Newspaper Quinoa

A few months ago, when the LA Times decided to publish their Food section on Thursdays, I had another reason to be excited for Thursday mornings (not just because I did not need to go to work)! I had a lot of inspiration from this "E" section of the paper, and this week I decided to try a recipe that called for quinoa. The first time I had quinoa was when Kristi, my college-time best friend, made a curry and mango quinoa salad for Steve and I. It is a recipe that I crave, even just thinking about it.

Tonight's recipe was just as flavorful and something I would love to make for Kristi, or at least pass along the recipe, as a sort of "thank you" for introducing me to quinoa.

Warm Quinoa Salad with Orange Blossom Vinaigrette

for the vinaigrette:
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup orange blossom honey
1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar
1 cup olive oil
salt & pepper

for the salad:
1 cup butternut squash cubes
olive oil
salt & pepper
1 cup haricots vert, cut in bite-sized pieces
1 granny smith apple cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 cups Swiss chard, ribs removed, coarsely chopped
orange blossom vinaigrette
3 cups vegetable broth
1 cup quinoa
1 rosemary sprig
5 Tbs toasted sliced almonds

1. Bring the OJ to a simmer in a small saucepan and reduce to about 2/3rd cup, about 12 minutes. Cool to room temperature and transfer to a bowl.
2. When OJ is cooled, whisk in honey, then vinegar, then olive oil until emulsified. Season with salt & pepper.
3. Refrigerate, up to 5 days.
4. Toss the butternut squash with 1 1/2 tsp olive oil, season with salt & pepper and roast on a baking sheet at 400 for 10-15 minutes, tossing every 5 minutes. Keep warm squash aside in a large bowl.


5. Blanch the haricots vert in a large pot of boiling salted water for 1 minute. Then shock them by transfering to a bowl of ice water. Drain and set aside.
6. In a saute pan, heat 1 Tbs olive oil and saute the haricots vert, apple cubes, and Swiss chard, salt & pepper for about 5 minutes, until crisp but tender.


7. Deglaze pan with 1/4 cup vinaigrette.
8. Then add all the pan contents to the large bowl of roasted squash.
9. In a saucepan, with the vegetable broth simmering, add the rosemary sprig and quinoa. Gently simmer, covered for about 15 minutes. Drain quinoa (I use my sifter) and remove rosemary.


10. Add the quinoa and almonds to the squash and haricots vert. Serve with vinaigrette drizzled over it.

Enjoy!

Here is the final product, served with some grilled chicken mango sausage...