Salad - Quinoa with Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onions

Inspired by: Recipe from Julia's Album



  • broth
  • 1 1/2 cups quinoa, cooked 
  • 1 onion, sliced 
  • 1/2 butternut squash, medium size 
  • salt 
  • 1/4 cup French Vinaigrette salad dressing, add generous amounts of dressing to individual portions 
  • sprinkle of nutritional yeast - optional
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted 


COOK QUINOA
  1. Place quinoa in a fine mesh strainer and rinse it a few times under cool water.  Quinoa can be bitter if you do not properly rinse it before you cook it. Rinsing gets rid of the quinoa’s natural coating, called saponin, which is what makes it taste bitter.  Quinoa should NOT be soaked.
  2. Add uncooked quinoa, 1/8 teaspoon of salt and 1 cup of water to a large sauce pan. Bring to boil. 
  3. Reduce to medium simmer and cook, covered, for about 20 minutes. 
  4. Remove from heat, stir the quinoa with the spoon. Cover the pan with lid, and let the quinoa rest in the pan for about 10 minutes. 
  5. Yield: 1/2 cup of uncooked quinoa yields 1 1/2 cups of cooked quinoa. 
More info on cooking quinoa can be found HERE.



ROAST BUTTERNUT SQUASH
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 F.  Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil.
  2. Peel the squash and slice it into 3/4 inch cubes. You will only need 1/2 of the medium size squash. Toss the squash cubes in a large bowl with 2 tablespoons broth and generously sprinkle with salt. 
  3. Put butternut squash on the greased baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes, until soft. Flip the squash cubes over midway through baking. Let it cool slightly before adding to the salad. 


CARAMELIZE ONIONS

  1. Thinly slice 3 large onions. 
  2. Heat a large skillet on high heat. When pan is heated, add sliced onions and cook on high for about 10 minutes.
  3. Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking onions for 10 more minutes, continuing to stir, as onions brown even more without burning. At this point add just a pinch of salt over onions. 
  4. Continue cooking the onions for 10 more minutes on medium or low heat, stirring occasionally to make sure onions don’t stick to the bottom of the pan or burn. Add a little bit of water or broth if they start to stick. 
  5. Total, by now you should have cooked onions for 30 minutes. 
  6. Remove the pan with caramelized onions from heat and sprinkle the onions with a small amount of balsamic vinegar to deglaze the pan. 
  7. Using spatula, stir the caramelized onions, scraping the bottom of the pan and coating onions with a pinch of balsamic vinegar you just added. 





PUT IT ALL TOGETHER: 

  1. In a large bowl, combine cooked quinoa, roasted butternut squash, caramelized onions, and mix with the dressing. Add the dressing only before the serving, and add as much as you want to individual portions, as both quinoa and butternut squash tend to be on a dry side, and this dressing (when generously applied) fixes this beautifully! 
  2. Top each individual serving of quinoa salad with nutritional yeast and toasted pine nuts.



Note: The quinoa salad keeps very well refrigerated for up to a week, but only without dressing. Add the dressing only before serving.
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