Oh hey there, sweatbomb. Say hello to summer. Smelly, humid New York City summer. It is officially here.
When the temperature heats up, the absolute last thing I want to do is to hang out in the kitchen. That is why the world invented avocado toast. Appropriate for breakfast, lunch and dinner. To help scrape myself out this particular (and delicious) dining rut, I decided to throw something together from what I had lying around the apartment. Behold, the Mexican inspired quinoa salad, perfect for a light and easy summer meal.
This is what I found rusticating in my kitchen:
red quinoa
canned kidney beans
half a jar of salsa
grated cheese
lemon
avocado
olive oil
fresh garlic
Bonus item:
a bag of radishes picked up last week from the beautiful and cheap Hayground Farmers Market
So.
I steamed the quinoa and mixed it with a small amount of vinaigrette – lemon, olive oil, garlic and a dash of cumin to give it a bit of earthiness. Make sure to rinse the quinoa well, or bad things will happen.
On top of the quinoa goes any convenient items that could be considered an ingredient in a good taco. I happened to have a can of kidney beans, which I rinsed well before adding to the mix. Black beans would be nice. Chickpeas. Other protein. The radishes I cut into small pieces, and let sweat for a bit with some nice sea salt to help bring out their flavor.
Salsa is great, especially if you have it lying around, otherwise diced tomatoes fresh or canned will work just as well. When in doubt, throw in an avocado They can do no wrong.
Sadly, the only cheese I had was a grated Parmesan. Not ideal, but this is the price we pay for laziness. (Or it ingenuity??) Some crumbled cotija, goat cheese, or even maybe a dollop of Greek yogurt would serve you better. If you have any cilantro or basil, they would really send this whole concoction over the edge.
A little pepper, and maybe some hot sauce, give it a toss and you are good to go. Wasn’t that easy?
Isn’t this tasty? Your mom would be proud of you.
