We are back on our salad game with this Roasted Vegetable Salad with Quinoa and Lentils. With July 4th and our beach vacation in May, we have not been eating the best. I thought it’s time to get things back on track and for us that means lots of veggies and grains.
Roasting the vegetables intensifies the flavor and adds texture to the salad. If you don’t have these specific veggies on hand or prefer something else, feel free to switch it up. This recipe is very forgiving. I highly recommend at least leaving the tomatoes though, roasted tomatoes add a lots of flavor. I added quinoa and lentils to bulk it up and make it more of a meal. This makes a perfect meatless Monday dinner or great for lunch. We usually try to eat vegetarian for lunch, so this was perfect for lunch for the week.
- 5 medium carrots, sliced into ⅛" rounds
- ½ medium red onion, sliced
- 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes
- 6 springs of fresh thyme
- 1 tbsp of sherry or balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil, plus ¼ cup
- 2 tsp salt, divided
- black pepper
- 1 cup quinoa
- ¾ cup french lentils
- 3 tbsp chopped parsley
- ⅓ cup red wine vinegar
- ½ tsp paprika
- Preheat oven to 400.
- In a medium bowl combine carrots, onion, tomatoes, sherry (or balsamic) vinegar, 2 tbsp olive oil, and 1 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Place the vegetables on a foil lined baking sheet, top with thyme sprigs and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tomatoes burst and the vegetables start to caramelize. Remove from the oven. Remove and discard the thyme sprigs, if some leaves still remain on the sprigs, strip them off and onto the veggies. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside
- Rinse lentils and combine with 1½ cup of water. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low. Cook until lentils are tender about 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- Rinse quinoa and combine with 1¾ cup of water in another sauce pan or pot. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low. Cook until grains are tender and fluffy, about 15-18 minutes. Turn off the heat, keep covered and allow it to rest.
- In the bowl with the vegetables, add lentils, quinoa, parsley, red wine vinegar, ¼ cup olive oil, 1 tsp salt, few grinds of black pepper and paprika. Toss well to combine. Serve.
More recipes using quinoa here!
