Beetroot & Pumpkin Quinoa Salad

This is a salad we often made for the FLOOM brunches during winter season. It’s such a colourful salad, with an explosion of tastes and flavours, full of winter vegetables. A good staple to have in your fridge as a side.

Ingredients

serves 8

100g fresh spinach leaves
1 butternut pumpkin
3 beetroots, cooked and peeled
400g quinoa, cooked
1 pomegranate, seeded
250g feta cheese or goat cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons almonds, roasted & chopped
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Slice the pumpkin in half and clean it, remove all the seeds, fibrous strings and skin. Cut in large dices (2x2cm). Add them to a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and bake in the oven for about 30 min until tender. Meanwhile cook the quinoa according to the package. When it’s done, rinse and set aside to cool off. Mix 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 4 tablespoons of olive oil into the quinoa. Cut the beetroot in large dices (1x1cm). Rinse the spinach and coriander leaves and chop them roughly. 
In a big bowl add quinoa, beetroot, roasted pumpkin, spinach, coriander and pomegranate seeds. Toss around until everything is mixed. Sprinkle with cheese, almonds and sesame seeds and finish off with some extra leaves of cilantro.