Quinoa and Pomegranate Salad

Pastel on Mi-Tientes Paper

The fruit of a pomegranate always seemed like too much of an effort to deal with until my son showed me the secret of extracting the seeds or arils. In the past, I would have cut the fruit in half and used a teaspoon to pry the arils away from the pulp. It seemed rather laborious to me, and oftentimes the pomegranate would linger in the fridge uneaten. His wonderful trick is quite simple. Cut the pomegranate in half along the equator, with the knobby parts at the north and south poles. Turn the pomegranate half over a deep bowl, and whack at the outside with the back of a wooden spoon. The seeds will separate and fall into the bowl. A deep bowl is recommended as the juice does fly around a bit and it does stain.

The arils are delicious with pistachios and greek yogurt. For our Christmas dinner I wanted to experiment with a cold grain salad that would incorporate pomegranate and pistachios. I used quinoa instead of a traditional Mediterranean grain. My calculations as to the timing of our main course, a standing rib roast, were entirely off. The baked potatoes were done well before the roast, and luckily my brother bailed me out by turning baked potatoes into twice baked potatoes. So, with the stress of getting everything to the table, it was nice to have one dish that had been prepared ahead of time.

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa

1/2 cup loosely packed parsley

1 scallion (or 1/4 small red onion)

1/3 cup pomegranate arils

3 T. olive oil

2 T. apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup pistachios

Directions

Bring 2 cups of water with a dash of salt to a boil in a saucepan. Add the quinoa and boil gently for 15 minutes. This will yield 3 cups of quinoa. Let rest for 5 minutes. While the quinoa is still warm, add the olive oil and apple cider vinegar. Stir. Chop parsley and scallions (or onion), add to quinoa when it has cooled. Add the pomegranate seeds. Toss. Chill. Add the nuts just before serving, so that they remain crunchy.