Recipe: oil + citrus salad dressing, quinoa tuna salad, plus tabbouleh variation

[runpunkrun]

I like this salad because you can make it ahead in a big batch and spend as much or as little time on it as you want. It keeps well in the fridge, and it's full of protein and vegetables. You can put anything you want in it, and since quinoa is a complete protein, you can drop the tuna entirely or swap it out for a protein you prefer.

Time: This takes 15 minutes for the quinoa to cook, a couple hours for it to chill, then 10-30 minutes to make the dressing and chop up the mix-ins.

Super simple salad dressing:

• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 Tbsp dijon mustard
• 1 garlic clove, pressed or grated
• a few grinds of black pepper

Whisk that all together until the oil stops being a separate layer. Use immediately, let it sit for half an hour to let the garlic permeate, or store in a jar in the fridge where it'll last for weeks. Depending on what kind of oil you use, it might separate and thicken in the cold, but just let it warm up on the counter for a bit before you try to shake it up and use it.

Note: This dressing is based on a ratio so you can make as much or as little as you want. Just start with equal parts acid and oil, and adjust the other ingredients accordingly. The acid can be lime or lemon juice, or you could also use straight up vinegar. I use a good olive oil, but any oil will do. You can toss in some dried herbs like oregano or basil if you want. I like to throw in an extra splash of Trader Joe's white balsamic vinegar, which is called Modena vinegar these days. It's not as sweet as a dark balsamic, or as tangy. It's also not certified GF. Or at least it wasn't the last time I bought it.

I could eat this dressing on anything, and do, but what I really like is to put it on cold quinoa with some tuna and chopped veg.

Quinoa:

If you are 1-2 people, cook half a cup of quinoa in a cup of chicken or vegetable broth, or water. If you are more than two people, or want to eat this all week, start with at least a cup of quinoa, which takes two cups of liquid. It's an easy 1:2 ratio: one scoop of quinoa, two scoops of liquid. 1 cup of raw quinoa makes about 3 cups of cooked quinoa.

1. If your quinoa isn't pre-rinsed (the bag should brag if it is), rinse it to remove the bitter outer coating.
2. Throw quinoa, liquid, and a pinch of salt into a medium pot, turn heat to medium high.
3. Bring to a lively simmer. That's a few gentle bubbles. Not a rolling boil.
4. Turn the heat down to low, put the lid on. Cook for 15 minutes.
5. Take the lid off. Drag a fork through the quinoa to see if there's any liquid remaining at the bottom. If it's soupy down there, put the lid back on and give it another minute or two. Slightly damp is okay.
6. Take off the heat.
7. Fluff with fork. (My favorite step, and phrase.)
8. Let it sit for five minutes with the lid on so it can soak up the rest of the moisture.
9. Put the quinoa in the fridge to chill.

You can also cook quinoa in a rice cooker or Instant Pot.

Veg:

You can put in whatever you like, however much of it you like. Just keep adding stuff until it looks good. You can't go wrong. Here's what I like, listed in order of decreasing likelihood of me putting it in if I'm low on ergs:

• olives (black or green)
• tomatoes
• cucumbers
• fresh parsley or basil
• celery
• fennel bulb (sometimes called anise)

No rules here. Just cut those things up in pieces that'll fit on a spoon and in your mouth.

Salad:

Once the quinoa's cold, or you're ready to eat, dump it into a large mixing bowl, put in a can or two of tuna (break it up with a fork first; if it's good tuna, I throw in the juice too), and add the veg. Stir. You can either add the dressing to the salad now or dress it as needed.

You're done. That's about three meals for me, and it lasts in the fridge for about a week, depending on what I've put in it. The dressing lasts even longer, as that is way more than you need for half a cup of quinoa. So don't go pouring the whole thing on there. That amount of dressing will last me through about three batches of this salad, but I don't use a lot of it, and I pour it on as I eat each meal. If you mix the dressing into the salad, the quinoa will soak it all up as it sits, which is fine, but later it may feel like the salad doesn't have enough dressing on it. It's up to you.

The nice thing about this dish is you can make it in stages. You can make the dressing ahead of time and just keep it around. I like to cook the quinoa in the morning, put it in the fridge, then throw it all together that evening or even the next day. It's also easy to scale up. Tuna and quinoa with dressing is a good start. If you've got it in you, you can hack up some vegetables and suddenly you've leveled up. And you can throw literally anything in this. A hard boiled egg might be nice. Add bell peppers, onions, pickles, marinated artichoke hearts, avocado, radishes, shaved almonds, apples, pickled beets, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries or cherries. Serve it on a big lettuce leaf or baby greens from a bag. In another life, I used to like feta cheese on top. Go wild.

Variations:

Or, you can take that chilled quinoa, and that dressing, and mix in a lot of chopped cucumber, tomato, onion or shallot, and fresh parsley, basil or mint, and you have gluten-free tabbouleh. Which is also good with feta on top. Additional variations in the comments!

Don't quinoa? Replace it with a grain you can. I've used brown rice, but you could also try sorghum grains, buckwheat or oat groats.

Questions? Ask 'em!

Comments

[lunabee34]

This sounds so good!

