You probably already know that I love cooking quinoa. Quinoa soup, quinoa breakfast recipes – I love them all! I must confess that I also REALLY love garlic. In fact, my first step when I am tweaking recipes is always to add garlic. I love the heat and the bite it ads. Years ago, when I was just beginning to cook for others, I ran across a roasted garlic soup recipe that is quite simply out of this world. I think that that was the first time that I realized how amazing combining roasted garlic with raw garlic could be. The soup is a lot of work, but it is always worth it. I still make it for special occasions and there are almost never any leftovers. My entire family loves it and I love everything about it. (Well, except for peeling garlic. J)
This quinoa salad brings together two of my great loves – quinoa and roasted garlic. This is a really great summer quinoa salad. It is pretty enough to take to a family picnic or cook out! I got the idea for this quinoa recipe from this month’s Cooking Light. The original dish was not originally a salad, but since I have been on a major salad kick, I made some adjustments. I hope you will enjoy.
Roasted Garlic Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
2 heads of garlic
2 T olive oil
½ tsp crushed red pepper
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
2/3 cup spinach leaves, chopped
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
½ cup goat cheese
2 T shaved fresh Parmesan
½ cup balsamic vinegar
1T Dijon mustard
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 cup olive oil
Freshly ground salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the papery part of the garlic and cut top off the head. Break into separate cloves. Toss with olive oil and wrap in foil. Bake for one hour. Cool and squeeze out garlic pulp.
- Bring two cups of water to a boil. Add quinoa and crushed red pepper. Boil for 10 minutes. Drain in a fine metal colander.
- Bring fresh water to a boil. Place quinoa in the colander over the water and cover with a clean dish towel and lid. Steam for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.
- While quinoa is cooking, combine spinach, tomato, goat cheese and parmesan in a large bowl. Toss gently.
- Make dressing by combining vinegar, mustard, garlic and roasted garlic in a bowl. Add in olive oil in a fine stream.
- When quinoa is completely cooled, add to the spinach and cheese mixture. Add dressing and toss.
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Lauren, I am so sorry I didn't reply sooner. Somehow I missed your comment when it came over and just found it when I was cleaning out spam today. First, thanks for your kind words. I really love quinoa and this website has been a pleasant surprise to me. We share similar tastes as garlic and goat cheese are two of my favorite things. (I make the Eat Clean Goat Cheese Won-Tons every weekend!) As for the garlic soup recipe, I am happy to share! I will get it up in the next few weeks. Take care!