Asparagus and Quinoa Salad

Now that spring is here, I start to think about salads, but sometimes salads can be boring. One of the best ways to jazz up a salad is to not use lettuces. Now, I've always had the mind set that a salad isn't salad if it doesn't have something green and leafy in the mix. Nonetheless, some people call anything a salad. I know some people who call jello a salad. I know there are chicken and potato salads that don't have anything to do with lettuces either, but when I serve them I often stick a leaf of lettuce underneath anyway.

When I discovered quinoa it changed my out look on salads. Here is a grain that is a protein, but it's a grain. It has very little flavor of it's own and goes with just about anything. I love doing big salads for a whole meal, and with quinoa I can dress it up with some veggies and add a nice dressing to it, but still get a good source of protein. About half of our meals are vegetarian, so I'm always on the look out on ways to dress up a veggie or use quinoa with veggies. It's kind of pointless, I think, to mix quiona with meat. I've done it before, but it always seems odd to me. So here is a recipe that highlights a great spring time veggie, asparagus, and a great protein packed grain. 


Asparagus and Quinoa Salad
1 cup of quiona
1 bunch of asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces
juice from 1/2 a lemon
zest from 1/2 a lemon
1 clove garlic
4 green onions sliced partly up into the green part
1 tsp mirin
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste


Cook quiona as directed or see my how-to here. In a frying pan add olive oil and heat over medium. Add the asparagus and saute for a minute or two. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, green onions, mirin and salt and pepper. Continue cooking till bright green, reduce the heat to low. Once the quiona is cooked add it to the asparagus and mix will. Add a drizzle of olive oil. Serves 4-6.