Quinoa Frenzy

One more quinoa recipe, please. I found something like this at True Foods restaurant, a new place here in town serving gluten free and organic food. Wonderful. Using the ingredients in our weekly CSA basket, I was able to make a lovely quinoa salad that resembled the quinoa tabbouleh from True Foods, but was even better in my opinion. I found Inca Red quinoa at Sprouts and gave it a it a try. Wow, so good. Nuttier flavor than plain white quinoa. I think from now on I'm going to mix it half/half. It looks prettier that way and tastes great.

Red Quinoa Tabbouleh

1 cup red quinoa
1. 5 cups water
1 cup chopped red cabbage
1 chopped red radish (or two small ones)
1 cup chopped fresh baby arugula
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp salt
Dressing
Juice of one lemon
salt/pepper
2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp agave syrup

1. Rinse quinoa in a fine mesh strainer. Quinoa has an outer coating to scare off the birds and makes it taste bitter. Just rinse it off for a few moments.

2. Add quinoa to water and bring to a boil. Add 1 tsp salt and let simmer for 15 minutes. Quinoa gets little swirlies in the middle when it's about done. Let quinoa cool for about 30 minutes when done.

3. To make the dressing, add all ingredients to a small processor/blender and blend until smooth. Depending on the size of your lemon, taste and see if you need more oil, salt or pepper. You can also add garlic, dried parsley, etc. to your tasted. Experiment if you like.

4. When quinoa has cooled (you don't want the arugula and parsley to cook), mix all ingredients together. Add dressing slowly, saving some for later. Let salad cool a little more, letting the quinoa soak in the dressing. You may want to add a little more dressing after the quinoa has absorbed the first go around.

This is quick and easy, and can even be put in lettuce wraps and eaten. It's lovely at a pot luck lunch and provides tons of protein. The salad at True Foods had pomegranate seeds and Marcona almonds on top. Yum! I didn't have either one but I will next time.

Enjoy!