Autumn Red Quinoa Salad with Butternut Squash and Brussel Sprouts Topped with Shrimp

Utterly delicious, this Autumn Red Quinoa Salad with Butternut Squash and Brussel Sprouts Topped with Shrimp has the added bonus of being super nutritious for you as well.

A glimmer of grayness in the desert sky is making me long for the vibrant tapestry of the burnt oranges, reds, and golds that the Maple leaves provide from the East Coast vast, expansive trees.  With the nostalgia of someone who does not have to rake those maidenly fluttering leaves into a pile to be hauled away, I long to sink into one more leaf pile, exuberantly  scattering the flying bits of color back onto the carefully manicured lawn.  I imagine that my adult self would probably be horrified at my childhood self if that scenario actually occurred today.  Those gilded memories of childhood should sometimes stay in childhood, as revisiting fond memories as an adult can sometimes be slightly ( or dramatically) disappointing.  Hello soup in a can I am looking at you.  

After a week long love affair with some deliciously rich and scads of junky processed food while out traveling, I was more than ready to come home and get back to my regular way of eating.  Do not get me wrong, I love sugar and butter and will happily consume it, but the preservatives and chemicals build up after a week long binge left me feeling so tired,  sluggish, and all around run down, I knew I had to get some little vegetables back in my system.

The Red Quinoa is SO pretty against the gold of the Butternut Squash.  What else could be more quintessentially Autumn in colors?

And what better to nourish your system with than this totally gorgeous Autumn Red Quinoa Salad with Butternut Squash and Brussel Sprouts, Topped with Shrimp?  Looking at a plate of this is literally like looking over a field of colorful Maple leaves, all pert and pretty and ready to be gobbled up.  There are a couple of ingredients that really make this salad incredible, and will make you want to come back for more and more of it.

First, Goat Cheese.  This cheese is tangy, smooth, creamy, and silky all in the same mouthful.  Second, an incredible Maple Apple Cider Vinaigrette is slightly sweet and punchy from Dijon Mustard, with garlic rounding out the flavor added with a good bit of salt.  Then you have some garlicky, warm, springy shrimp bumping hips with the crunch of Brussel Sprouts, and then the melt in your moth little nuggets of golden Butternut Squash.  Every mouthful has texture from the little pops of quinoa to the chew of the little Dried Cherries used. 

A nice, tart Apple would be a great addition to this Autumn Red Quinoa Salad with Butternut Squash and Brussel Sprouts,topped with Shrimp for extra crunch and to pair with the Goat Cheese.

Depending on how you want to consume this salad, it could serve 2 comfortably well and up to 6 if used as a starter salad.  I have also eaten this without the additional lettuce and shrimp just as a side to a different protein - I dress the Quinoa part of the salad with a bit less of the dressing if I am eating it like that.  It is pretty versatile and a great meal prep salad for weekday lunches, and I always feel good about more veggies added if I have them kicking around my kitchen.

While working on setting up my Facebook Page and revamping my Instagram profile, I realized that I had not offered any real, nutritious food in a few posts - I was overly excited about baked goods.  While delicious, again one cannot survive alone on simply Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies or Adult Pop Tarts. 

The Goat Cheese are like little melty clouds when you you eat them, and are a terrific contrast to the Dried Cherries in the salad.

Autumn Red Quinoa Salad with Butternut Squash and Brussel Sprouts Topped with Shrimp

Author:  Iris Anna Gohn

Servings:  2 comfortable dinner sized salads or up to 6 side salads

This salad has so many components that scream “healthy!!!” But it tastes so delicious that you forget that it is actually good for you.  I have written the recipe in a way that seems long, but actually breaks down each component of the salad so that it is ultimately a very streamlined process of putting this together.  

Protip about Butternut Squash and peeling it.  I have always cut away the thick skin after chopping off the ends and slicing the whole thing in half lengthwise, however I tried using my vegetable peeler this time to see if it would work.  Voila!  If you have a really good, sharp, sturdy little vegetable peeler, it will help you peel the Squash SO much quicker and more efficiently.  The rest of the Squash you don’t use in this recipe you could reserve and use in this amazing soup.

