Warm Roasted Broccoli & Potato Gribiche

I am just dying for spring to come. Dying. Today is a total tease, the snow has been melting and is almost completely gone, its 4˚C (40˚F), sunny, I can hear birds chirping, there is hope! And tomorrow it will all be snatched away from us. Six inches of snow. I mean, come on. 

But, in celebration of this tiny taste of spring (and the fact that tomorrow's snow won't be falling on five months of accumulated used-to-be-snow-but-is-now-icy-and-gross-and-the-color-of-oppression), I'm painting my nails turquoise and making something that doesn't fall completely within the realm of winter food. This dish is an expression of my hope and yearning for spring. Get ready, its warm salad time!

Firstly, I don't know if you've ever had roasted broccoli, but if you haven't, you need to get on that. For real, it's so good. This may sound boring (hey, this is a judgement-free zone), but broccoli is probably my favorite vegetable, particularly when its roasted. There is something about roasting broccoli that intensifies all of the best things about it. The flavor deepens, it stays nice and green, gets a little charred, and best of all, it soaks up sauce even better! And, believe me, you want to soak up this sauce. 

Black Quinoa Salad with Feta, Avocado and Pistachios

After all this heavy winter food, I need some fresh relief! I feel like I've consumed my weight in butter and potatoes this January, and I probably got closer than I'd like to know. In any case, its is time for a salad. But not a meager, apologetic, "I feel guilty because I ate all that toffee" kind of salad. Salad shouldn't be a punishment! It should be nourishing, satisfying and above all, yummy. 

I wanted something with texture and protein, so quinoa seemed like a natural choice. I went digging in one of my favorite cookbooks and stumbled upon this beautiful recipe in Deborah Madison's Vegetable Literacy. And just like that, I was on my way to the health food store on the hunt for some black quinoa!