Quinoa, Spinach, & Shiitake Salad (easily a main dish)
Contributor:
Jenny Pauls
Catetories:
Side Dishes, Other Main Dishes, Vegetarian (or easy fix)
Recipe:
I found the origins of this recipe in Great Food Fast by Martha Stewart. I altered it and didn't measure most things, so this is a by-guess-and-by-gosh recipe that I'm definitely planning on making again.
1/2 lb shiitake, mushrooms stems removed
olive oil (<= 1/2 c)
red wine vinegar (<= 1/4 c)
spoonful of mayo
1/2-1 t dry tarragon (or other herbs, fresh or dried that sound good)
1 c quinoa
12 oz baby spinach
3/4 - 1 c crumbled feta
1/4 c sunflower seeds
Mushrooms Preheat oven to 450 F. Mix 1 T salt in 5 c room temperature water. Cut shiitakes into halves or quarters to get bite-sized chunks. Place in water and weight down with a plate. Soak 10 minutes. Drain and place on tea towel. Gather corners and shake to mostly dry. Dump on rimmed baking sheet and toss with olive oil (2-3 T) and red wine vinegar (1-2 T).
Roast shiitakes 30-40 minutes stirring once or twice, until liquid is completely evaporated.
Quinoa Meanwhile, put quinoa in a deep saucepan and rinse a couple of times. Add a good amount of well-salted water. Bring to a gentle boil and cook, uncovered, 10 minutes. Drain in a sieve that fits in your saucepan. Add 1 inch water to saucepan and set sieve in pan (make sure bottom of sieve is not touching water) and bring water to a boil. Cover quinoa with a folded kitchen towel (not terry cloth), then cover with a lid (don’t worry if lid doesn’t fit tightly) and steam until tender, fluffy, and dry, 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand off heat, without lid but still covered with towel, 5 minutes.
Dressing In a small jar mix 1/2-1/3 c olive oil, 2-3 T vinegar, tarragon or other herbs, a spoonful of mayo, salt & pepper to taste. Put on lid and shake well.
When all is ready, put spinach in a large bowl and top with (still warm to hot) mushrooms & as much quinoa as you like (I used probably 2/3 of the total). Dump on the dressing. Stir together. The spinach will wilt a bit - that's a good thing. Add feta and sunflower seeds and stir again. Yum!
I had leftovers. The next day I gave it a bit of time in the microwave (45 seconds for a lunch-sized bowl) and it was still great.
