Greek-style quinoa salad

 

I have a co-worker who will chirp in every chance he gets to say how surprised he is that more people haven't been working in the office. Wow, we live in very different bubbles, or different homes. In my world, home trumps the office on nearly everything but work/life separation, and frankly, that wasn't a perfect division even when the bulk of my work was office-based. Home offers comfy clothes, no people loitering by my desk preventing me from working, no commute/commuting costs, I don't get sick, and I can mute and turn off my camera if people are stupid in meetings so I can heave that seismic eye roll and sigh. Plus, I can have onions for lunch and no one cares.

Greek-inspired quinoa salad with lemon-feta dressing

Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens, June 2022. The one where they put Harry Styles on the cover and photographed him at someone else’s home.

Ingredients
¾ cup quinoa
1¾ cup water
¼ cup olive oil
Zest and juice of 1 large lemon
⅓ cup crumbled feta
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups baby spinach leaves
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1¼ cups sliced mini peppers (red, yellow, orange or a mix)
1 cup thinly sliced cucumber
½ cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved
¼ cup thinly sliced red onion
Pita chips for serving

Method
Bring quinoa and water to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Spread on a large baking sheet to cool.

Mix olive oil, lemon zest and juice, feta, oregano and salt. Toss half of the dressing with the cooled quinoa. Reserve remaining dressing.

Line 4 plates with spinach leaves. (Alternatively, you can serve this all on one platter and let people dish it up themselves, but it’s a logistical challenge for eaters and immediately destroys the presentation factor.) Top with chickpeas, sliced peppers, cucumber, olives and red onion. Drizzle remaining dressing over the top. Tuck pita chips in alongside on the plate.

Rating: This makes a lovely lunch, pretty to look at and very tasty to eat. Bright flavors, lots of texture variation, very satisfying all around, including those onions. Much of it can be prepped in advance leaving only the final plating, a thing that only really works well at home, where you aren't trying to eat in a cubicle while working through lunch every damn day. And where you don't have to wear shoes.