This salad from the December issue of Fine Cooking caught our eye because it has a little bit of everything. There's hearty red quinoa, gouda cheese, and walnuts to satisfy our desire for deep earthy flavors this time of year. But the arugula and crisp apples are a reminder that fresh things are on the way.
The full title of this recipe is "Quinoa Salad with Apples, Walnuts, Dried Cranberries, and Gouda," but those ingredients are really just the beginning. The salad also contains shredded arugula, fennel, celery, dried cranberries, and red onions, all held together with a simple sherry vinaigrette.
There's a lot of prep work for this salad, for sure. All those fresh veggies have to be diced into tiny little pieces. Slicing the slender arugula leaves into thin ribbons was especially time-consuming. Four ounces doesn't sound like a lot on paper, but it's the equivalent of several very large handfuls. The onions also get a quick sauté over medium heat and a splash of balsamic.
But all this prep work is worth it's this fine-chopped texture that makes this salad really stand out. You get a little of everything in each bite. First you taste the arugula, then the creamy gouda, then maybe a sweet shot of apple or a bit of slightly bitter walnut. The tiny quinoa grains pop between the teeth. Who knew eating a salad could be so much fun?!
This said, there's a lot going on here and some things get lost in the muddle. The fennel completely disappears between the similar licorice flavor of the arugula and the crunch of the celery. And while the celery adds texture, we couldn't discern its flavor anywhere. The dried cranberries seemed like an after-thought to everything else on the ingredient list - we wanted either more of them or none of them. And while we were initially really excited about the idea of cooking the onions in balsamic, they didn't really seem to add much to the final salad. We almost would have preferred the sharper flavor of raw onions to add more brightness to the overall dish.
Maybe this is one of those dishes with star ingredients (gouda, arugula, quinoa, apples, walnuts) and then supporting actors (everything else) that you don't notice but would miss if they were gone. We're curious to try a trimmed-down version of this recipe to see if that's the case.
On the plus side, this salad makes a lot and is very filling. We made it on Sunday and plan on eating it for lunch all week long. It would make a great vegetarian main course at a dinner party, or could also be used as a bed for grilled salmon or roasted chicken.
This salad is interesting enough that we'll definitely make it again, though with some tweaking. The gouda, shredded arugula, quinoa, apples, and walnuts will stay, but we'll want to play around with the rest.
What do you think? Any suggestions after looking over the recipe?
• Get the Recipe! Quinoa Salad with Apples, Walnuts, Dried Cranberries, and Gouda from Fine Cooking
Related: Five Ways to Eat Quinoa
(Image: Emma Christensen)
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Funny-I have this issue at home w/this particular recipe dog-eared as it looked to good not to try. The only reason I hadn't yet is that it seemed so, I don't know...involved, high maintenance-you get my drift for a salad. I still would like to try it though b/cause it sounds really good and looks delicious.
Hmm...bears some similarity to a Waldorf salad (walnuts, celery, apples) so I'd consider adding some red grapes to the mix instead of the cranberries.
@SarahBerneche - I LOVE the idea of grapes! They would add such a nice juicy crunch, I think.
I agree that you could probably leave a lot of the ingredients out; I'm not surprised that "some things get lost in the muddle." And, yeah, sounds like a tiny bit of raw red onion might taste better than the cooked. Also, celery is never necessary (fine, full disclosure: I'm a celery hater!).
Oh and I bet another good sub (while leaving a lot of stuff out) would be pecans for the walnuts and orange slices for the fruit! But that's a whole different recipe... quinoa is a great canvas... ;)
Would it really last all week? Wouldn't the apple go brown and the arugula all slimy?
If it really lasts in the fridge for a few days I'd be much more inclined to go to the trouble... let us know how it goes!
Could any of the chopping be done with a food processor to speed it up?
I've made a very similar salad with wheat berries. it does last very well, and I've found it's worth the effort to make a big batch to take to work for lunches.
i have something similar saved at my online cookbook, Quinoa Pilaf with Butternut Squash, Cranberries and Pecans.
I made a lot of changes to this recipe that made it better and easier.
Forget using red onion and sauteing it--use raw minced shallot or scallions. And I didn't reduce the balsamic--I simply sprinkled it on the quinoa as it cooled. I used regular quinoa, which I had on hand instead of red--it was fine.
I couldn't find 'aged' gouda only regular or smoked, so I used edam, which is slightly tangier than regular gouda--it was good. I still used 5 tablespoons of olive oil in total (even though I didn't saute the onion). Also, I subbed 1/2 a diced bell pepper for the cranberries and I toasted the walnuts to intensify their flavor. The arugula in the leftovers were a little wilty but not slimey. I would make this again.
Its fun to make salads with quinoa. I made a spicy quinoa salad that was really tasty too!
Made this and subbed pecans for walnuts, spinach for arugula, and basil for fennel (because that's what I had). It was delicious! Definitely a keeper.
Beware, I just about consumed all the aged gouda before it made it to the salad :)
Thanks for this recipe, I'm eating leftovers of it right now! I assembled everything except the arugula, which I only mix in just before serving. Wonderful way to have quinoa, & I love all the texture & flavor varieties!