Quinoa Salad With Roasted Red Pepper Pesto

It's Easter Monday. No school. No work. So of course the girls were both up before 7am. Again. Sigh!

Anyways...

This made a lovely addition to our Passover meal this year. We had a light, springy menu of salmon, along with this dish, roasted asparagus, green salad and tzimmes, followed by my decadent chocolate desserts and fruit.

Of course, it doesn't have to be Passover to enjoy this. For a non-passover dish, you could add chickpeas to it for a complete vegetarian meal.

Salad

1.5 cups quinoa
3 cups water
1 English cucumber, cut lengthwise into quarters, and then thinly sliced
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

Pesto

A few handfuls fresh basil (about 40g)

1/2 cup almonds
500ml jar roasted red peppers, drained (or 6 homemade roasted red peppers, peeled)
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
1 tbls extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste

Cook quinoa and then let cool until warm or room temperature. Transfer to a large bowl or serving dish. Place basil and almonds in food processor and process until nuts are well chopped. Add remaining ingredients and process until pesto is at desired consistency (does not need to be completely smooth or pureed). Season to taste. Add pesto, cucumber and tomatoes to the bowl with quinoa and toss well. Serve at room temperature.

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