Week 44: Mediterranean Quinoa Bowl

This dish wasn't a whole lot of work...just a bunch of delicious ingredients thrown together. I thought it would be a good time to try doing a couple things on my own, like:

-roasting my own red peppers (this KIND of worked)
-using DRY garbanzo beans instead of canned (they are STILL soaking on my stove 3 hours later...obviously did not work)

I also threw some black olives into the mix because I love them. If I did this again, I might add some red onion, because that's a Mediterranean flavor too, right?

Year of Yum Rating: 4 1/2 STARS



INGREDIENTS

1 cup quinoa, dry
4 broccolinis
4 to 6 oz. block of feta cheese, cut in cubes
1 cup roasted red peppers, cut in slivers
1/4 cup capers, rinsed and drained
1 cup chickpeas, cooked
3 tbsp. flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 tsp. dried oregano
Generous pinch of sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 Meyer lemon
1 tbsp. good quality olive oil

DIRECTIONS

1. For the quinoa, typically, bring two cups water and one cup dry quinoa to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. Place the broccolini right on top after ten minutes and cover to finish the quinoa and the broccolini will steam on top. Remove the broccolini to a cutting board, and transfer the quinoa to a large bowl and fluff with a fork.

2. Toss the red pepper slivers, chickpeas, capers, dried oregano and salt and pepper to the quinoa and stir. Give the broccolini a rough chop and toss it in the bowl. Squeeze the juice of the entire meyer lemon (avoiding seeds) and the olive oil, stir again.

3. Lastly, cut the feta into small cubes (easiest if done straight from the fridge or even let it sit in the freezer for a few minutes). Add the cubes and the parsley to the quinoa and give it a gentle fold. At this point, it is probably a tad warmer than room temperature, which is great. If you’d rather it cold, let it sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes to cool down.

(For beautiful photos, visit the source of the recipe: Sprouted Kitchen.)