Culinary Creator Shares Festive Red Quinoa Salad Recipe

Culinary content creator Gil Avidor Aloni has shared her recipe for a festive red quinoa salad, perfect for holiday gatherings. Aloni, who hosts and creates content on Instagram and TikTok under the handle 'eatsgil,' described the salad as a winning dish for Rosh Hashanah, featuring roasted butternut squash, dates, and pomegranate seeds.

Aloni reflected on her past experiences hosting holidays in New York, where she and her partner built a small community of friends far from home. Since returning to Israel, they now attend family gatherings, and Aloni, while not hosting, enjoys bringing dishes like this substantial salad, which she prefers to prepare. She emphasizes her love for creating rich salads with diverse flavors and textures.

This particular red quinoa salad is designed to be a standalone dish. The recipe includes red quinoa, roasted butternut squash, thinly sliced purple cabbage, celery, radishes, scallions, parsley, chopped Medjool dates, pomegranate seeds, and toasted slivered almonds. The dressing is a simple vinaigrette made with olive oil, lemon juice and zest, honey, Dijon mustard, garlic, and fresh thyme leaves.

Preparation involves cooking the quinoa, roasting the butternut squash, and then combining all salad ingredients. The dressing is whisked separately and then tossed with the salad. Aloni suggests preparing the salad components in advance and mixing them shortly before serving, adding the almonds just before presentation to maintain their crunch. The recipe is kosher, pareve, takes approximately 20 minutes of active preparation time, and 60 minutes total, with an easy difficulty level.