Black Bean and Quinoa Salad
Tonight I decided on an easy standby to start the last week of my little experiment: black bean and quinoa salad. It's fast to make, full of protein, and the lime and cilantro make it a little zippy. Quinoa is also a lighter grain than rice--it's closer to couscous, so the dish isn't as heavy as something like black beans and rice.
The dish is based on this Gourmet recipe, which contains strangely complicated instructions for making quinoa. I just rinse the quinoa well to remove any residual bitter-tasting saponin and cook like rice. For two servings, add 1 c. water to 1/2 c. organic quinoa, bring to boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for about 10 min until the water is absorbed. After starting the quinoa, I drained, rinsed, and heated a can of black beans on low heat. While the quinoa and beans were cooking, I chopped up a couple of organic Roma tomatoes (tomatoes in February are a bit rough, but these were okay) and about 1/2 c. of organic cilantro and set aside. I also made the dressing to flavor the quinoa by melting about 2 tbl. of butter and mixing in about 2 tbl. of olive oil, juice from one lime, some lime zest, and salt and ground pepper. When the quinoa was done, I mixed it with the lime dressing and added extra salt to taste. I then mixed in the black beans, tomatoes, and cilantro. What I really like to do is top this with feta cheese, but I neglected to pick some up at the store. Still, a quick and tasty dish that felt a little Spring-like today.
Comments
Post a Comment