My favorite recipes are the ones that are so easy to tweek along the way that you can barely call it a recipe. Guidelines, more like. This quinoa and brown rice salad one is exactly that. I’ve put it together several times, often with leftover rice and quinoa mixed with a few staple ingredients in our kitchen before being finished off with whatever is currently in our pantry. That last part seems especially helpful during a time where a quick grocery store run for just that one more ingredient you want feels irresponsible. Cooking in the time of corona I guess.
First part, the foundation if you will:
¼ cup quinoa
¼ cup brown rice
2 tbsp lemon olive oil
2 tbsp honey
Cook the quinoa and brown rice together, using whatever method you feel most comfortable with. Stovetop, instant pot, go wild. Our favorite way is with our Zojirushi rice cooker, one of those great never knew we needed it and now we don’t want to live without it type gifts from my dad.
I can’t find the exact model we have, but this one looks close at a price point that doesn’t make me cringe. In case you need some convincing, here’s Bon Appétit making the argument for you along with some good information on which settings to use for cooking mixed grains. Quinoa and brown rice? Cook on the white rice setting!
Throw the rice in a bowl with the lemon olive oil and honey and mix.
The fun stuff:
½ cup dried fruit – blueberries and cranberries are my favorite
¼ cup seeds & nuts – sunflower seeds, slivered almonds, pecans, pine nuts to name a few ideas
½ cup diced cucumber
2 tbsp feta or goat cheese
your favorite seasoning
parsley (if you have it, no big deal if you don’t)
a pinch or two of sea salt, preferably the big flaky kind (Maldon is always stocked at our house)
This is the part where you get to just throw in whatever you happen to have or get creative! Blueberries and cranberries are my go to favorites for the dried fruit. I’ve used sunflower seeds, slivered almonds, pecans, and pine nuts for the seeds and nuts, just to name a few options. Don’t have a cucumber in the fridge? Leave it out this time! The seasoning is important, but exactly what it is might not matter much. Most recently I just grabbed our Grillmates sweet & smoky rub out of the spice cabinet and threw in a few shakes of it.
And that’s it! Mix it up, serve it, throw any leftovers there may be in the fridge.
*Side note: I’m the only one in my house who eats this and this works as a side dish for me for about 3 or 4 meals. Double it up if you’re feeding a group!
Life in the Ordinary 