Recipe 31- Cottage Blog- Tomato Basil Quinoa Salad

Recipe 31- Cottage Blog- Tomato Basil Quinoa Salad

Here we are with Part 2 of "the cottage" blog! 

I served Recipe 30- Brazilian Grilled Steak with Salsa Criolla with this deliciously fresh salad.

I have to say that cooking up in the cottage was a great challenge and I can't wait to choose my next recipe to take up to Tobermory in the next few weeks. 

Like I had said in my last "Cottage Blog", the kitchen is very minimal when it comes to gadgets and even standard cooking supplies. I thought I had thought of EVERYTHING I could possibly need, until I read back over the recipe. 

The beginning of this recipe calls to well wash and drain your quinoa before boiling. 

At home this would be a simple feat... A mesh strainer does the trick! 

Guess what we didn't have at the cottage? 

A mesh strainer.

This is when I turned in Macgyver! 

So I had pre measured the quinoa and stored it in a mason jar for the travel to the cottage.

This came in very useful. I added some bottled water to the mason jar... Did I mention we didn't have running water either? I gave the jar a shake and this is when it got interesting. 

I took a coffee filter, put it into a drinking glass and poured my quinoa in and let it drain.

TADAAA! well washed and drained quinoa. Worked great, just took a little extra time. 

My next step with the quinoa was to give it a nice toasting before cooking.

A little oil went into the pot and then I let it toast for a few minutes. I have cooked quinoa before and never used this step, but thanks to Chef Michael, I learn something new every time I cook. 

Water is then added, some salt and pepper and the Quinoa is left to cook for about 15 minutes or until tender. I quite enjoy the nutty smell quinoa gives off while it cooks away. 

After 15 minutes or so the water has completely been absorbed and you are left with light and fluffy quinoa. Its left to cool down to room temp. This is when I started into the chopping and preparing of the rest of the salad. 

But not before I had a few spoonfuls of the cooked quinoa, its hard to resist. 

I chopped up ANOTHER 2 pints of cherry tomatoes, and thinly sliced some red onions. I also lightly chopped the basil leaves.

One thing I will be bringing for the next "cottage blog" will be some knives from home. 

Using a bread knife and a small paring knife that was dull, made cooking a whole lot more interesting :) 

Next I started working on the dressing. Into the mason jar went balsamic vinegar, olive oil, honey and dijon mustard. Let me just say, these ingredients all together make one DELICIOUS dressing that could be used on ANY salad. 

At this point, the dressing is added to the chopped tomatoes,onions and basil and given a good stir. 

I then added my cooled quinoa and gave it another good stir.

Now this salad was served with the Brazillan grilled steak with salsa criolla.
It was a delicious pair together, however the ingredients are somewhat similar, so it may be better to pair with another dish. Either way this salad was a huge HIT!
It was fresh and delicious, perfect ending to a hot day at the cottage.
 I think this is a great recipe to try out quinoa if you have never had it before.
The quinoa in this salad made it very unique and very healthy.
This recipe makes a very large amount, but it is great for leftovers the next day!

I hope you all have enjoyed this addition to the blog postings. I anticipate a few more "Cottage blogs" over the summer. I love being able to share the recipes, but also my experiences along the way no matter what the circumstances... even under equipped kitchens ;) 

As always, my compliments to the Chef and cheers to you, my friends!