Crispy quinoa and egg salad

With the hot weather we’ve been having around here lately, my cooking style has turned very simple and minimal. During hot summer evenings (last week we were into the high 30’s), we often walk down to the shores of Lake Zurich with a packed picnic to catch that lake breeze and go for a swim in order to cool down. That means we’ve been enjoying all kinds of fresh salads, dips and spreads with crisp-breads, lots of fresh fruits and veggies and grain-based dishes that don’t require too much time hovering over the stove, like this crispy quinoa and egg salad.

This crispy quinoa and egg salad is a great option if you’ve got some extra cooked quinoa in the fridge (I often find myself with leftover cooked grains in the fridge as I tend to cook up a batch on the weekend in preparation for the week). The cooked quinoa is fried up with aromatics in olive oil until it’s super crispy, and then turned out into a serving bowl with fresh herbs and topped with avocado slices and hard-cooked eggs. This salad is a great option for vegetarians, as it’s loaded with protein from both the quinoa and the hard-cooked eggs. As with all of my recipes here on Beloved Kitchen, it’s also naturally gluten free.

This salad is best served warm or at room temperature, so I suggest making it on the day you plan to eat it, because once the salad is refrigerated the quinoa loses its crispiness. I hope you enjoy this salad as much as I do – if you try the recipe, let me know how it went in the comments!

-xo KA

Crispy quinoa and egg salad {gluten free}

This is the salad I make when I have leftover quinoa in the fridge. I cook the quinoa with aromatics in olive oil until it’s nice and crispy, and then add toppings like avocado and hard cooked eggs. This salad is best enjoyed on the day it’s made, hot or at room temperature.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 2 small shallots, finely diced

• 1/2 cup | 70 g roasted red peppers (from a jar), finely chopped

• 1 clove garlic, pressed

• 1 pinch smoked sea salt flakes (Maldon is my favourite)

• 4 cups | 740 g cooked quinoa

• 1 large handful flat leaf parsley, chopped

• 4 hard-cooked eggs*, cut into quarters

• 1/2 avocado, thinly sliced

• Hot sauce, to serve

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the shallots, roasted red peppers, garlic and smoked sea salt and cook for 2-3 minutes, so that the shallots and garlic start to lose their structure. Add the quinoa to the pan, give everything a good toss and then cook for 7-10 minutes until the quinoa is very crispy. To get the quinoa crispy, flatten the mixture in the pan using the back of a spatula and press down a bit. Leave for a couple minutes, give everything a good mix and then repeat.

Once the quinoa is cooked to your liking, transfer it to a salad bowl and toss with the chopped parsley. Arrange the hard-cooked eggs and avocado slices on top of the salad and serve with hot sauce, if desired.

*To make hard-cooked eggs: place the eggs in a small pot and cover with water. Heat the pot over high heat until the eggs start to rattle. Cover the pot, turn off the heat but keep the pot on the element, and cook for 7 minutes. Drain the hot water from the pot and run the eggs under cold water or place them in an ice-bath until they are cool.

Serves 2-3 as a main, more as part of a larger spread.