Quinoa Tabbouleh

Recipe via epicurious.

It's a Mediterranean week around here. Each week we eat our way around the world, preparing and enjoying dishes from the culture-of-the-week each night. As fancy as that sounds, it's really a matter of practicality. It's so much easier and economic to buy spices and ingredients for one style of cooking each week. Today I give you one of my favorites, a tabbouleh recipe using quinoa as the grain base. Soooo good!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed well
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt plus more
• 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large English hothouse cucumber or 2 Persian cucumbers, cut into 1/4" pieces
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced

Directions:

• Bring quinoa, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 1/4 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until quinoa is tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
• Meanwhile, whisk lemon juice and garlic in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in olive oil. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper.
• Spread out quinoa on a large rimmed baking sheet; let cool. Transfer to a large bowl; mix in 1/4 cup dressing. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover remaining dressing and quinoa separately; chill.
• Add cucumber, tomatoes, herbs, and scallions to bowl with quinoa; toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Drizzle remaining dressing over.