This is the salad I made for Christmas Day and I’m only just getting around to posting it but it is worthy of a place here. I usually make the turkey but this year I was let off lightly and I only had to do an interesting salad. So I thought about it for some time and dismissed many early entrants into the race and eventually came up with a hybrid of two ideas. I found the main part at the Betacyanin blog, played with the dressing and added the breaded cheese. It turned out to be a real winner but I do have to tell you that it is labour intensive with many parts. The good thing is it is a complete meal and tastes delicious.
Ingredients
- 1 medium eggplant
- salt
- olive oil
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa
- 2-3 cups packed spinach leaves
- 1/2 cup coriander (cilantro)
- 1/2 cup mint leaves
- 1/4 purple onion, sliced
- brie cheese
- flour
- 1 egg, beaten
- panko crumbs
- salt
- lemon juice
- pomegranate juice
- Ginger juice (grate some ginger and squeeze it to release the juice)
- olive oil
- salt
- 1/2 cup chopped and lightly toasted hazelnuts
- pomegranate seeds
For the salad
For the cheese
For the dressing
To finish
Instructions
- Cut the eggplant into thin slices.
- Lay them out on a baking tray lined with paper towels and sprinkle liberally with salt on both sides. Let the seasoned slices sit for about 30 minutes to draw out some moisture.
- Preheat oven to 300° F/160°C.
- Dry the eggplant slices and brush them lightly with olive oil.
- Bake for 30 minutes, then flip the slices and bake for another 15-30 minutes until the slices are dry but not crispy.
- Remove them from the oven and let them cool.
- Cut the cooled eggplant slices into halves.
- Cook the quinoa, as recommended by package instructions and place it in a large bowl to cool completely.
- Cut the cheese into small rectangles, about 2.5cm (1") x 5cm (2").
- Dip into flour, then egg-wash, then the panko crumbs, seasoned with salt.
- Fry quickly in olive oil until golden on both sides.
- Drain on paper towels and let cool.
- In the meantime, combine spinach, cilantro, and mint in a food processor and pulse to finely chop all of the greens.
- Prepare the onions, hazelnuts, and pomegranate seeds.
- Combine the cooked and cooled quinoa with chopped greens, eggplant, cheese and onions.
- Season with lemon juice, pomegranate juice, ginger juice, extra-virgin olive oil, and salt, to taste.
- Top with hazelnuts and pomegranate seeds and toss right before serving.
For the eggplant
For the quinoa
For the cheese
For the rest of the salad
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What a gorgeous salad! And I love how the brie is prepared…makes it extra special for the holidays!
It was a special salad, not one you would make every day.
It sounds like your holidays were wonderful! I am always looking for salad recipes. I also love eggplant but most people need it tucked into something like this. All of the flavors appeal to me so I am going to give this one a try! It looks beautiful as well.
If you cut the eggplants thinly enough and bake them well, they almost come out like crisps and taste really good just by themselves.
I love a meal of a salad like this! The mix of flavors and that lovely crispy cheese sound terrific.
I love all-in-one salad meals too. They appear to be much simpler though there is often quite a bit of work involved.
What a delightful looking salad! So appetizing I’ll try soonest . . .OK, since I never crumb or fry anything, shall try with grilled haloumi – should work alright!!
I reckon grilled haloumi would work beautifully – a great substitute.
Gorgeous salad, I love these flavors together!
It was an unusual combination but it worked.
What a lovely looking salad and it does look very festive with the red and green colours. I’m sure the breaded brie took the salad to another dimension. xx
It was that one thing that took it from mundane to Christmas-worthy.
What a beautiful and festive looking salad. I can see why it won out over the other possibilities and I’m quite sure I would love it! The mint is such an interesting touch here; I love how mint brings a fresh flow to foods any time of year.
I love mint in salads, sweet and savoury. It kicks up the flavour content considerably.
Wow, what an interesting salad! I don’t believe I’ve ever seen brie prepared this way – terrific idea. In fact the whole salad is terrific.
Really nice – thanks.
I love salads, the more interesting the better. I guess the skies the limit in terms of combinations of ingredients – expected and unexpected.
You photos are gorgeous! I’m so glad I found your site. Can’t wait to see more. Yum!
Welcome aboard and thank you so much for the compliment.
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