When I read the recipe for this salad, I didn't initially think it would be a full meal salad. Certainly, it would pose nicely as a starter salad, but truth be told, a double serving took me very clearly through the afternoon.
And what an afternoon it turned out to be. Emily came up to get a start on cleaning out the garage of all of her "furniture re-dos". Her dad has told her and her fiance that the garage must be cleared by the date of their wedding! She has a dining room table that she has fully intended to redo for 18 months and we got started on it today. I guess Dad's ultimatum is motivational! We sanded and stained and realized that the stain method wouldn't work with this particular project ... so we then painted. We have yet to finish it, but I believe it will be a great piece in the newlyweds' home and that many wonderfully tasty meals will find a resting place on it.
All of that to say, that we needed sustenance before beginning our work so I decided to make this salad that I found in the Bon Appetit Magazine.
It requires a pound of squash ... which translates conveniently to one medium yellow summer squash and one medium zucchini. If you go a bit over or under, I wouldn't sweat abit.
It could also be made with regular quinoa (pronounced kee-nwah), but don't you think that red quinoa makes it so beautiful?
The other ingredients are toasted walnuts, parsley, and basil. And the dressing is parmesan cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice, sherry vinegar, and olive oil.
Man, oh man ... you mix all of that together and you have yourself a salad that is fit for a king. Or at least a trio of gals setting out to work on making old furniture look new again.
Bon Appétit!
