Mediterranean Quinoa

Every now and again, I like to make a big, blowout, vegetarian meal for myself. Something only I will be eating and one that will leave me with leftovers for days to come. That is the type of recipe I am going to be sharing with you today, so strap in.

As you know, I like to take inspiration from meals I've eaten at restaurants, and the week prior to making this recipe, I had a lovely Mediterranean meal with my friend Paloma at my neighborhood Lebanese restaurant. We shared a fatayer, which was a pita stuffed with spinach, onions, and feta, and then pressed like a panini so that the outside became all crisp. Delish! We also shared a "pitza," which, you may guess, was a pita topped with pureed eggplant, sliced tomatoes, slices of eggplant, kalamata olives, feta, and oregano. SO good! (We also each had a slice of cake, but that's besides the point...) After all of this delicious food, I was inspired to use some of the same components from the Lebanese dishes to make my own Mediterranean meal. I put my own twist on it by adding a few more choice ingredients, changed up the final dish from a pitza or fatayer to a veggie/quinoa mash-up, and was very pleased with the outcome.

This is a pretty healthy meal, which is just a bonus to how great it tastes. Quinoa really helps to kick up the nutritional value, but if you don't want to use quinoa, you could use couscous. I even thought of doing half couscous and half quinoa, but by the time that idea occurred to me, I had already started cooking the whole cup of quinoa. If you wanted to do half and half, you would just make a half a cup each of the couscous and quinoa and mix them in at the end. And if none of these options appeal to you, there's always rice!

Just because I made this as a vegetarian blowout meal, doesn't mean you can't add meat to it if you want. I would probably use chicken. Dress it simply with some EVOO, salt & pepper, grill it, let it rest, slice it up, and then set it atop a mound of quinoa & veggies. OR you could shred it and really mix it in with the rest of the dish. Take your pick.

Let's get cookin'!


Mediterranean Veggies with Quinoa
Servings: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup dry quinoa
1 cup water
1 cup vegetable or chicken stock
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
10 ounces of cherry tomatoes, whole
2 cloves garlic
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh cracked black pepper (FCBP)
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt (grey or kosher)
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup dry white wine (like a Chardonnay)
8 ounces garbanzo beans (chick peas)
2 cups sliced button mushrooms
1 baby eggplant, skinned & diced
Juice of one lemon
4 tablespoons chopped parsley
4 large basil leaves, julienned
3 large handfuls of baby spinach leaves
1 handful pinoli (pine nuts)
Finely crumbled feta cheese for garnish (to taste)

Place a medium sized pot on the stove over high heat. Add the dry quinoa, stock, and water.

Bring to a boil. Stir and reduce heat to low. Place a lid over the pot and set a timer for 15 minutes.

Set a pan with high sides or a Dutch oven on the stove over medium heat. Drizzle in four tablespoons of EVOO. Add the cherry tomatoes and shake the pan to roll the tomatoes around in the oil.

Grate both cloves of garlic over the tomatoes and use a spatula to toss them in the garlic.

Place a lid on the pan and let cook for about five minutes, shaking the pan occasionally so that the tomatoes and garlic don't burn.

Remove the lid and add the chopped onion. Stir to mix in with the garlic, tomatoes and oil.

Sprinkle the mixture with 1 teaspoon FCBP. Place the lid back on the pot and allow the onions to sweat out for about five minutes.

Remove the lid and sprinkle the mixture with the salt, oregano, and red pepper flake.

Pour in the balsamic vinegar and dry white wine. Stir.

Allow the wine to cook down for about three minutes.

Add the garbanzo beans and place the lid back on the pan. Allow them to steep in the wine for about 5 minutes.

Remove the lid (yet again!) and add the mushrooms.

Place the lid back on and allow the mushrooms to cook down for another five minutes.

Remove the lid and add the eggplant. Drizzle with the lemon juice.

Replace the lid and allow the veggies to cook for ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

During this time, take the chance to toast your pine nuts. Place them in a non-stick skillet over medium heat.

Keep a close eye on them because they will burn very easily (I definitely burned mine while making this recipe!). Make sure to stir them every 30 seconds or so. They should be done toasting after about five minutes. Remove them from the pan and set them aside to cool.

By the way, when your timer goes off for the quinoa, remove the pan from the heat and fluff the quinoa with a fork.

Replace the lid. Set aside until you are ready to add it to the veggies.

 



Now, go back to those veggies.

Remove the lid and add the parsley and basil. Stir to combine them with the veggies and beans.

Let them cook for about a minute, then add the spinach leaves. Stir them into the mixture.

Place the lid back on the pot and let the spinach wilt into the rest of the veggies for about three minutes.

Remove the lid and stir. Take the lid off of the quinoa pot and add the cooked quinoa into the veggies.

Stir well to combine so that the veggies and quinoa are one cohesive dish.

Place a big, heaping spoonful of your veggie/quinoa onto your serving plate. Sprinkle the pine nuts over the top, and then garnish the dish with some extra chopped parsley. Last, sprinkle the crumbled feta on the top.

Serve with a glass of that chardonnay you cooked with and enjoy! Salute!