Warm Salad of Red Quinoa & Butternut Squash

The soft, honey-roasted butternut squash is complimented nicely with the crunch of the toasted pecans and natural texture of the cooked quinoa. This salad is best served warm as the flavours meld together nicely. It is a filling, sweet-savoury dish suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

You can adapt the recipe by swapping the pecans for Roasted Cashews and adding Raisins along with a white onion instead.

This recipe makes enough for 2 people as a main course and 3-4 people as a starter or side.

Organic Red Quinoa 1kg (Sussex Wholefoods)

250g Red Quinoa

Dried Cranberries 500g (Sussex Wholefoods)

150g Cranberries

Organic Pecan Pieces 500g (Sussex Wholefoods)

200g Pecan nuts

Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1 Litre (Attis)

1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil, to drizzle

Raw Greek Forest Honey 500g (Melissa)

1 tbsp Honey, to drizzle

Madras Curry Powder - MILD 50g (Hampshire Foods)

2 tsp Mild Curry Powder

Fine Pink Himalayan Salt 1kg (Sussex Wholefoods)

A few pinches of pink salt

Garlic Pepper 50g (Hampshire Foods)

1 tsp Garlic Pepper, to taste

Other Ingredients

 1 small butternut squash

 1 medium Red Onion, finely diced.

1 clove finely chopped garlic

1 cm of finely chopped ginger.

 2 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley

Method

1) Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees celsius/ Fan 190 degrees celsius/ Gas Mark 5.
2) Place the Red Quinoa in a saucepan and cover to an inch or so above the quinoa with recently boiled water. Stir occasionally whilst allowing to simmer gently for 10 to 15 minutes. You may need to add more water during the cooking process if you prefer slightly softer quinoa.
3) Peel and roughly chop the butternut squash into bite sized chunks. Spread evenly in a medium roasting pan and drizzle with Olive oil. Mix with a wooden spoon to ensure an even coating.
4)Then drizzle over a few teaspoons of honey, sprinkle with sea salt, add the ginger and garlic paste and a dash of curry powder. Toss everything together. Roast in the top half of the oven until the squash is tender or for around 15 to 20 minutes.
5) Meanwhile, put the pecans into a dry frying pan and gently toast over a medium heat, turning as necessary to avoid burning.
6) Warm a large serving bowl and add in the cooked quinoa, the roasted butternut, cranberries and the toasted pecans. Mix gently, then add the chopped parsley.
7) Taste the mixture and add extra seasoning and oil if you wish. Serve straight away to enjoy this dish at its best!