Salad w/ Salmon, Roasted Hubbard Squash, & Quinoa

I can't quite remember what I originally went to the grocery store. Half of the time I don't really know what I want to make. I just know that I'm going to cook today and go in with some vague idea about buying produce. Inspiration certainly struck, though, when I saw the new seasonal squash. My grocery store tends to have butternut, acorn, and delicata squash all year round. They're breaking out the pie pumpkins and fun gourds, though. I don't often see them, but this year we have a bunch of Red Hubbard Squash. At my last place I could occasionally find Red Hubbard Squash. Which, in all honesty, pretty much taste the same. But this is kid of a treat! Salmon has also been good lately, so all around I'm pretty thrilled. This Salmon, Quinoa, & Squash Salad, though, is fantastic.

I have to admit that, after roasting everything, I didn't even plate it right away. I just sat there in my kitchen, huddled over the stove scooping everything onto a fork. Sometimes dishes are so delicious that you can't help but eat half of them before it makes it onto a plate! Although I did manage to feed myself enough to get the whole thing assembled together eventually, it does go to show how some of the most delicious food doesn't need to look fancy. It certainly doesn't hurt when food looks delicious! But it should taste just as delicious as it looks. I absolutely detest the disappointment of beautifully presented food that's really bad.

Gallery

Variations of Squash Salmon Salad

I live in the middle of the country. So, every time that salmon is a good price at the grocery store?? I'm absolutely going to make some kind of salmon salad. I grew up on the west coast where I maybe didn't quite appreciate how readily available salmon always was. Regardless, it's still one of my favorite things to make. Salmon is one of the simpler fish to make because it very visibly changes color when it cooks. It's also a flaky fish, so it will break apart when you gently press it with a fork. Everyone's skillset is different. But salmon salads are one of those things for me that look much more impressive than they are to make! I mostly just toss everything that I already had onto a plate. With the notable exception of poached salmon. Which isn't quite as easy, but incredibly fun!

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Salad w/ Wine Poached Salmon, Ethiopian Lentils, & Sautéed Spinach

Salad w/ Salmon, Roasted Hubbard Squash, & Quinoa

This Squash Salmon Salad consists of red hubbard squash, Thai dragon peppers, garlic, turmeric, ginger, tamari, and rice vinegar quinoa with salmon and freshly roasted red hubbard squash seeds. You can easily substitute any variety of edible pumpkin or squash that you have on hand as well as whatever fruits and vegetables that you want to mix and match. Rice cooker quinoa is an incredibly simple to make. As long as you add enough water for the produce to absorb, you can really add as much as you like and just hit the cook button on the rice cooker.

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 20

Course Main Course, Salad

Cuisine American, Asian, Latin American

Servings 4 servings

Equipment

Rice Cooker
Oven
Baking Sheet

Ingredients

Squash

1 red hubbard squash roasted & puréed
red hubbard squash seeds roasted
dash salt
dash pepper

Quinoa

1 c. red hubbard squash
1 orange bell pepper diced
5 Thai dragon peppers minced (or pepper of choice)
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp. turmeric minced
1 tbsp. ginger minced
1½ c. quinoa
3 c. water
1/8 c. tamari
1/8 c. rice vinegar

Salmon

1 filet salmon per person (4 total for entire batch)
splash olive oil
dash salt
dash pepper
lemons sliced

Salad

1 filet salmon (per person)
1/2 c. quinoa
1/8 c. hubbard squash seeds

Instructions

Prepare Ingredients

I used Roasted Red Hubbard Squash in this recipe. This takes a couple of hours and requires aluminum foil and a baking dish. I am a big fan of this. It's a medium-sized variety with dense flesh and a lot of flavor. You can easily substitute butternut squash, pie pumpkin, or other gourd of choice.
I also used Roasted Red Hubbard Squash Seeds in this recipe. Although this is optional.

Quinoa

Add all of the ingredients into a rice cooker. I like to start with the larger vegetables and then add the smaller ingredients. Top with the spices and vinegar. And then add the quinoa and water.
This cooks the larger vegetables on the bottom, while dispersing the flavor profiles in the middle. Although with some mixing, this really doesn't matter all that much. Everything will eventually cook together!
You can also add the rice vinegar and tamari after it cooks. If you add it before, it will be a more subtle flavor that permeates through the quinoa. Otherwise, add it afterwards for a brighter pop of flavor. I go back and forth on which one I prefer and routinely do both.
Press the cook button on the rice cooker. It should take about 45 minutes to cook. When the quinoa is fully cooked, let sit for 10 minutes. Then, fluff with a wooden spoon.

Bake Salmon

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place salmon skin-side down on a griddle or baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and add a dash of salt and pepper. Slice a lemon and place evenly on top of the salmon.
Bake salmon for 12-15 minutes, or until the salmon begins to flake. Salmon tends to be cooked when it loses the bright color and you can take a fork and it easily separates. Larger cuts of salmon may take upwards of 20 minutes. Smaller, individual portions may take less time. It's best to begin checking after 10 minutes of cooking and adjust the cooking time to the doneness of your filet.
This entire recipe will make 4 servings. I typically make 1 small filet per person.
Otherwise, I tend to cook just enough for myself and then use the rest of the quinoa and lettuce for other dishes.

Salad

Arrange the quinoa, salmon, and squash seeds on a plate. Serve immediately or refrigerate and serve as a cold salad later on. When I know that I'm going to have leftovers, I'll oftentimes shred the salmon and mix in for a grab and go lunch.

Tips, Tricks, & Notes

For more information on baking salmon, check out my articles on The Fundamentals of Oven Baked Salmon and Barbecue Salmon. I'm particularly fond of cooking on a well-seasoned cast iron griddle because you don't need additional oil or foil to to keep it from sticking. But there are certainly ways around this if you don't want to dedicate an entire cast iron pan to fish! Cooking salmon is also more of an art than a science. No two filets are going to cook in the exact same amount of time and there are definitely some tips and tricks to nailing the cook on fish.
I also have an article on Quinoa w/ Kabocha Squash, Ginger, & Turmeric.

This Page Contains Edited Images

As a general rule, I don't like to edit my images and I am firmly against alteration of images in food blogs. It's not something that we generally think about when it comes to recipes. But food styling, editing, alteration, and even faking entirely is just as rampant a problem in the recipe realm as anything else! Cooking is a very visual art and you can tell when a lot of foods are cooked based on the color. So, when this is altered and you can't use the coloration as a gauge, it makes it quite difficult to follow some recipes. I have an entire article about Food Styling and Unrealistic Expectations of Recipes.

Because of this, I try very hard not to alter any of my photos. I like to take photos with natural sunlight during the day. Ordinarily this is very true to color and I don't edit the photos at all. However, since my place is very warm with a lot of yellow lighting, sometimes my camera overcompensates and ends up with an unnatural blue tone. In the following images on this page, I adjusted the levels and hue to try and make this more true to color. In the interest of transparency, these are the before and after photos.