This recipe for this Quinoa Salad with Roasted Mushrooms is a combination of two recipes from a new cookbook, Small Victories: Recipes, Advice + Hundreds of Ideas for Home-Cooking Triumphs by writer Julia Turshen. The recipe is so perfect for Thanksgiving, in more ways than one.
First a few words right out of the book from Julia:
"This cookbook, like most cookbooks, assumes that whoever is reading it has access to food and not only the desire, but also the time, energy, and means to cook. How great would it be if that were the case for everyone? I firmly believe that if you have the privilege of eating however much you want whenever you want, you should spend some time ensuring that others have the same opportunity."
As the launch of her book coincides with Thanksgiving and the Holidays, Julia is raising awareness for childhood hunger with a fundraising campaign with No Kid Hungry. I'm supporting the campaign by sharing a couple of recipes from Julia's book and asking you to visit the campaign page and help if you can.
Quinoa Salad with Roasted Mushrooms recipe first, my personal notes and shopping resources follow.
QUINOA SALAD with ROASTED MUSHROOMS from SMALL VICTORIES {recipe}
The first recipe is for Potluck Quinoa as it's presented in the Small Victories cookbook, along with a Spin-Off note that recommends mixing the cooked quinoa with the roasted mushrooms from a different recipe in the book. The second recipe is for the roasted mushrooms only from the Roasted Mushrooms on Toast recipe. I've indicated (my adaptations in italics, inside parentheses, like this).
serves 4
INGREDIENTS for POTLUCK QUINOA
1 cup quinoa
Kosher salt
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup whole raw hazelnuts, crushed (Sarah's note: I used pistachios because of a hazelnut allergy)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 large handfuls baby arugula and/or soft leafy herbs (parsley, dill, chives, etc.), roughly chopped
1 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled
DIRECTIONS for POTLUCK QUINOA
Rinse the quinoa thoroughly in a fine-mesh strainer (this may sound like an annoying step, but don't skip it since quinoa's natural coating tastes soapy). Put the rinsed quinoa in a medium saucepan with 1¾; cups water and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil then lower the heat, cover, and simmer until the quinoa has absorbed all of the water, softened, and each grain was "spiraled," about 12 minutes.
Transfer the quinoa to a baking sheet and use a spoon to spread it out. Let cool to room temperature, then transfer to a large bowl and set aside.
Meanwhile, in a skillet over medium-high beat, warm the olive oil. Add the hazelnuts, sprinkle with a large pinch of salt, and cook, stirring frequently, until the nuts are dark brown, about 5 minutes.
Transfer the hazelnut and all of their fragrant oil to the bowl with the quinoa, along with lemon juice and arugula. Stir everything together and season to taste with salt. Scatter the goat cheese one top of the quinoa and drizzle the whole thing evenly with a good glug of olive oil.
Serve immediately.
ROASTED MUSHROOM SPIN-OFF:
For a really satisfying side dish, mix cooked quinoa with roasted mushrooms and top with a few pickled red onions. For a main course, top each serving with a fried or poached egg.
INGREDIENTS for ROASTED MUSHROOMS
2 lbs assorted mushrooms, tough stems discarded, torn into bite-size pieces
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
DIRECTIONS for ROASTED MUSHROOMS
Preheat your oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Spread the mushrooms on the prepared baking sheet, drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with a large pinch of salt and the thyme. Use your hands to toss everything together. Roast the mushrooms, stirring occasionally, until they are tender and well browned, about 40 minutes.
NOTES and RESOURCES
- Quinoa comes in a few types that vary slightly in texture, most notably black, red, and white. For chilled or room temperature salads, I generally use red quinoa, as each grain maintains the integrity of its shape and can stand up to being tossed with other ingredients, including vinaigrettes and dressings. However, I didn't have any red quinoa on hand so I used white organic quinoa and it was perfect.
- Side tip: I threw two smashed cloves of garlic into the pot with the water to cook the quinoa. They just add a little something, if you're into that sort of thing.
- The original recipes calls for hazelnuts, which probably matches really well with the earthy, toasty roasted mushrooms, but there is a hazelnut allergy in this house, so we used pistachios.
- This recipe can be made 100% plant-based if you leave out the goat cheese.
- Mushrooms not only add some crazy ass umami to a dish, but they are especially good for the body in the fall and winter months when our bodies don't get as much sun to produce vitamin D. Some varieties of mushrooms provide vitamin D. I would have used all shiitake mushrooms because they are my FAVORITE, but I am trying to be more open to new things in life, so I went all kinds of crazy and bought giant portobello mushrooms, little brown cremini mushrooms, and went all kinds of crazy with maitake mushrooms. Then I found out those are just Hen of the Woods, which I have had many times oh well you can't win everything all the time.
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