It's my sister's wedding social tonight. If you're not from Manitoba, you might not have heard of socials before. It's just a big party that people buy tickets to, with raffle prizes, and lots of drinking. Socials often pay for the wedding and can be pretty fun. There's music and a midnight lunch, too. I have to go and help get the hall ready in a little bit.
Unfortunately, it's snowing right now, but it was above 20C a couple of days ago, so I think this salad is warranted. We don't have local asparagus right now, and won't for at least a month, but I caved at the grocery store the other day and bought some from the US. Everyone else is eating it, you know? If I wait until it is in season here, it's no longer available anywhere else. And it's snowing outside. I question why people live here sometimes.
In other news, we don't have Milo, the kitten we were fostering, anymore. I'll catch you up on that next week. I miss him.
We've also bought our one-way tickets to Germany, so we are moving at the beginning of September! I'm a little nervous, but excitement is starting to edge that anxiety out.
Oh man, so much news. I also tried earthenware, a type of pottery, for the first time this week. It's amazing. I've been doing pottery for over six years and have never had this much fun doing it before. I love everything about it. I posted a picture on instagram making a bunch of little tester bowls. That's a much more accurate representation of me, too, if you're curious about what I look like. Ha.
On to the recipe!
It might be a little presumptuous to say that this is the best ever dressing. I don't usually want to eat my salad dressing with a spoon, though, so I'm going to say it anyway. It's reminiscent of caesar dressing, but less gloopy, and without eggs. It's like extra lemony, lighter caesar dressing. This dressing, and the whole salad, is very easy to make. You might want to make a big container of the dressing and keep it in the fridge. I've made it every day since that first trial. I use an immersion blender to make it, but if you have a food processor or a small blender, both of those will work too.
The salad has a quinoa base, but you can substitute just about any grain in its place. Try millet or amaranth for similar results. I just can't seem to get millet to cook evenly for some reason. If you like to cook big batches of grains on the weekends to last throughout the week (I recommend it) then you can put this salad together in a few minutes. Just make the dressing, cook the vegetables, and toss them on whatever you have in the fridge. Even if you are cooking the quinoa for this meal, it'll still only take about fifteen minutes in total. You can get everything else done while the quinoa's cooking.
There's asparagus, green peas, and spinach topping the salad. I added a few pistachios, too, but you could use something like hemp hearts or pepitas in their place if you can't have nuts. The pistachios add some nice richness and texture, as well as some good fats. This is a complete meal on its own but it would make an excellent side dish.
Serves 3-4 people
Ingredients:
3 cups water
1 1/2 cups quinoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon avocado oil
300 grams asparagus (1 bunch), washed and with any woody ends removed
1 cup fresh or frozen peas*
2 cups fresh spinach*
1 clove garlic, sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted pistachios
Dressing:
Zest of a lemon
3 tablespoons lemon juice (1-2 lemons)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced*
1/2 teaspoon honey or maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
Add the water, quinoa, and salt to a pot. Bring to a boil, and then lower the heat to medium-low. Simmer, covered, for about fifteen minutes, or until all of the water has been absorbed.
Heat a large pan over medium heat with the avocado oil. Slice the asparagus in half lengthwise. Once the pan is hot, add the garlic and asparagus. Cook for two minutes, or until the garlic starts to turn golden, stirring frequently. Add the peas and spinach, lower the heat, and place a lid on the pan. Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes or until the peas are cooked and the spinach is wilted.
To prepare the dressing, blend the lemon zest and juice, mustard, garlic, honey, salt and pepper until fully combined. This took a few seconds with my immersion blender. Slowly add the olive oil in a stream while continuing to blend. This emulsifies the oil into the other ingredients and creates a smooth, creamy dressing.
To serve, place the quinoa on a large platter, add the vegetables and pistachios, and top with the dressing. It's best warm but good cold. It will keep in the fridge for a couple of days if you have leftovers.
Notes:
1. If you use frozen peas, add them a minute before the spinach so they have some extra time to cook.
2. I don't recommend using frozen spinach for this recipe.
3. I mince the garlic before adding it to make sure there aren't big garlicky surprises floating around in the dressing. Some people don't like that.
P.S. thanks to my favourite hand model, Ashley, for being awesome at this and having extra pretty hands.
Labels: asparagus, easy, gluten free, healthy, high protein, quick and easy, quinoa, salad, seasonal, spring, vegan, vegetarian
