Roasted Green Bean Quinoa Salad with Butter Fried Leek, Feta and Almonds

Posted on 25 November, 2016

Butter fried leek is what makes this salad really special!

This salad is a wonderful celebration of Spring and includes all the yummiest ingredients: butter fried leek, roasted beans, feta, almonds and a lovely maple and white balsamic vinegarette.

Don’t forget to hashtag #cookwiththemacadames when making Anisa’s recipes.

What you need

• Baking tray lined with baking paper
• Frypan
• Medium saucepan

Ingredients

For the salad (serves four as a side, two as a main):

• 500g green beans
• Olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Sea salt and pepper
• 1 leek, white and pale-green parts only, finely sliced
• Nob of butter
• 2/3 cup dry quinoa

For the dressing: 

• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons white balsamic
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• Pinch smokey paprika
• Salt and pepper

For topping:

• Handful of crumbly fetta
• Handful raw almonds, roughly chopped

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Toss the beans in olive oil and garlic, season with salt and pepper and pop into your prepared baking tray and put into the oven to roast for 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Add quinoa and cook until tender. Around 15-20 minutes. Strain and set aside to cool.

3. In the frypan fry the leek in butter until caramelised. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Toss dressing ingredients together and set aside.

5. To make the salad: Toss the quinoa and beans together and spoon into your serving bowl. Top with butter fried leek and pour over dressing. Top with almonds and feta.

For more recipes, check out Canberra-based food and recipe blog, The Macadames.