Recently, I had the Maple Glazed Salmon Salad at Earls. For the record, let it be known, that I love Earls & have frequented the Saskatoon location regularly (& happily) for years. And, now, we do, on occasion, go to Earls on Top in Kelowna to enjoy the food & the most fabulous view. (& especially the pumpkin pie of late – hee) However, this salad left me wondering if I could not tweak it a little more to my liking.
First of all, I found the farro to be overwhelming in the salad & it seemed to expand exponentially, in my stomach, as the evening wore on! I wondered about changing that to quinoa & eliminating the salmon altogether. Also, the cold green beans & butternut squash (maybe mine just arrived cold) weren’t my favourite. With all this aside, I really did like the potential of the salad & decided to try one on for myself. What follows is my new rendition. I hope you enjoy – we sure did!!
Spinach Quinoa Sweet Potato Salad
Preheat oven to 400
Ingredients:
1 large Bag/box pre-washed baby spinach -or- 3 bundles, fresh
1 225g box quinoa - prepared as instructed cooking in chicken stock instead of suggested water
1 large sweet potato - peeled & cut into small cubes
1 tbsp steak spice (or season as desired)
1 - 2 tbsp olive oil
Appx 3 Cups green beans (you can use fresh or frozen - I happened to have a bag of Costco's Tender French Beans in the freezer, so I used 1/2 the bag of those)
1/2 cup feta or goat cheese - crumbled (Costco also sells a great little box of small cube goat cheese - it's the bomb for salads!)
1/3 cup roasted pumpkin seeds
1/3 cup craisins (try to get the ones sweetened with fruit juice) *You will notice I forgot mine before taking the photo - do add them tho, they are tart & nice*
Dressing:
1 cup olive oil
1/4 - 1/2 cup white wine vinegar (we like our dressings zingy so always increase the vinegar a little)
2 or 3 cloves fresh garlic minced (never sub garlic from a jar or garlic spice in a salad dressing unless otherwise specified!)
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp Tarragon or thyme
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 - 2 tbsp maple syrup, honey, or agave (amount & choice to your taste)
1 small shallot or 1/2 of a large
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*1/2 fresh lemon - squeezed
Method:
Mix cubed sweet potato, in a bowl, with olive oil & steak spice. Spread out on a parchment-lined cookie sheet & bake for appx 30 mins - just check in as some sweet potatoes cook quicker than others
While potatoes cook, bring your beans to a boil (you may add a drop of oil & a dash of salt to water if you like) & boil for precisely 5 mins. Drain, & leave in pot with lid on until ready to serve. When they have cooled a little, dump out on cutting board & cut beans roughly in 1/2. It definitely makes for happier chewing! Then, return to pot with lid on.
Cook your quinoa as per package instructions.
Toast your pumpkin seeds if you could not buy them already toasted. Just stick them in alongside the potatoes in their own small baking pan - just be careful - at 400, they will not even need 5 mins!
When nuts have cooled a little, toss them in a bowl with your spinach & cheese.
If you have a blender, that is definitely my preference for making the dressing. Just add all the ingredients, pulse a few times to emulsify the mustard properly & break down the shallot. Blend until creamy. If you don't have a blender, whisk the mustard with all ingredients except the oil & then whisk the oil in in small amounts until nice & creamy. Without a blender, you may want to leave out the shallot. It is still a very good dressing without it.
*I find that this dressing becomes quite stiff, so just before I serve it, I always squeeze in the juice of appx 1/2 lemon NOTE: this will make WAY more dressing than you will need for this salad!!! Just keep in a jar or sealed container, in your fridge, for at least a week. It is yummy for any green salad! We served our salad deconstructed as pictured & just drizzled a little dressing on each serving. It was simply delicious!! You could put all ingredients in a large bowl & toss with a small amount of the dressing if desired. My husband insisted on BBQing some sausage to go alongside – but – it was not needed – he agreed in the end…
Viola!
