Roasted Leek, Smoked Gouda, and Quinoa Salad

This tastes positively GOURMET, I’m telling you. I make it ahead and package it up for lunches - at least, that’s what I’m doing today.

If you want it for dinner - which I do sometimes - I serve it hot, with a poached egg or two on top.

Also works well, hot or chilled, as a side for rotisserie chicken!

Roasting the leeks is probably the most time consuming bit, so I’m starting with that. Preheat your oven to 400.

There are a lot of methods for getting grit out of leeks, but I’m going to share mine —

Cut a slice out of the bottom of the leeks, to get rid of the roots. 

Cut off the upper, tough green leaves off.

Cut the leeks in half LENGTH-WISE.

And then run them under a running faucet (cold water), fanning them out with your fingers, until you can’t feel or see any more grit. This takes a while, longer than you’d think! 

Then slice them, cross-wide, and toss them on a baking sheet covered with olive oil pan spray.

Roast leeks at 400 for 21-30 minutes, turning every 7-8 minutes, until golden and starting to brown.

Start your quinoa as soon as the leeks go into the oven. You can make it on the stove top. Basic Quinoa, or in the Instapot, InstaPot Quinoa.

Halve your tomatoes and wilt your spinach while the quinoa and leeks are cooking. Shred your cheese, if you need to. (I bought pre-shredded.)

Toss quinoa, leeks, spinach, tomatoes, and cheese together. Whisk up your dressing: the olive oil, lemon juice, and mustard. Pour over and toss well.

ROASTED LEEK, SMOKED GOUDA, AND QUINOA SALAD

3 leeks

2C quinoa

8oz smoked Gouda, shredded (Gruyere, a mild Swiss, also works well in this)

32oz fresh spinach, wilted

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes

Dressing: 4T olive oil

                4T lemon juice

                2T Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 400. Clean leeks (see above), slice, and place on a baking sheet coated with olive oil pan spray. Roast 21-30 minutes, turning every 7-8 minutes, until golden and starting to brown.

Cook 2C quinoa, either on the stove, Basic Quinoa, on in an Instapot, InstaPot Quinoa. 

Halve the grape tomatoes. Toss quinoa, leeks, tomatoes, shredded cheese, and wilted spinach together in large mixing bowl. 

Whisk together the dressing ingredients and pour over salad. Toss well. Serve hot or chilled.