Recipe – Broccoli Quinoa Pilaf

I love cooking dishes that are considered “one-pot meals”. I like eating from a bowl and eating all the nutritious ingredients all mixed together. Food doesn’t have to be pretty, they just have to be nutritious. I call a meal-in-a-bowl “rustic”.

One of my Sunday food-prep is to cook a pot of quinoa to eat throughout the week. I actually prefer quinoa over brown rice because it’s much more versatile in incorporating it in our meals.

I made a quinoa pilaf dish last Sunday and it didn’t make it past Wednesday. So I woke up early the following morning and cooked the same dish before work. Yes, I liked this dish that much.

All the ingredients taste so well together, especially the raisins.

I didn’t follow the recipe directions exactly because I cooked the quinoa first before I decided to make a pilaf out of it.

So here is my revised version.

I started first with onions. This the base flavor for the dish.

Add green onions next.

Add cooked quinoa and seasoning.

Raisins, broccoli and toasted almonds goes next. It’s very simple and quick.

I doubled the broccoli to add more volume to the dish and just because I love broccoli 🙂

Broccoli – Quinoa Pilaf with Raisins and Almonds

(recipe adapted from Real Simple)

Ingredients

• 3  teaspoons  olive oil
• 1/2  small onion, chopped
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 2  cups cooked  quinoa
• 4  cups chopped broccoli (pre-cooked by steaming it)
• 1/4  cup  raisins
• 1/2  cup  roasted almonds, coarsely chopped
• 2  scallions, sliced

Directions

1. Heat 1 teaspoon of the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and season with ¾ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and starting to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the scallions and sauté for a few minutes.
2. Add 2 cups cooked quinoa.  Fold the broccoli and raisins into the quinoa mix.
3. Remove from heat and fold in the almonds, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.

I ate the pilaf with salmon.

I ate the leftovers for my work lunch with boiled eggs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you do any food prep on Sundays?

~~~~~~~~~~~~