How To Make Quinoa Tabbouleh

Quinoa--cucumbers--tomatoes--red onions--mint--parsley--a few other basic ingredients, and voila, healthy, deliciousness in a bowl. 

The hostess made this for book group last week and it was a huge hit.  Remember my new year's resolution about eating a variety of grains?  Well, I haven't exactly adhered to it.  Ok, if I'm to be completely honest, I've been a dismal failure.  But this dish reminded me of my intention, so I am trying again.  With summer's arrival, cool, light, grain-based salads make a wonderful healthy meal--or a well-chosen, all-purpose side for a barbecue.

Here's my best guess at the quinoa tabbouleh recipe:

1 cup quinoa
1 large cucumber, seeded, peeled, and chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes (or 1 large tomato, or 3 plums), chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper (to taste)

Cook quinoa according to package directions.  (Do not over cook or it will be mushy).  Cool quinoa and mix with remaining ingredients.  Mix, and allow to set for at least 1 hr to blend flavors.  

Quinoa seems to be the new 'it' food--it kinds of eats like a carb but contains substantial amounts of protein.  Works for me.

How to Make Quinoa With Caramelized Tomatoes and Onions

We mentioned Quinoa as the new  "It" food in a previous post.  I've now begun a slight love affair with the stuff.

It served as a perfect side to the aforementioned grilled scallop dinner, but quinoa solo is kind of bland, so it needs some gussying up.  Here's what I did:

Leftover roasted cherry tomatoes(procedure follows) and caramelized onions sounded like a good complement to the neutral quinoa,  so I sliced up an onion, sauteed it slowly with some olive oil, salt and pepper.  When the quinoa was cooked, I mixed up the lot.  It still needed a bit of something, so I added 1/4 cup of feta cheese.  And if I'd had oil-cured kalamata olives, they would have been the perfect foil.  Next time.

Even my daughter, who avoids tomatoes unless they are pureed in a marinara sauce, liked the dish.  My son, who lives on burgers, (to my chagrin) ran the other way.

For the tomatoes:

Rinse a quart or so of cherry tomatoes--or cut plum tomatoes in half and use those.  Place them in a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle w/ s&p and roast in a 350 oven for about an hour.  These are wonderful with grilled meat or fish, tossed on pasta, smeared on sandwiches, or, as I discovered, stirred into quinoa.

For the quinoa:

Soak 1 cup quinoa in cool water for a few minutes, and rinse thoroughly.  Place in saucepan with 1 1/2 cups water, 1/2 tsp salt, and bring to boil.  Cover, lower heat, and simmer 15 minutes.  Water should be absorbed; if not, taste for doneness and if done, drain.  It behaves more or less like rice.

Mix the caramelized onions, roasted tomatoes, salt and pepper, feta cheese, and olives if you have 'em.  Bet this would be great with chopped fresh parsley, too.

Have you done anything interesting with quinoa lately?