This wholesome spinach salad is sprinkled with black quinoa, pomegranate seeds, toasted almonds, feta cheese and is finished with a simple vinaigrette.
Steps
1
Cooking the Quinoa
Ingredients
1/4 cup black quinoa
1/2 cup light stock (or water)
pinch of kosher salt
In a small pot, bring the stock, quinoa and salt to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover with a lid. Let cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and let rest for about 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and set aside to cool.
2
Preparing & Assembling the Salad
Ingredients
1/2 cup sliced, toasted almonds
1 tsp Dijon mustard
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp grapeseed oil
kosher salt (to taste)
4 cups baby spinach
1 pomegranate
4 tsp honey
1/2 cup feta cheese
red onion slices (to taste)
freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
Note: If the almonds aren't toasted, refer to the drill down on How to Roast / Toast Nuts.
Prepare the vinaigrette. In a small jar, mix the Dijon mustard and honey together. Add the red wine vinegar, olive oil and grapeseed oil. Cover and shake to emulsify. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Wash and spin the spinach dry. Remove the seeds from the pomegranate. Crumble the feta cheese. Depending on how much you like, cut the red onion vertically into thin slices. Set everything aside.
Divide the spinach among 4 large plates or 6 small ones. Sprinkle each salad with the onion slices, pomegranate seeds, toasted almonds, feta and quinoa. Drizzle the dressing over each salad and serve.
5 Comments
Oscar L•
The toasted almonds really stood out, great combination of flavours in here. The Ohly thing i thought was that the vinaigrette was a bit to sweet for me. So that i'll check closer next time. Cheers!
This salad is excellent. It is among my favorite recipes here on rouxbe. I didn't have red wine vinegar so used white wine instead. I also cut the honey by half. Delicious! Thank you Kimberly S !
Hi Vineeta. There are a lot of options that you could substitute here. It would be helpful to know what you are trying to avoid, but generally I would use white balsamic, balsamic or apple cider vinegar. You could even use lemon juice if you avoiding vinegar completely. Any strong, acidic cooking liquid would do the trick if you taste and smell along the way. Thanks for your question! Lauren
Ken R • Rouxbe Staff •Good work Oscar! Please adjust the acidity and sweetness to your liking - that way you can make it just the way you prefer. Cheers.
Sonal K •This salad is excellent. It is among my favorite recipes here on rouxbe. I didn't have red wine vinegar so used white wine instead. I also cut the honey by half. Delicious! Thank you Kimberly S !
Lauren L •Hi Vineeta. There are a lot of options that you could substitute here. It would be helpful to know what you are trying to avoid, but generally I would use white balsamic, balsamic or apple cider vinegar. You could even use lemon juice if you avoiding vinegar completely. Any strong, acidic cooking liquid would do the trick if you taste and smell along the way. Thanks for your question! Lauren