Grilled Eggplant and Quinoa Salad with Spicy Tahini Dressing

Grilled Eggplant and Quinoa Salad with Spicy Tahini Dressing is a great way to spice up your normal brown bag lunch. Throuhgout the summer when the grill is always on all the time anyway, I like to make this for a full week’s worth of lunches at the beginning of the week. It’s gluten free, vegan and just generally delicious.

Ingredients

• 1 large

  eggplant or 2 small, cut lengthwise into 4 sections

• Kosher salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 3 tablespoons

  tahini paste

• 1

  lemon, juiced

• Pinch

  cayenne pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon

  dried parsley

• 2 cups

  cooked quinoa

Directions

Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. Season the eggplant slices with salt and pepper. Grill until cooked through and nicely marked, about 5 minutes per side. Set aside to cool, then cut into 1-inch (bite-size) pieces.

In a small bowl, mix the tahini, lemon juice, cayenne, parsley and some salt. It will seize up and become a thick paste, which is great for traveling. If you’re taking this to work for lunch then stop here and pack it up. When you get to work, or whenever you want to eat the salad, add 3 teaspoons water and mix it in until you get the consistency you want.

Mix the quinoa and eggplant, and season with some salt and pepper. Pack up the dressing in a separate container from the quinoa to avoid the soggy salad conundrum. When lunch time hits, mix in the dressing to the salad and enjoy!