double broccoli quinoa

i've been on the facebook bandwagon for quite some time now. i see its usefulness in reconnecting with old friends and staying in touch with people you might otherwise not. twitter, however, is something that i just really haven't understood. i don't understand why i should care about what someone else can say in 140 characters or less.

i've been reading up on what successful etsy shop owners do, however, and twitter is one of them. so, i signed up. i've been tweeting and i figured i better follow some other tweeters. i started following allrecipes. then the food network. then i figured i should follow the gluten-free girl, too. and then i started following a few other people who were featured often on any of those tweet feeds. and so it began. i've discovered some great new (to me) food bloggers.

one such blogger is from 101Cookbooks. i'm really loving this blog - everyone should definitely check it out. i made my first recipe from here last night and it was GREAT. it's a quinoa and broccoli dish with a broccoli pesto - hence the "double broccoli" part of the name. yum.

first up, the ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
5 cups raw broccoli, cut into small florets
3 medium garlic cloves
2/3 cup sliced or slivered almonds, toasted
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 big pinches of salt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup heavy cream (this is really optional)

some optional toppings:
fresh chopped basil
fire oil*
chopped avocado
crumbed feta or goat cheese


next up, prepare the quinoa. rinse the quinoa in a mesh strainer. add it to a saucepan with your broth. bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 15 minutes, covered. the quinoa should be fluffed. (it's a lot like making rice.) set aside the cooked quinoa covered to retain the heat.

up next, the broccoli. put a few inches of water into a large bot and bring it to a simmer. add the broccoli and cover. cook for just about two minutes. we want the broccoli to still have a bit of a crunch to it, but not taste raw. strain the cooked broccoli and run under cool water briefly to stop the cooking.

take a little less than half of the broccoli and put it into your food processor. add the garlic, about 1/2 cup of almonds (i added a bit of toasted pine nuts as well), the parmesan, lemon juice, a pinch of salt and a bit of fresh basil if you have it. drizzle in some of the olive oil and cream (if you're adding it) and pulse until your broccoli pesto is smooth.

combine the quinoa and remaining broccoli florets in a big serving dish. you'll end up adding about half of the pesto, but do this slowly. garnish with the rest of the sliced almonds, avocado, fire oil, cheese, or anything else you think would be yummy.  (we did almonds, avocado, fire oil, and crumbled feta.)

ENJOY!


*for the fire oil, heat up 1/2 cup of olive oil in a small pan until it's hot but not smoking. then remove from heat and add 1 1/2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes. stir, then set aside and let cool. you store this in the fridge, but it should be room temperature when you use it.