Quinoa and roasted pumpkin salad

I'll admit it, I am a slow adapter of new things; products, technology etc. I am one of those people who say, 'Oh yes, sounds good, I'll wait a couple of years until I try or buy.' I am even a little slow trying out new food ingredients. For example, I ate quinoa (pronounced kin-wah) for the first time two weeks ago.

I know that this new food has been around for a few years, and I have heard lots about it, read recipes about it and heard friends talk about using it, but it was not for me until two weeks ago. I decided to give quinoa a go after talking to my Mum, who has used it to make a version of fried rice (minus the rice of course).  

Our first taste of quinoa was as a plain side dish accompanying a chicken curry. The verdict from the family was good and yummy. The next recipe we tried was this roasted pumpkin salad. I made a chilli and green olive dressing, and sprinkled some fresh-cracked walnuts over the top. The textures were wonderful, squishy and crunchy, and nutty and creamy.

I find that quinoa doesn't sit in your stomach as heavily as some other carbohydrates, such as rice or pasta. Therefore, I will be adding quinoa as a regular ingredient to my cooking repertoire. Give it a try if you haven't already. 

What you'll need

Serves four to six people as a side dish

For the salad

Half a medium butternut (or whatever variety you have) pumpkin, skinned, deseeded and cut into rough 2cm cubes. I had about 2 cups-full of pumpkin to cook.

250g quinoa, cooked according to packet instructions

Vegetable oil for roasting

Salt and pepper

For the dressing

2 tablespoons green olive paste or tapenade

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 small red or yellow chillis, finely chopped

To serve

1/2 cup roughly-chopped walnuts

1 tablespoon fresh, finely-chopped oregano leaves

What to do

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Line a baking tin with a piece of baking paper. Place the pumpkin in a roasting tin. Drizzle pumpkin and vegetable oil (about 1 tablespoon) and season well with salt and pepper. Mix well to coat the pumpkin.

Roast until pumpkin is just soft and golden. (about 20 minutes). Remove tin from the oven and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, place the cooked quinoa and the cool pumpkin. Mix carefully, so that the pumpkin maintains its shape.

Make the dressing and season to taste. Pour over the salad.  Mix very gently to coat. Sprinkle with herbs and nuts and serve immediately.

This salad is a great accompaniment to chicken or fish. You could serve it as a main dish with some other salads or vegetable dishes. It would also be great to serve a large dish of this at a BBQ.