Warm Quinoa Salad with Dates, Melted Chevre and Baby Kale
This warm quinoa salad recipe offers a complex array of flavors including creamy, melting goat cheese, the sweetness of dates and the bite of baby kale.
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa
- 3 tbsp grape seed oil
- 1/4 cup red onion finely chopped
- pinch dried ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- salt
- 8 small dates pitted and roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup chevre crumbled
- 1 cup baby kale leaves washed
- 1 sprig fresh cilantro chopped (optional)
- additional cilantro for garnish optional
Instructions
- Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a small saucepan. Cover, turn temperature to low and simmer for 15 minutes or until water is absorbed and quinoa is fully cooked.
- While quinoa is cooking, heat the grape seed oil is a sauté pan. Add the onions, ginger, cardamom and salt to taste and sauté until onions are soft, about 2 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in the dates, lemon juice, crumbled chevre and the cooked quinoa.
- To serve: divide the kale among four plates, top with the quinoa mixture (so that the heat from the quinoa will wilt the greens) and garnish with cilantro, if desired.