I make a version of this already but I never thought about adding olives or tuna. Yummy.

[runpunkrun]

Thanks! What do you put in your version?

[lunabee34]

I make the quinoa and let it cool. Then I chop up a bunch of parsley (if I have other herbs like basil, mint, cilantro, I'll put them too), tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers. I stir all that in along with a little olive oil and then squeeze a lemon over it and maybe put a little red wine vinegar if it's not tart enough.

[runpunkrun]

Nice. The cilantro with the tomatoes make me think of pico de gallo, which you could also dump on top of quinoa and make like a Mexican tabbouleh. Or you could put it in a burrito bowl instead of rice.

[lunabee34]

That sounds really good, too!

[miella]

This looks awesome. For some reason, I tend to forget about quinoa, which is weird, because I really like it.

[runpunkrun]

I like quinoa if it's cold, but when it's hot it...tastes too much.

Toasting before cooking

[jesse_the_k]

Looks delicious!

I've made this with rice, buckwheat groats, and steel-cut oatmeal: they taste even better when I toast them briefly before cooking. This adds a nice nutty flavor--maybe I'm caramelizing some sugars?

I heat up a seasoned, cast-iron fry pan on medium. When I can see heat waves rising (or a drop of water dances) then I toss up to 1/2 cup of groats in an 8-inch pan. I keep stirring with a wooden spoon or such-like until the groats become fragrant--less than two minutes. Then pull the pan off the fire and dump the groats in the boiling water.

I've tried and failed doing this to quinoa. Those tiny seeds burn so fast!

Re: Toasting before cooking

[runpunkrun]

Thanks for the toasting tips!

I accidentally...browned...my quinoa while steaming it the other day (what? why? that has never happened before). It was just a few grains, and I only noticed when I started eating it and it tasted exactly like burnt wheat toast and I had one of those moments where you get back something you lost but didn't actually want.

[indywind]

I actually have made a variation on the variation before -- tabbouleh with quinoa instead of bulgur wheat. Can attest that it works great, the quinoa absorbs enough of the dressing/veg juice liquid to taste nice, but doesn't become mushy.

My tabbouleh dressing is different though:
per ~1 cup of cooked grain, 2 or more good size tomatoes (seeds & seed-slime removed), the greens of about 3 scallions, enough fresh parsley to make ~2cups chopped, and either 3 fresh mint to make about 1/3 cup chopped, or 1 tsp dried (break open about 2 teabags of mint tea), I use ~1tsp salt, juice and zest of one large lemon (or about 1/4 cup from a bottle), 1-3 tbs virgin olive oil, 1/4 tsp each cinnamon, allspice, and black pepper. some seeded diced cucumber is optional.

I hadn't thought to have canned tuna with it, though sometimes it has accompanied broiled or grilled fish. Now I'm going to have to try it with canned tuna, too.

[runpunkrun]

Thank you for sharing your recipe for tabbouleh! I haven't made it in so long I couldn't even guess at the measurements. Using the dried mint from a teabag is a great idea.

Disclaimer: I haven't actually tried the tuna in the tabbouleh, but I see no reason why it wouldn't be delicious.

another variation

[harmonic_tabby]

I can get my husband to shop for the ingredients as well as eat this one after I make it. Highest praise!

Cooking directions are the same for 1 cup of quinoa but I add a chopped onion with the quinoa so the onion is no longer raw (that's a different salad, heh heh). After you take it off the burner toss in 8 ounces of feta, diced or crumbled. Then fluff with fork and let cool. When ready to serve I dress lightly with some mayonnaise and there are never any leftovers. We've also tried adding some canned tuna to this and it was indeed excellent.

Tabs

Re: another variation

[runpunkrun]

I like the idea of cooking the onion in the quinoa! Thanks for sharing your variation, Tabs!

[spikedluv]

This sounds really good! I keep hearing about quinoa, but I have yet to try it. Would it be possible to substitute other protein, such as chicken? (Not that I don't like tuna, just checking. *g*)

[runpunkrun]

The chicken would have to be already cooked, of course, but yes, any kind of protein would be good with this! You could serve a hot chicken breast with the cold salad on the side, or you could chop up the chicken (cold or hot) and throw it straight into the (cold or hot) quinoa.

Quinoa has a mild, nutty flavor when cold, and a stronger, grassier flavor when hot. I just prefer it cold.

[spikedluv]

Mild, nutty flavor sounds good. (I have no frame of reference for the other.) I like the sound of chicken with the dried cranberries, etc. Thank you!

[runpunkrun]

Some people describe corn as being grassy. It's kind of an earthy green flavor or smell. You'll probably notice it as soon as you heat up some quinoa--it puts out a lot of smell while it's cooking--but if you eat it cold, it only has a hint of that smell/flavor.

[spikedluv]

Oh, okay. I like corn a lot, so that should mean I'd like quinoa hot, to? *g*

[runpunkrun]

It's worth a try! That's the way I learned I preferred it cold. :D

Update

[runpunkrun]

Due to a combination of hunger and lack of imagination, I can now confirm that this dressing also tastes good on plain quinoa with nothing added to it.