Thursday, October 14, 2010

Root Veggie Quinoa

So, I eat a lot of quinoa. It's kind of the magic food for me - I feel healthier eating it. The one thing I've struggled with is that it's hard to do a fried rice kind of thing with quinoa - it just doesn't crisp in the same way. Yesterday I really wanted something that had the sweetness of a good fried rice, but used quinoa. I decided to try carmelizing the veggies if I couldn't carmelize the quinoa. I roasted the veggies (including a whole garlic clove) at 450 (I'm still trying to find the right temp in my oven - this was pretty good, but not perfect) for about an hour. At the same time, I made up a batch of quinoa. Then I cooked some panchetta. Then in the panchetta pan, I dumped the veggies (including the roasted garlic) and a bunch of the quinoa. And mixed. And salted. And it was awesome.

Ingredients (pretty much anything would work for this, but this is what I used)

  • 1 medium-sized butternut squash - cut in cubes
  • 1 large yam - cut in cubes
  • 1 small head of cauliflower - chopped into big bites
  • 4 small-ish onions (2 large would do it) - cut into chunks
  • 1 head of garlic (I just wrap it in foil and throw it in the oven, then cut off the top and squeeze it out)