I "won" some quinoa at white elephant last Christmas and I hate to admit that it took me until just now to actually make it. I'm so glad I finally did! Quinoa is a super food and can take on so many great forms - I can't wait to try it other ways.
I'll keep it simple - dinner consisted of the chili lime cilantro salmon which I threw on the grill, some sautéed broccoli and the garlic roasted quinoa. Steve has always enjoyed my salmon teriyaki - so this was a bit of a risk in terms of serving salmon - no sugar and not loaded with the deliciousness of MSG and sodium found in soy sauce. He liked it! Stevie liked it! Granted he thought the quinoa tasted like Mexican rice - baby steps. Baby steps. Next time I'll make the quinoa with chicken broth instead of vegetable and I think he'll enjoy it more. By the end if dinner he did admit that while he liked the quinoa, he couldn't eat a lot of it. Fine - can handle that!
Chili Cilantro Lime Salmon
Ingredients
1 lb salmon, thawed
Zest and juice of one lime
1 tsp honey
1tsp Siracha sauce
1 tsp garlic
1/2 c chopped cilantro
1/4 c olive oil
Combine lime zest, juice, honey, Siracha, garlic, cilantro and olive oil in gallon sized zip lock or marinating dish. Add salmon and allow to marinate 30 minutes - one hour. Heat grill to 300 degrees. Remove salmon from marinade and add each piece to foil. Drizzle extra marinade and close foil up creating a pouch. Grill skin down until salmon is cooked most of the way through. Flip over and remove skin, allowing salmon to finish cooking on other side. Baste with marinade remaining in foil pouch.
Garlic Roasted Quinoa
Ingredients
1 cup dry quinoa
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/8 c onion, chopped
2 c vegetable or chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat olive oil in medium saucepan. Cook quinoa until slightly browned and aromatic* (about 3-5 minutes). Remove to fine strainer and rinse**. Leave quinoa in strainer while sautéing garlic and onion (add more olive oil if needed to ensure garlic and onion do not burn). Allow onions to cook until slightly translucent. Add quinoa and broth, cook on medium heat until rapid boil occurs. Lower heat and add lid allowing quinoa to simmer. Allow to simmer approximately 15 minutes or until all liquids have evaporated and quinoa has a slight "curly que" appearance. Remove from heat and allow to cool with lid on for several minutes. Fluff with a fork and add salt and pepper to taste.
*Browning quinoa really helps bring out the flavor. It does not have to be browned before cooking but definitely is worth the few extra minutes if you have it!
**Quinoa has an outer shell that without being rinsed causes a bit of a bitter taste. Always rinse your quinoa somewhere in the cooking process!
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