When we lived in California there was a restaurant that served a salad topped with fresh made tortilla chips. I always asked for extra chips because I loved the extra crunch it gave to the fresh greens & avocado. The other day a friend had given me some avocados from his tree and I had just picked up some greens from the farm down the street. I also had a few tortillas left over from the tacos we made and my garden was full of fresh herbs. Perfect!
I just heated up some olive oil in a pot and fried up the tortilla strips until they were crispy.
Then I whipped up the same dressing that I used for the Roasted Delicata Squash & Chickpea Salad
This makes the perfect salad to serve before dinner, but you could easily make it into a meal by adding more quinoa, beans and avocado.
quinoa, greens & beans with fresh tortilla strips
makes 2 salads
ingredients:
everything
2 bunches baby romaine, washed, dried and cut into pieces
1 avocado
1c cooked quinoa, I prefer white
4 corn tortillas, cut into 1/2″ strips
1 can organic black beans, drained & rinsed well
1 lime
light olive oil or sunflower oil for frying
1/4c fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4c fresh parsley, chopped
1T fresh mint, chopped
salt & pepper
dressing (see Roasted Delicata Squash & Chickpea Salad)
how to:
Heat about 3/4″ of oil in a heavy bottomed pot on medium high heat. Don’t walk away. Test the oil with a small piece of tortilla. If it bubbles around the edges and comes to the top quickly, your oil is ready. Drop half of the tortilla strips carefully into the oil and using tongs, move them around slowly. When the bubbles calm down, they should be done. Watch them closely, they will brown up fast. Transfer them onto a plate lined with a paper towel and repeat with the rest of the tortillas.
In a large bowl, add the romaine, beans, warm quinoa and 2T of the dressing. Mix well. Add the avocado and 1T lime juice and combine gently being careful not to mash up the avocado. Divide into 2 bowls and top with tortilla chips and garnish with a wedge of lime. Sprinkle with some pink salt and fresh ground pepper.
enjoy
Note:
Great Northern beans are delicious in this salad too. They are creamy and a bit more mild than black beans…so whichever beans you happen to have will work fine.
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