I personally, think the Red Quinoa Salad has enough dressing to flavor the shrimp and lettuce when eating the assembled salad.  If you use a huge bed of greens, or add a ton of other veggies, I have provided the proportions for excess salad dressing if you so desire.  Protip - this salad dressing makes an amazing marinade for Salmon!

Everything but the Shrimp can be saved in the fridge for up to 5 days in the fridge - Shrimp should really be eaten the day you cook it in my opinion.  But I get weird about Seafood hanging out in the fridge too long because of the immune suppression thing so take that with a grain of salt.

Ingredients

For the Maple Apple Cider Vinaigrette:

• 1 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1/4 Cup Pure Maple Syrup
• 1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
• 2 Tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1 Tsp Whole Mustard Seeds
• 1 1/4 Tsp Sea Salt
• 1/4 Tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper + more to taste
• Sprinkle of Cayenne Pepper (optional)

For the Red Quinoa:

• 1 Cup Red Quinoa
• 1 1/2 Cup Chicken Stock

For the Roasted Vegetables:

• 2 heaping Cups cubed Butternut Squash, 1 inch pieces
• 1 Heaping Cup trimmed and halved Brussel Sprouts
• 1 Tsp Minced Garlic
• Drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Sea Salt to taste
• Fresh Cracked Pepper to taste

For theShrimp:

• 12 Jumbo Shrimp, tails on
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Tbsp Butter
• 1 Clove (1 Tsp) minced Garlic
• 2 Tbsp Fresh Chopped Parsley
• Sea Salt
• Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

Additional Ingredients:

• 1/4 Cup Crumbled Goat Cheese + more to garnish
• 1/4 Cup Dried Cherries + more to garnish
• 1/4 Cup Fresh Chopped Parsley + more to garnish
• 1 Shallot (1 Tbsp) minced fine
• Mixed Greens

Directions

For the Maple Apple Cider Vinaigrette:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the Olive Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar, Maple Syrup, Garlic, Dijon and Mustard Seeds, Salt, Pepper, and Cayenne Pepper (if using).  Taste and adjust salt if needed.  Set aside.

For the Roasted Veggies:

1. Preheat Oven to 425 F.  Line a baking sheet with Aluminum Foil for easy clean up afterwards.
2. Chop the Butternut Squash into 1 inch pieces.  Place on prepared baking sheet.
3. Trim the ends off the Brussel Sprouts and cut in half - if they are very large sprouts then quarter them.  You want the Brussel Sprout pieces and the Butternut Squash pieces to be roughly the same size.  Place on prepared baking sheet.
4. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the vegetables, maybe a tablespoon, and top with the garlic, salt, and pepper.  Gently toss all the vegetables together until they are evenly coated with the oil.
5. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the Butternut Squash is fork tender.

For the Red Quinoa:

1. In a medium saucepan that has a lid, combine the chicken stock and quinoa and cook according to package directions.  For mine, on medium high heat, I brought to a boil, uncovered, then reduced heat to medium low and covered.  I simmered until the liquid was gone and the quinoa fluffy, it took roughly 25 to 30 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the Shallot, roasted veggies, Quinoa, and 1/2 Cup of the Vinaigrette until thoroughly incorporated.  Then, gently fold in the Goat Cheese, Dried Cherries, and chopped Parsley.  Set aside while preparing the Shrimp.

For the Shrimp:

1. In a medium sauce pan, heat the olive oil and butter over medium high heat.  Add minced garlic and sauté for 30 seconds to a minute.
2. Evenly lay the shrimp in the pan and pull off the heat, adjusting the heat down to medium.  Salt and pepper the shrimp.  Sautee for about 2 minutes, then put back on the heat and flip the shrimp to the other side.
3. Salt and pepper other side of shrimp, sprinkle the fresh parsley, and sauté for an additional 2 minutes or until the shrimp is cooked through.

Assemble the Whole Salad:

1. Lay a bed of mixed greens on a plate and top with desired amounts of the Quinoa Salad, Shrimp, and additional Goat Cheese, Dried Cherries, or Vinaigrette if desired.