There are few things that I dislike more than leaving beautiful food in the fridge when we leave for a trip. And so, when the ingredients you’ll find below for this Warm Quinoa Salad with Grilled Halloumi all accidentally happened to be in the fridge – with little else to spare – as I was making lunch between packing tasks the day before our flights this week, it was as if our vacation started a day early; we would be leaving the fridge gloriously bare AND were going to have grilled halloumi for lunch. Massive wins all around.
The third win was that these random ingredients, all pulled together, equalled one of the best salads I’ve had in quite some time. For those of us who love salad, but who have come to understand it’s massive drawbacks for digestive health, a great warm salad is quite a feat to behold, not to mention a true pleasure to enjoy in this season where the chill of fall dominates the mornings and the evenings, and the golden glory of fall seems to hang around all afternoon. Sitting in the sunshine, eating a hearty bowl of warm salad with tender greens, sweet squash, and a tangy dressing and crispy-tender charred halloumi – such bliss!
Indeed, the salad days of summer have passed. At least, that’s what nature is telling us (even if the grocery store shelves ae still stocked with far-flung, hydroponic grown salad ingredients for….well, forever.)
Ayurvedic medicine recognizes that – regardless of how *good* or *bad* our food choices, if we don’t digest them properly, we don’t benefit at all (or, we experience greater detriment than anticipated.) To keep our digestive systems functioning properly, eating with the seasons is critical because each season nature provides the kind of nourishment our bodies need to thrive wherever we find ourselves. Tender spring greens – when in season in SPRING – lighten our load and help our bodies to lift themselves from the heaviness of winter; a benefit that we actually don’t want to impose on our bodies in other seasons when we need either more substantial nourishment or more easily digestible foods (to help our bodies prioritize other actions, like say staying warm or keeping cool.)
Ayurvedic medicine also recognizes that the our foods are much more valuable than just the macro- and micro-nutrients modern science has recognized within them. Our foods are the substances that help us to rebalance and recalibrate the body. By eating for flavors, and by acknowledging and prioritizing the qualities of the foods we eat – not just their “nutrition” – and by using opposites to balance our diets, we unlock the opportunity to use our food as fuel, and as medicine.
And so, the days of salad have passed for the year. When they come around again next spring and summer, they’ll be a wonderful choice but for now, the tender greens are no longer sprouting in the fields naturally, the days are getting colder, brisker, more rough. A salad doesn’t even sound like a good idea in the same sentence as a pumpkin spice latte, or the first bowls of soup, ya know? If we didn’t have the technology of greenhouses, our salad days would have been decided for us but as it is, if we’re still choosing rough, cold salads on these days when our bodies are trying their hardest to stay warm, wind down, be productive and ward off illness, we’re doing a massive disservice to our systems.
“You mean salads aren’t….GOOD for me?”
Well, that’s not exactly what I’m saying. What I’m saying is that there are distinct times of the year, and distinct states of being in the body that are not a great match for the kind of nourishment that a salad provides. When we have too much rough, cold, dry, subtle energy in our bodies, minds, spirits and lives, a salad (that ALSO has all of these qualities) contributes to a great ungrounding, not to mention poor digestion, which leads to inflammation, which leads to illness, and so on.
That said, by changing the qualities of our SALADS, we can change the context to enjoy them in….and then yes, a salad can actually be excellent for you in this season. By combining warm quinoa, spicy warming arugula, tender roasted delicata squash, hearty, sweet and salty grilled halloumi, and warming sesame dressing we have a completely different concoction of “salad;” one that’s far less rough, warm, moist and grounding and is therefore a balancing meal to enjoy in this season.
If this sounds gnarly, then you’re not doing it right. A warm salad is so flavorful, fragrant and such a delight to enjoy. And this isn’t the only recipe that will fit. the bill.
When I saw *warm* I’m referring to both the temperature of the salad itself (as in, enjoy this NOT cold,) but also the nature and qualities of the ingredients you’re including. They should also be warming – which means in alignment with good digestive principles and therefore not raw (which is cooling to the body because it requires blood to leave the extremities to warm food up in the stomach and while this sounds like a great scenario by diet culture logic, it’s actually really harmful for your digestive system to have to expend energy warming all of our foods up to body temp before we can benefit from them.)
The first rule of warm salading is that the greens are not the main event; the grains, proteins and cooked vegetables that you add to the mix are where the money is at. I’m talking about warm quinoa, steamed rice, barley, millet or even cooked pasta here. As for proteins, of course you can add as you wish – there are few proteins that won’t like being warmed up for a salad.
Next we’ve got your roasted vegetables and this is an important part; raw vegetables are very difficult to digest – one of the primary reasons that we don’t recommend enjoying salads in abundance in any season – and so cooking whatever you have on hand is key. In the fall (or the season of the warm salad) vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, beets, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, carrots….I could go on but you get the point. Add these with reckless abandon.
What a great option to have prepped, for those of you “meal preppers” out there. The quinoa can be steamed ahead (I recommend a rice cooker for this,) your dressing can be whisked up and at the ready. Delicata squash is certainly better ala minute than rewarmed, but do what you have to do.
The only piece that I highly recommend making as close to mealtime as possible is the halloumi. You want to enjoy it when it’s a little bit crispy from the char of the grill, but still tender and salty (instead of cold and rubbery, as when it’s rewarmed.)
Once you give this recipe a try, I highly recommend using it as a blueprint to make yourself additional warm salads in this season. Don’t forget that the greens are just a little added perk – not the focal point of the meal – and allow this cooked, warm soothing way to salad smooth over your fall transition.
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