My weekend consisted of about 20+ hours cooking, baking, styling, and shooting cookbook recipes. It was intense, but luckily I always seem to have a lot of fun when there’s food involved. I managed to cap off the weekend by gouging my middle finger with a processor blade. Middle finger indeed. Side note – Have you ever tried to type with a band-aid on? This could get ugly…
As Hillary said on Instagram, my kitchen photo made her twitch:
I feel you, Hillary.
Anyway, it felt so good to kick up my feet Sunday night! This quinoa salad fueled my weekend, in addition to 3 summer appetizers, 1 breakfast recipe, and 2 entrées. Luckily, we had friends over Saturday night to help us eat all the appetizers we were drowning in. The plates were empty within an hour, so I’ll take that as a good sign!
This quinoa salad is served warm, which seemed appropriate for the cooler temps we had over the weekend. It’s all topped off with a lovely green sauce to infuse the dish with a tangy bite of fresh herbs, lemon, and olive oil. I used basil, chives, and dill because that’s what I had on hand, but feel free to use any herbs you like.
Featuring all new, protein-packed salads, hearty toppers, flavour boosters, and dressings you'll want to drink, my new cookbook will transform the way you think about salads. Oh, and be sure to flip to the back for a surprise dessert chapter!
Warm Quinoa Salad with 3-Herb Green Sauce
Yield
2-3 servings
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Ingredients
For the salad
- 1 cup dry quinoa
- 1.5 cups water
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 0.45kg/1 lb mixed cherry/Campari tomatoes
- 3 corn-on-the-cob, shucked
- 3 green onions, chopped
For the 3 herb green sauce
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 cup lightly packed basil
- 1 tbsp fresh dill*
- 2 tbsp fresh chives
- approx 1/4 cup yellow tomato*
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/8th tsp fine grain sea salt, or to taste
- 1/2 tsp nutritional yeast (optional)
Directions
- Rinse quinoa in a fine mesh strainer. Add quinoa to a medium-sized pot along with 1.5 cups water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, stir, reduce heat to low and cover with lid. Cook for 15-17 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes with the lid on before fluffing with a fork.
- Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Chop tomatoes and mince garlic. Remove corn from the cob by slicing down the ear of the corn with a chef’s knife. Add oil to skillet and the chopped veggies. Season generously with Herbamare or fine grain sea salt. Cook for about 7-8 minutes and remove from heat. Stir in chopped green onions.
- Meanwhile, make the green sauce in a food processor. Start by dropping the garlic into the processor to mince. Now add in the herbs and mince again. Next add the liquids – tomatoes, oil, and lemon juice. Stop to scrape down the side of the bowl as needed. Season to taste & add opt. nooch.
- To assemble, spoon quinoa into a bowl, layer the tomato and corn mix on top, and spoon on green sauce. Season with salt and pepper & enjoy!
Tip:
- You can sub any fresh herbs that you like.
- The yellow tomatoes in this green sauce acts as an oil-replacer. They thin out the sauce without needing a ton of oil. I used yellow tomatoes so the sauce would remain a lovely green colour. Red tomatoes will likely change the colour to be less vibrant.
- 3-Herb Green Sauce yield is approx 1/3 cup
The fridge is overflowing with simple, healthy food. It’s going to be a great week!
Served this on Labour Day to non vegan friends. Everyone including the kids loved it.
Only change I made: roasted cherry tomatoes instead of sautéing the tomatoes.
It was delish!
This was one of the best dishes I have ever made. Tasted even better the next day.
I guess this recipe yields a happy belly and a hurting body part for me too! Knocked my head pretty good on the cabinet but, OH how my his and and I loved this recipe! Added almond slices for a little crunch :) thank you!
This was awesome! I had to make adjustments as I didn’t have any dill or chives in the garden — I used basil with a little oregano and tarragon and threw in a couple spoonfuls of the green onion for t. I also had a bunch of bell peppers and a zucchini so I added those in with the corn and tomato mixture. Even my husband (the meat and potatoes guy) and my toddler loved it. I have enough left for lunch tomorrow, too (which I am really looking forward to, let me tell you!). I ended up with a few extra veggies due to my additions, but they’ll go great in the vegan enchiladas I’m making tomorrow. Thanks for the great recipe!
Made it a second time with a cilantro basil dressing and cubed avocado on top — even better. Such a versatile recipe!
Wow! This salad really stands up to improvisation, too! We were out of just the weirdest things today (like garlic- we were out of garlic!), and I made it using garlic powder, edamame for the corn, and a handful of parsley. Still delicious!
How’s your middle finger now? hope it’s fine. .I am so impressed! And your photography is just STUNNING! : )
I’m drooling over this….looks so good!
Hi Angela,
You may have heard this already, but did you see this scary article about quinoa?
guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/vegans-stomach-unpalatable-truth-quinoa
Luckily I have found a place where we can Canadian grown quinoa. I bet it taste better too!
quinoa.com/store
Cheers,
Samantha
Yes another reader linked to it on my maple baked lentil post and I replied there.
YUM! I just made this today: added fresh cilantro to the green dressing and kale to the veggie topping. Delish!
So good and so quick! Ran home from work and whipped it up in time for some friends to come over for dinner.
Yummy salad! I added grilled steak for my carnivorous husband & he thought it was great! Awesome summer salad!
I’ve been making this about twice a month for awhile now, even my picky kids love it,
They call it greenwah
Terrific, thank you! I added some zucchini and yellow pepper to the veggies, and replaced the dill with mint. YUM!
Another great recipe. I added raw cashews to the sauce to make it a little creamier & more filling. Delicious!
Made this for my 12 year old daughter who is a vegetarian. She loves this salad and takes it to school for lunch. She can’t get enough of the green sauce!
So easy to make and adapt depending on what you have in your pantry . Huge hit with the kids and very filling .
I added avacado to the green sauce and black beans to the corn veg mix . Was wonderful !!
Just ate tonight! What an incredible meal. Flavors were top notch!
That herb sauce smelt SOOOOO good I put a dab of it on my neck. Had to bat away the Mediterranean ladies.
haha, too funny. I’m so happy to hear you loved it Kevin! Thanks :)
I have been making this dish every year since I found his recipe, always perfect! I think the fresh dill rocks it! Thank you!