The GOOD Lunch: Morrocan Roasted Carrot Chickpea Quinoa Salad

Today's GOOD Lunch salad was prepared by Carla Fernandez and was inspired by Closet Cooking (tagline: "Cooking in a Closet-Sized Kitchen").

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Moroccan Roasted Carrot Chickpea Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

Makes 10 servings

• 8 large carrots, cut into thin slices
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons each of paprika, turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, black pepper, and salt (or any combination thereof)
• 2 cups red quinoa
• 4 cups water or vegetable broth
• 2 cups canned chickpeas (drain first!)
• 1 diced red or yellow onion
• ½ cup toasted pine nuts
• 4 tablespoons oliveoil
• 2 lemons, zest and juice
• Additional salt and pepper to taste

The Method:

• Combine carrots, three tablespoons olive oil, and half of the spice blend and roast in a 400º over for about 30 minutes or until they are tender. You might need to flip once or twice.
• Simmer the quinoa in water along with half of the remaining spice blend until the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes.
• To make the dressing, combine three tablespoons of olive oil, lemon juice, and zest, remaining spice blend.
• Mix together carrots, quinoa, chickpeas, onion, and pine nuts in a bowl and toss with the dressing to taste.

The Breakdown:
How did our salad rate in terms of taste, cost, and prep time?

Cost: $20 ($2 per serving)
Prep Time: 1 hour
Taste: 3.5 stars

This salad tasted like a far-away land, with so many different flavored spices. Feel free to use a variety of spices based on what you have lying around your pantry. The original recipe called for raisins, but we left these out as they can be a polarizing ingredient when trying to please a lot of palates.

Every Tuesday and Thursday in 2011, the GOOD team is cooking and sharing a big bowl of healthy, vegetarian, seasonal soup or salad. This time last week we were enjoying Couscous "Saloup."