Recipe Files: NY Times Recipes for Health Quinoa Salad with Lime Ginger Dressing & Shrimp

The New York Times Recipes for Health is a terrific resource for delicious, healthy meals.  The salad featured in this blog plot (with a grilled shrimp recipe courtesy of Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything) is a new favorite.  If you’re looking for some new recipes to add to your cooking repertoire, I highly recommend checking out the site.  I love that you can search for recipes by ingredients or “themes” (appetizers, desserts, soups, summer pantry, winter greens, etc.).  I have yet to be disappointed by a recipe from this collection!

 
NY Times Recipes for Health Quinoa Salad with Lime Ginger Dressing & Shrimp (original recipe here)

Dressing ingredients:
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger (more to taste) – I added twice as much, and think I’ll add even more for next time.
1 small garlic clove, minced
Salt to taste
Pinch of cayenne
2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil or walnut oil
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons buttermilk

Salad ingredients:
3 cups cooked quinoa (3/4 cup uncooked)
4 scallions, white and light green parts, sliced thin
1 small cucumber, halved, seeded and thinly sliced on the diagonal – I used small cucumbers, and simply sliced them on the diagonal (no halving or seeding).
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
12 to 16 cooked medium shrimp, peeled - I used 10 shrimp, grilling method follows this recipe.

Whisk together dressing ingredients.

Combined cooked quinoa, scallions, cucumber, and cilantro.  Toss salad with dressing.  Top each salad with 3 or 4 shrimp.

Spicy Grilled Shrimp (via Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything)

1 large clove garlic
1 tablespoon coarse salt - I would use less next time.
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice - I used lime juice instead.
Shrimp - I chose to devein the shrimp.

Mince and mash garlic with salt until it forms a paste and transfer to a small bowl.  Mix in the cayenne and paprika, then add the olive oil and lemon (in my case, lime) juice.

Cover shrimp in paste.

Grill shrimp, turning once.  Cook for about 2 to 3 minutes per side.  I preheated our Le Creuset skinny grill on the stove top (you can make the dressing while the grill heats up), and then cooked the shrimp once the grill was quite hot.