ffwd - quinoa, fruit and nut salad

I've never eaten quinoa (keen-wa) before. One of my friends totally loves it, but I just hadn't gotten around to it. So I had that in mind when I turned to make this salad. I'm afraid that it sounded a little more in the beggars linguine camp, with the combination of dried fruits, nuts and some kind of starch (and yes, I know it's a seed, not a starch - but it kind of seems like one), so I was less than sure about it. I made this with the sincere intention of eating it for lunch. I even made another salad to go along side of it too. I did. My week go away from me...


the ingredients ready to for the putting together
luckily I had some fresh mint and basil (a favorite combination)
and some apricots a combo of raisins, cranberries, and blueberries
and some pine nuts, walnuts and toasted sunflower seeds



cooking quinoa is a lot like cooking rice



while the recipe didn't say to, I thought that any nuts included ought to be toasted, so
they would retain their crunch in the salad



all of the other ingredients prepped



I have to admit, this does look cute with the iconic rings
that give quinoa its distinctive look

 

ready for a quick stir



the finished salad

Somehow, this week did get away from me - on days that I had planned to go out, I stayed in. On days I planned to stay in... you get the idea. I've probably had a spoon or two of this each day over the last several. Just tried it again to remind myself.

I think my general idea of making this as part of a meal of different salads had merit. I found that I liked it more as the days went by (against Dorie's advice). Maybe I had too many nuts. Maybe the walnut oil was overpowering. Maybe I didn't have enough other flavors in the dressing to compensate (I think some garlic, onion, or chile - or a combination - would be good). But I did kind of like that fruity-nutty combination. And it seems a shame to waste all of those perfectly delightful goodies. The mint particularly was nice with this.

I'm sure that some of my fellow Doristas will have some great ideas (I know it's true - I cheated and peeked a bit earlier) of how to serve this. So maybe the next time a summer salad dinner, or a group of salads to go with barbeque are required this will come back out to play and I can tinker with it a bit.

Oh, and one other note: I made a half-recipe. It was easily enough for 4 (or more if combined with other things). This recipe makes a lot!