Autumn Quinoa Salad with Hazelnuts, Apple, and Cranberries
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 2 people 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Cuisine: New American
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup quinoa (uncooked)
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup small onion (finely chopped)
- 1/2 cup celery (finely chopped)
- 1/2 cup hazelnuts (toasted, de-skinned and chopped)
- 1/4 cup green onions (chopped )
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries (chopped )
- 1/3 cup flat leaf parsely (chopped)
- 1 whole granny smith apple (or any apple)
- 1 whole lemon (juiced)
- olive oil (to taste)
- fresh cracked pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325F and toast your hazelnuts for about 7-10 minutes. You may see/hear some of the skins separate as they cool. After they have cooled, remove as much skin as possible and then chop in half.
- While the hazelnuts are toasting, you can start to cook your quinoa. I usually toast the dry quinoa for a minute or two before adding in the water. Otherwise, cook the quinoa according to package directions. Fluff quinoa with a fork when done.
- Preheat a skillet with 1 tbsp of oil and saute your chopped onion and celery. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. After 2-3 minutes remove from heat.
- Chop parsley, dried cranberries and green onions. Core and chop the apple, rub the apple with the sliced lemon to prevent it from turning brown. Then juice the lemon.
- Combine the onion, celery, parsley, apple, cranberries, green onions, quinoa, and hazelnuts. Drizzle with a little olive oil and lemon juice. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and taste. Add more olive oil and lemon juice as you like, Top with more cracked pepper and serve.
Notes
If you really like lemon, I would consider zesting the lemon prior to juicing and topping the salad with lemon zest. That will make the lemon flavor much stronger than I have it in the recipe. Totally up to you! Could also sub the cranberries with dried cherries.