Here's a quick and easy salad I just put together, which was inspired by small, slender eggplant I purchased at the Farmers Market. Quinoa is a pantry staple and I try to keep bags of frozen shrimp at the ready. Garden mint is flourishing, so put them all together and dinner is decided.

Cherry tomatoes and feta would have been delicious additions to this simple salad. It was tasty as is, but if I had them on hand, you would have seen them in the photo above.

I used black eggplant, but if I'd used purple Asian eggplant, there would have been no need to remove a portion of the skin. In my experience cooking Michigan-grown eggplant, I've found the long purplish Asian varietals more tender than the black-skinned ones.

Yield 3-4 servings
Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup dry quinoa
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pound raw medium shrimp, (thawed if frozen) deveined and shelled
6 small (approx. 3-inch length) eggplant,striped with a vegetable peeler* and cut into coins
Juice from 1 lemon (2 tablespoons)
3/4 cup torn mint leaves

Directions

1. Cook quinoa according to package instructions.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium high heat. Sauté shrimp on both sides until just cooked through, about 2 minutes on each side. Remove and reserve. Add additional 2 tablespoons of oil to pan and cook eggplant over medium heat until tender, 3-6 minutes depending on eggplant varietal.
3. Make a vinaigrette by whisking together remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and lemon juice. Toss with quinoa, shrimp, eggplant and mint. Season to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.