Sugar Snap Pea Quinoa Salad

As promised, here’s the wonderful side salad/dish that I made to go with last night’s halibut. It’s an easy to make spring dish that would go so easily with any entree.  The original recipe came from Food and Wine but I switched it up a bit….of course.

Quinoa is my new favorite grain. It’s so full of good stuff – higher in protein than any other grain – you can eat it for breakfast or dinner. The hard part that I have with Quinoa is pronouncing it.

Let’s begin…

Get yourself 1/2 pound fresh sugar snap peas and simmer in a saucepan with salted boiling water for about a minute.

Remove and chill with cold water….

Slice those little pea-babies into 1 inch pieces on the diagonal. While the pea-babies are cooling…

Rinse out the quinoa – and trust me, whatever you do with quinoa – you need to rinse it first.

Now that the quinoa’s rinsed, combine with 2 cups of chicken broth and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat until all of the water has evaporated and the quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes. Uncover and fluff the quinoa, then transfer to a large bowl and let cool to room temperature.

While the quinoa’s cooking, measure out the other ingredients for the salad…

You got the peas covered, add to the mix with  1/2 cup of roasted, salted pistachios, 1/2 cup of dried cranberries and 1/2 cup minced chives.

Prepare the dressing…

Combine  a ‘short’ 1/4 cup of olive oil (short meaning not quite full of the measurement) plus 2 tbsp. grape seed oil, the juice of one lime and white wine vinegar. Season with salt and fresh cracked pepper.

By now, the quinoa’s cooled…

Isn’t it pretty? All you have to do now is throw in the peas, the pistachios, cranberries and dressing…

How easy is that? Enjoy my friends – it tastes better the next day!

Print the full recipe here!