Crunchy Quinoa Salad

Made this yesterday and cannot stop eating it. For those not aware of quinoa, its a wonderful low fat, low carb source of protein. Most grocery stores carry it in the bulk section. Its becoming easier to find every day. To cook quinoa, first you need to rinse it in cold water to remove the outer covering which otherwise gives it a bitter taste. Then basically boil one cup of quinoa to 2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp kosher salt for about 20 minutes in a covered saucepan. Remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes, you're done!

Always toast almonds before using in a salad(or any nuts for that matter, brings out the flavor and aroma). Also in this recipe use pecorino romano cheese. It has a higher salt content and more of a bite than parmesan which this salad needs to make it pop! Enjoy!

Recipe:

Cook 1 cup of quinoa as above

Salad:

1 cucumber chopped
1/2 fennell bulb chopped fine
1 small shallot chopped
1 bunch parsley chopped
2 celery stalks chopped
handful of toasted almonds
handful of grated pecorino cheese
drizzle with extra virgin olive oil
a few splashes of sherry or champagne vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Mix quinoa with salad and you're done.