Quinoa with Spicy Roast Veg
Err…. excuse the dodgy photo. I took it on my iPhone, but I was a bit ravenous at the time so I wasn’t really concentrating on taking a good shot.
Google search Quinoa. Apparently it is really great for you. I like it because it is really easy to cook, its quick, and it tastes good. It is not a grass, so it is gluten free. Literally anybody could cook this, but it looks and tastes so good. You can eat it hot or cold, it will keep well for a few days in the fridge too, so its the perfect thing to cook up and divide into plastic containers for lunches on the go.
There are about 10 000 versions of this simple salad online. None will be as good as this one though, with roasted cauliflower and whole roasted garlic. If you’re not a fan of cauliflower, try it roasted. I never used to enjoy it much, but my man converted me after adding it to his famous roasted vegetable pasta.
Here’s what you need:
1 cup quinoa
1/4 Cauliflower
1/2 small Butternut Pumpkin
1 medium sweet potato
8 shallots
2 heads of garlic
1 tbs cumin
1 tbs coriander
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp hot paprika
1 tsp sumac
1 lemon
1 tbs of picked lemon thyme
Here’s how to do it:
Preheat oven to 180C. Chop up all the pumpkin & sweet potato into 2cm cubes, cut the cauliflower into florets, and peel the shallots (if you get big ones, cut them in half. Too big and you’ll munch into raw shallot - ew). Put the lot in a big roasting dish, and drizzle 1-2 tbs of olive oil over the top. Get your spices, and sprinkle them over the top. Grind a good amount of pepper and sprinkle a pinch of salt on top, and then mix it all up until the veggie pieces are relatively evenly coated with spice/oil. Get the garlic heads, and put them in the middle. Put your veg in the oven, boil the kettle and make yourself a cup of tea while you wait an hour or so.
The roasting time for your veg will change depending on various ovens and how big you’ve cut you pieces, so start checking your oven after about 45mins. You want the veggies to go beyond soft, so they begin to caramelize. A bit of black is ok. If they aren’t done yet, keep checking every ten minutes.
While your veg is in the oven, cook the quinoa according to packet directions. This will take between 15-20 minutes all up, including washing.
When the veggies are done, let them cool down for a moment, and then take your garlic heads out. Add the cooked quinoa to the roasting dish, and gently mix it in with the veggies. Squeeze the lemon over the top, add the lemon thyme and squeeze your garlic heads (the cooked garlic will come out like a paste), and then give it another good mix. If you are a bad-ass like me, you can even add a few of the cooked garlic cloves into the mix (if you are cooking this for anyone else, I would peel the garlic skin off before roasting as not everyone is a freak who likes sucking on roasted cloves of garlicky goodness). Add salt/pepper if required.
That’s it! Done! This recipe will make enough for 2-3 servings (I filled 2 x 660ml and 1 x 400ml container).
