Green Quinoa Salad

This is a very loose interpretation of a salad I had a while ago at Siggy’s Good Food restaurant in Brooklyn. It’s called quinoa Greek Style Quinoa & Avocado Salad. It's packed with Kalamata olives, cucumber, avocado and served with a Greek yogurt dressing.
I wanted to make it at home the other day but didn’t had some (well, almost all) of the necessary ingredients. Thus I had no other option but to create my own version.


Quinoa, celery, avocado, green olives, mint, and parsley dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.
Simple, delicious and nutritionally complete. All in one bowl.
Proteins, healthy fats, complex carbs, vitamins, and other precious nutrients. This salad is a no brainer if you feel like having something healthy and fresh. It’s easily my favorite salad involving quinoa.
Funny thing: I’m not the only one who’s been inspired by Siggy's salad. Also the “almighty” Martha Rose Schulman of the NYTimes was impressed by it and delivered her own version on the columns of the notorious newspaper. Her version is much closer to the one you can order at Siggy’s in Brooklyn Heights.
Mine is just a distant relative. Just as good, though.

Green Quinoa Salad Print this Recipe!
Inspired by Siggy’s Good Food Greek Style Quinoa & Avocado Salad

Ingredients
Serves 6

Salad

2 ½ cups / 12 oz / 340 gr cooked quinoa (you’ll need to cook a little over 1 cup of quinoa)
1 cup / 4.2 oz / 120 gr celery, diced
½ cup / 7 oz / 200 gr green olives, pitted and chopped
1 ripe avocado, diced
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped

Dressing

Juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
ground pepper to taste
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions

Cook quinoa according to package instructions. Allow to cool and fluff with a fork.
Place quinoa, celery, olives, avocado, parsley and mint in a salad bowl.
Whisk together the dressing ingredients (except the red pepper flakes).
Just before serving toss the quinoa mixture with the dressing. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes (if using) and serve.

Nutrition facts

One serving yields 265 calories, 18 grams of fats, 23 grams of carbs and 5 grams of protein.