So, we're gonna make a roasted salmon, quinoa, and black bean salad.
And we're using a neat grain. It's a super grain - quinoa - and we're pairing that with black beans.
So, together, it makes a complete protein.
And for added color and flavor, I want to use some salmon.
So, we're basically making a pasta salad, but it's a quinoa salad.
Something that can be done ahead of time.
Today, we're gonna present it with a little portion of seared salmon on it.
So, it could be turned into a small plate. It could be an entree,
or without the seared salmon on top - just a simple quinoa black bean salad.
So, here's our raw ingredients. The first step we need to do, is take the quinoa.....
And we're gonna rinse it a few times in some cold water.
Let that soak for a minute.
And I want to cook the salmon. So, I can cook it ahead of time,
and cool it, and then present it as a small plate.
So I have my pan on medium heat.
Drizzle of olive oil,
Seasoning with salt at the last second, so we don't draw up moisture early, and the fish will not stick to the pan....
And I'm just not going to disturb it for about 2 to 3 minutes until I've actually got some nice opaque edges.
And this will ensure that it doesn't stick to the pan.
In the meantime, let's work with the black beans.
Take my two cups of black beans......
.....with my red wine vinegar....
......seasoning with salt and pepper.....
And we can just kind of mix that up.
This is a marinating the beans and the vinegar - give it some flavor.
That's one component.
Taking a look at our salmon. We'll give this about another two minutes.
So, after I rinse the quinoa,
I would drain it. And I've already cooked it ahead of time. So, let me show you what that looks like....
In the recipe I talk about.... bringing the water to a boil,
add in the quinoa, turning the heat down, and covering it. We cook it for 15 minutes.
And I turn the heat off completely, and at this point, you fluff it with a fork. And this is what we have, so....
The quinoa is nice and cooked.
And it should look similar to couscous, or fluffy like rice pilaf.
We're gonna transfer this to a large bowl.
Okay, we'll cool this off, we'll add our other ingredients here in a minute....
our black beans - and then we'll come back to the salmon.
Okay, let's take a look at the salmon. You see how the edges are starting to turn opaque?
I haven't touched it yet, but we're gonna go ahead and flip the salmon.
That's what I'm looking for. This is the - kind of the roasted color. You can do this in the oven, if you prefer.
And I'm gonna turn off the heat, and let it sit in the pan, and let it finish cooking. That'll keep all the moisture in the salmon.
Remove that.
All right, what I want to do is..... My beans have been marinating in the vinegar, salt and pepper. I'm gonna drain off some of the excess liquid....
And start building my salad. I'm gonna add it to my cooled quinoa.
And to the quinoa I'm going to add my diced red onion.....
.....my roasted red pepper (that's been diced).....
And I want to work with my pickled jalapeño. So, this is going to add a
little bit of a *zing* to the dish.
You can use fresh jalapeño, if you can't find pickled jalapeño.
Basically we're taking the stems and seeds out.
And then we're going to mince it fine, and fold it into our salad.
Okay, so now that the salmon is cooked and rested, I'm going to crumble it....
into - just - chunks.... that I can then add to the salad.
All right, toss this to combine. And then we're gonna make a dressing to coat this.
The dressing combines olive oil, lime juice, cayenne, and cumin.
So, let's set this aside and work on our dressing.
So, the dressing ingredients.... we have a nice extra virgin olive oil,
some fresh lime juice,
cayenne and cumin.
And I'm going to start with the lime juice,
salt and pepper,
teaspoon of cumin,
and a half a teaspoon of cayenne. For some heat.
And I'm gonna whisk in the olive oil.
[whisking sounds]
All right, that's our dressing. We're gonna pour this over our salad.
And the last ingredient I want to add, is our fresh cilantro, that I'm going to give a quick chop, at the last second.
So, this salad.... We could substitute black beans for red beans, kidney beans.....
I like to use bean with a color, so that I have a color contrast, with the salmon and the quinoa.
[chopping sounds]
Adding our cilantro,
our lime dressing,
toss to combine.
And at this point, we can refrigerate it, and it should be good for two to three days.
I want to serve it today with a little bit of bed of watercress,
and a piece of seared salmon on top.
Alright, so now I have all my components together. My black bean quinoa salad with my crumbled salmon,
which can be done ahead of time. I'm going to serve this at room temperature today,
on a bed of watercress, with my seared salmon. It's kind of a small plate.
It's kind of a complete protein salad with a garnish of our salmon. A really nice dish.
So, I like using watercress. You can use arugula. I'm looking for a bitter green,
that has a crunch to it as the base.
And about a 3/4 of a cup of our black bean salad.
Then garnish with our seared salmon.
Roasted salmon, quinoa, and black bean salad.