Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Quinoa pilaf with kale, carrots, and pine nuts recipe

Quinoa pilaf with kale, carrots, and pine nuts, adapted from Gluten-Free BayThe greens keep coming from my CSA share and the farmers' market, and I'm trying to get creative so that I don't get tired of them. I decided that I would use this week's CSA kale in a grain dish to mix things up a bit.

Quinoa pilaf with kale, carrots, and pine nuts (adapted from Gluten-Free Bay)

1 cup quinoa, rinsed well
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 1/2 cups veggie stock
1 bunch kale, stems discarded and leaves chopped
1 large or 2 small carrots, grated
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup pine nuts

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and toast quinoa for 10-15 min, stirring frequently. While quinoa is toasting, heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Saute onions in the saucepan until they're tender, and then add garlic and cook for another minute. Stir toasted quinoa into onions and then add remaining ingredients except for pine nuts. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 min. If water remains in the pot, remove cover and cook on high for a few minutes, until water evaporates. While quinoa is cooking, toast the pine nuts in the skillet over medium heat, shaking frequently, for 5 min or until they are light brown and fragrant. Stir nuts into quinoa. Serves 5.

This is one of the best quinoa dishes I've had in a while. There's a lot of flavor going on, and I liked the kale and quinoa together. It was extremely filling, tasty, and a much needed change from eating kale alone.

3 comments:

  1. That looks great! The kale in my garden keeps coming too... I'd been happy with the standard saute with garlic and chili flakes, but I'm tired of it now. This looks like a great option!

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  2. This looks lovely. If you don't have vegetable stock, you can throw the kale stems, an extra carrot, and maybe a garlic clove into the quinoa while it cooks. (Last night I used a CSA carrot that had gone soggy, a shelling pea shell, and a pinch of salt in my quinoa.)

    Also, try Deborah Madison's Potatoes, Greens and (optional) Tomato. I got potatoes, swiss chard, and kale in my box this week, along with baby onions. I boiled the potatoes and steamed the greens (same pot). Sauteed a thinly sliced onion in olive oil, threw in the greens and potatoes, mushing up the potatoes a bit so it's a little like a hash. We had it for a quick dinner with a fried egg (also from the farm) on top. Liked it enough to buy some more potatoes from the farmer's market and use the rest another night along with grilled corn.

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  3. Julia - I'm hoping I'll feel like having more sauteed kale after taking a break from it, but it definitely gets old after months of nothing but greens! This was a great change.

    Stephanie - Thanks for the great ideas about cooking the quinoa with veggies to simulate veggie stock. Your recipe sounds great, as well (I'm pretty sure that you can never go wrong with a Deborah Madison recipe!).

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