Quinoa w/ Beets, Apples & Walnuts


It's apple season! The weather is getting cooler, and it's almost time to pick apples here in New Jersey.

I love using apples in salads (and apple desserts are my favorite).
But I am still very much in the beet business (you would think my side job is a beet farmer!).

Beets are always in season, you can find them all winter long, and they grow beautifully in my garden from June to October. I had a bumper crop this year and I have enough still growing in the garden to last me thru November.

This salad is pretty and very easy to put together, especially if you roast the beets the day before.


Here's how:

1 cup of cooked quinoa, cooled
1 Granny Smith apple, diced (leave peel on for nice green color)
2 red beets + 1 yellow beet (roast 400F for an hour, then peel when cool)
handful of toasted walnuts
handful of snipped chives (or scallions)

Dressing:
1 tbsp of honey
3 tbsp of white balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp of walnut oil
sea salt & pepper

Whisk up the dressing with a fork, and set aside.

Dice 1 red roasted beet and add to the quinoa, walnuts, diced apple and some scallions/chives (don't bother adding in the yellow beets, they will turn red. Save the yellow one for the plate).

Add the dressing to the quinoa mixture and toss. Taste for seasonings.

Slice a roasted red & yellow beet into thin slices and overlap them in a nice pattern on your platter.

Mound the quinoa salad into the center for the plate and garnish with fresh mint, parsley or chives.


Serve and enjoy!

Comments

Natalia said…
Looks too pretty to eat! I've had a bit of a hard time in finding golden beets lately - any ideas? We finished eating our home-grown red beets: I guess we didn't plant enough!

Stacey Snacks said…
Natalia,
I have been to 3 Kings Supermarkets in 3 days...the Bkly Heights Kings, Short Hills Kings and Summit Kings all have golden beets as well as other color baby beets and large ones! They are loaded with them!
mil said…
Dil,

What a picture!!! You are really an artist... never mind a cook.
A food sylist - that's what.. along with a few other fine attributes.
mil300
Ciao Chow Linda said…
I am starting to like quinoa more and more - especially when combined with wonderfully delicious ingredients like your beautiful beets. I love the little flowers too - are they from your thyme plants?
Anonymous said…
Oh Beet Queen! Your beet harvest really has been something - and you have really managed to do a lot with them! While I was looking for a good spaghetti squash recipe today, I was intrigued by this link to a beet slider - it actually looks really good! Sounds a bit labor intensive - and not as refined and pretty as your beet dishes….but if you have a surplus of beets and need a change…..you might want to check this one out.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/beet-sliders-recipe.html