Quinoa Salad with Zucchini Ribbons and Avocado from SLA

05/07/2017

The recipe for this delicious salad comes from the Dutch cookbook ‘SLA, easy salades’, based on the locally famous salad bar chain. Anyone who has ever tried one of their salads or cooked from their first cookbook, knows that most of their salads are actually pretty complex. Therefore, they published this much smaller cook filled with all kinds of salad that are so much easier to prepare at home.

Sometimes the recipes are a bit too standard for my liking – tomato carpaccio with mozzarella, for instance – but most of them are actually pretty inspiring. Think of recipes like quick graved lax with pickled pink egg, collard wraps with sweet potatoes or kale salad with crispy chickpeas and corn fritters. Everything is vegetarian and fairly healthy, matching SLA’s food philosophy.

I tried the meal salad with quinoa, zucchini ribbons and avocado and was pleasantly surprised. It’s a fresh, light summery salad with creamy avocado, sweet pieces of apricot and delicious marinated zucchini (and so easy!).

Naturally, I did add my own touch, by replacing the dill with basil leaves and choosing pistachios instead of the pine nuts. Very much recommended!

INGREDIENTS
for 4 persons

1 large cup (200 g) quinoa
1 tbsp vegetable stock powder
3 zucchinis
juice of 4 lemons
4 tbsp olive oil
¼ cup (50 g) dried apricots, chopped
1/3 cup (50 g) roasted pine nuts (or pistachios, like I used)
2 ripe avocado’s, thinly sliced
handful of chopped dill (or basil, like I used)

DIRECTIONS

Cook the quinoa according to the package directions, but add the stock powder to the cooking water.
Slice the zucchinis in quarters lengthwise and remove the seeds. Use a vegetable peeler to make long ribbons. Put the ribbons in a large bowl and add the lemon juice, olive oil and season generously with pepper and salt. Leave for 10 minutes.
Add the apricots and nuts to the cooked quinoa. Divide the quinoa and zucchini ribbons over four bowls and place half an avocado on top. Finish with the fresh herbs and extra salt, pepper and olive oil to taste.
Even better with a scoop of (sweet potato) hummus or some crumbled feta.

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