Avocado, Cilantro Quinoa with Grilled Zucchini

This recipe is one of my absolute favorites for the avocado, cilantro dressing (that I love to use on practically anything).  This recipe leaves you with a little extra for that purpose.  

It is a great way to use your zucchini (or any other summer squash, green beans, etc.).  If you dislike cilantro, feel free to substitute chopped chives. 

This recipe also has a great way to boil eggs that I use all the time now for perfectly boiled eggs (no cracks, no green lined yolks, etc.).

Ingredients

1 large avocado, ripe

juice of 1 lime

1/4 cup lightly packed cilantro

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup plain yogurt

3/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt 

3 large eggs 

1 large zucchini, cut into 3/4-inch thick coins

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

couple pinches of fine grain sea salt 

2 cups quinoa, cooked, room temperature

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled

a bit of chopped cilantro for garnish 

Instructions

Prepare the cilantro-avocado dressing by blending the avocado, lime juice, cilantro, garlic, yogurt, water, and salt in a blender (or us a hand blender). Set aside. 

Hard boil the three eggs. Place the eggs in a pot and cover with cold water by a 1/2-inch or so. Bring to a gentle boil. Now turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for exactly seven minutes (sometimes I do mine for 8--experiment). Have a big bowl of ice water ready and when the eggs are done cooking place them in the ice bath for three minutes or so - long enough to stop the cooking. Set aside. 

While the eggs are cooling start preparing the zucchini by tossing it with olive oil and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Prepare your grill (medium-high heat). If you are worried about the zucchini coins falling through the grill you can thread them onto kabob skewers (stab through the green skin). Grill until zucchini are tender and cooked through, roughly 5 minutes on each side. Remove from the grill and cut each zucchini coin into quarters (they preserve their shape better if you cut them after grilling).  For a quicker approach, you can also slice/cube (whatever shape you want) and saute the zucchini for a couple minutes (or to be super fast and super healthy, you can even eat them raw--I cube mine when I do this).

Crack and peel each egg, cut each egg into quarters lengthwise. Assemble the salad by tossing the quinoa with about 2/3 cups of the avocado vinaigrette. Top with the grilled zucchini, pine nuts, eggs, goat cheese, and a bit of chopped cilantro for garnish. I serve this family-style, but you could do individual platings.

Serves 4 to 6.

Adapted from 101cookbooks.com (which I LOVE!).