Quinoa, Chickpea and Spinach Salad with Smoked Paprika Dressing

Hope you're not sick of salads yet, 'cause here's another one. Out of this month's Bon Appetit, comes a recipe for Quinoa, Chickpea and Spinach Salad with Smoked Paprika Dressing. While I flipped right past it, a tip about salad dressings from my brother-in-law (thanks Kelly) made me go back for a second look.

With a delicious combination of flavors and plenty of ingredients, this is a great main course salad. The mint, feta cheese and smoked paprika dressing is what makes it especially good. Perfect for summertime meals, bbqs, picnics and potlucks. And since you can prepare most of the salad while the quinoa is cooking, it’s simple to make with minimal cooking or fuss.



Before making the salad, I read through all the reviews of it on Epicurious. The salad itself is highly rated but about one-third of the reviews mention how disappointing and overpowering the dressing is. I had no problems. Follow these two tips and I promise the whole recipe, dressing included, will turn out perfectly.

Use a good quality sherry vinegar and smoked or Hungarian paprika. And second, whisk the paprika and sherry together and slowly add your extra virgin olive oil. You may want to add just a drop of honey to help the emulsification along. The trick is to blend all the ingredients together well. Whisk for a minute or two until you have a well blended and emulsified dressing and you be very happy with the results.


Quinoa, Chickpea and Spinach Salad with Smoked Paprika Dressing
(Bon Appetit, July 2010)
I halved the ingredients and it still made plenty, serves 4-5

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa, uncooked
2 cups (packed) baby spinach leaves
1 15- to 16-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed, drained
1 cup cucumber, cubed
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese, divided
2 tablespoons Sherry wine vinegar
1 teaspoon smoked or Hungarian paprika
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Place one cup of rinsed quinoa and two cups water in large saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until quinoa is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain. Chill until cool.

Meanwhile, combine spinach leaves, chickpeas, cubed cucumber, halved tomatoes, mint leaves, and half of feta cheese in a large bowl. Add cooled quinoa and toss gently to blend.
Whisk vinegar and smoked paprika in small bowl. Gradually whisk in oil. You may want to add just a drop of honey into the dressing to help thicken. Season dressing with salt and pepper.

Pour dressing over salad and stir with a large spoon to mix all the ingredients and dressing together. Season with pepper to taste and sprinkle remaining feta.

Salad Days of Summer

I've been eating a lot of salads over the past two weeks and I'm sure I'm not alone. They're the perfect summer meal. The secret is to have enough ingredients on hand to keep them interesting and to rotate the dressings. Right now, my favorite salad fixings are new potatoes, beets, avocado, hard-boiled eggs, red and yellow tomatoes, radishes, cucumber, green beans, asparagus, capers, salami and cheese. These ingredients make superb variations of the classic salade nicoise.


After the first five days or so, I mused to my boyfriend that perhaps I should make something else for dinner... but he said he didn't need to eat something different every night. Well that's all I needed to hear and now it's been all salads all the time. Woo hoo!

Start by placing some salad greens on one corner of the plate, top with some sliced beets, cucumber or avocado and then start adding a few of the ingredients onto the rest of the plate, fanning out around the greens. Try out some of my favorite dressings like yogurt garlic, southwestern with asiago, or this recipe for maple chipotle drizzled over your favorite salad. I’d love to hear what your favorite dressings are too so drop me a comment.


Yogurt Garlic Dressing
Inspired by Jamie Oliver's Yogurt Dressing: GOOP

Ingredients
1/3 cup of natural yogurt
2 tablespoons white or red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
sea salt and black pepper

Directions
Put yogurt, white or red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil into a jam jar with a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Put the lid on the jar and shake well.



Southwestern Dressing with Asiago (serves 2)
Inspired by Rebar Modern Cooking's Southwest Caesar Dressing
This recipe makes enough dressing for two, if you have a family double the recipe.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon capers
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, pureed
1 tablespoon finely grated asiago cheese
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Directions
Combine all the ingredients into a jam jar with a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Put the lid on the jar and shake well.

Spicy Chipotle Grilled Chicken

Fire up the barbeque because this is the best spicy chipotle grilled chicken you'll have all summer. More of a warm heat then spicy, this is a mixture of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (my favorite), garlic, paprika, cumin, chili and cilantro. It's one part southern, one part Mexican and 100 per cent summer grilling food.


You always know you're made a great meal when everyone at the table is eating in determined silence. No time between bites to talk 'cause every flavour is being savoured. And that's exactly how this dinner went down. You can find chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in the Mexican section of grocery stores.

A great accompaniment is Martha Stewart's recipe for Cuban-style roasted sweet potatoes. The sweet flavour of the potatoes and fresh lime juice is the perfect match for the heat of the grilled chipotle chicken. I used the recipe from the Martha Stewart Living Cookbook, but it's the same as the one posted on Caroline's Favorite Vegan Recipes.

Spicy Chipotle Grilled Chicken (serves 4)
From Bon Appetit, July 2006

Ingredients
1/4 cup canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 chicken breasts

Directions
In a food processor, combine chipotles in adobo, olive oil and garlic cloves and puree until minced. Add chopped onion, chopped cilantro, paprika, ground cumin, chili powder, and salt and process until onion is finely chopped.

Arrange chicken breasts in a pan and spread chipotle mixture over both sides of the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight if you're planning ahead.

Spray grill rack with nonstick spray. Prepare barbecue (medium heat). Grill chicken until cooked through, moving to cooler part of grill as needed to prevent burning and brushing with reserved marinade during last 5 minutes of grilling, about 30 minutes. Transfer chicken to platter and serve.

Alternatively, you can grill these on your stove top in a frying pan.