli, pine nuts, feta and herbs. Every bite is different but delicious.

You might be tempted to skip cooking the broccoli two different ways, because it is a little annoying to blanch half of it beforehand. But I’d really recommend following the recipe as written- the texture is a huge part of what makes this salad delicious, in my opinion, and what is 2 minutes in a pot of boiling water really?

The other secret to my liking quinoa is, I think, cooking it in well-salted water. Not crazy salted, because it does really retain the flavor of what it cooks in, but salted enough so that the quinoa on its own tastes likeĀ something besides itself, which we’ve already established I’m not a fan of.

So…I’m on the cusp of 32, but looks like this old dog can still learn some new tricks.

Broccoli Quinoa Salad

Category: Salad

Servings: Serve 4-6

Ingredients

  • Generous 1 cup (7 oz. / 200g) quinoa
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 cups (5 oz. / 150g) broccoli florets, cooked
  • 4 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 cups (5 oz. / 150g) raw broccoli florets
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 3 1/2 oz. / 100g feta cheese, crumbled
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • 1/2 cup (2 oz. / 50g) pine nuts, toasted
  • Salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Cook the quinoa in a large pan of boiling water for 10-15 minutes until tender but still with some bite. Drain and set aside in a large serving bowl.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or frying pan, add the cooked broccoli and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for several minutes until it starts to disintegrate. Add the raw broccoli and a splash of water and cook for a few more minutes until the florets are cooked but still crunchy.
  3. Remove the pan from the heat, add the broccoli to the quinoa and mix well. Stir in the lemon juice, feta, mint and parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the toasted pine nuts and serve immediately.

Notes

https://www.thekitchenchronicles.com/2018/02/22/broccoli-quinoa-salad/

2 Comments

  1. I saw your note about this recipe on Eat Your Books and had to come over and see what it is all about. I love quinoa, but my husband thinks it’s just okay. However, he loves all the other ingredients in this recipe so I will put this on the short list for this week. Thank you for sharing.

    • elizabethskitchenchronicles

      March 11, 2018 at 6:47 pm

      Thanks for visiting- and I hope you give it a try, it certainly changed my mind about quinoa!

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