I have some non-vegetarian friends who don’t eat bacon. I have no problem with that, I have my own principals. For example I try not to eat any meat that has been fed hormones or antibiotics (tough here in the US). Anyway, I didn’t know about their attitude to bacon when I recently served them my nutty Bacon Quinoa. The funny part was they kept eating even when I told them that it contained bacon. I guess they liked my standpoint in cooking!
This recipe is perfect when you have some left-over Quinoa.
(serves 2-3)
8 slices of bacon
one onion
¼ – ½ fennel root
one cup brown quinoa (dried)
one teaspoon cumin seeds, roasted and ground
one teaspoon coriander seeds, roasted and ground
one teaspoon mustard seeds, roasted and ground
chili flakes
oregano
garlic, crushed
salt
fresh cilantro
toasted walnuts
Chop the onion finely and slice the fennel into thin strips. Sauté on low heat with butter until soft and almost transparent. If you want you can add some of the left-over bacon fat to the onion mixture. Slice the bacon and sauté in a separate pan until a little crisp. When ready add the bacon to the onion mixture. Feed the mixture with chili, cumin, coriander and mustard seed. Raise the heat and let cook for about 2 minutes and then add the garlic, oregano and finally the cooked quinoa (see below). You may need to add some olive oil or a splash of water if it gets too dry. Season with salt. Top with fresh cilantro and toasted walnuts.
I have also made this with other vegetables such as: celery, kale, spinach and cabbage
my way of making quinoa
I cook quinoa a little bit like I cook rice by using a 1:2 ratio (one cup quinoa gets two cups of water). Rinse the quinoa and put into a pot together with water and some salt. Cover and bring to a boil and then let the covered quinoa simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes. The quinoa should start to “sprout” (not really but you should see their curly germs). Turn off the heat and let stand covered until all the water has dissolved. With this method your quinoa will not be over-boiled and can be sauted with the recipe above.
I don’t know what quinoa has to do with Mac and cheese… but maybe its time for me to create my own mac’n cheese recipe!
Piggy is so cute!
I’m on such a quinoa kick, I feel like I’m a re-incarnated Peruvian princess. My most recent way to prepare it is to make some red quinoa, make a warm mash of cranberries, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and honey (syrup/jam-like and maybe with anise or cardamom if I feel adventurous or just if I want to use my mortar and pestle), toast some nuts, and mix it all together. If I have goat cheese on hand, I might throw some of that in there too. It’s a great nuts n’ berries with healthy-as-heck-grain meal!
Your sounds way better than mine after looking at what I wrote though. I have to try your recipe!
Michele! from now on, I will always see you as the “re-incarnated Peruvian princess”.:)
However your Nutty Berry Quinoa sound lovely. And topped w/ goat cheese: fantastic!
I will certainly try this one. Thanks for sharing the recipe!