Quinoa! The seed that satisfies. And quinoa is so easy to cook and to add additional flavors to. I decided to make lemon and herb quinoa. as a side dish for the kicked up ground chicken burgers I made last night. You know, chicken with minced onion, parsley, sun dried tomatoes, a little garlic and salt and pepper.
This was last Wednesday night. After having that delicious meal, I knew I had to share it here. The quinoa was outstanding.
What I needed though, was a new bowl. Something with some character. Something handmade. Something that was photogenic. So on Thursday, the search was on.
The special bowl idea is from Lindsey at Pinch of Yum. Her husband Bjork’s father is a potter in Minnesota, and Lindsey uses one of his handcrafted bowls all the time for her blog photos. Just check out some of her posts. It is so cool. Very rustic with uneven rim and torn edges. Larry Ostrom should start to mass produce these for food bloggers and sell them on-line! I’d buy one.
Mary Jo and I were on a mission on Thursday…find a handcrafted bowl in Dunedin! We immediately went to the fine arts gallery…no potters. Okay, the next stop, since we were right there, was the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce. We asked about businesses that had pottery and the person there was uninformed, ie., not much help Well we just started to walk down Main Street to see what we could find and came to a sign pointing to “Clay and Paper.” That certainly sounded promising and I was hoping that Clay and Paper was not just a come on. Got there and Clay and Paper actually had pottery! I found this hand thrown, salt glazed little bowl and I love it. It cost a lot more than I remember bowls costing when I was making and selling pottery myself back in the 1970’s. Like a lot more! I wouldn’t want to pay for a set of six. Anyway, I got my bowl. Be prepared to see this quite a bit with salads, soups and stews. Pretty cool wouldn’t you say?
And the quinoa. What a versatile side dish. It is so delicious and you have a healthy, high protein compliment to any meat. Had it again tonight with pan fried blackened shrimp. Yum! We had to make sure that the lemon and herb quinoa recipe from the night before was good. And it was…
Enjoy!
Lemon and Herb Quinoa
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup quinoa
- 1 1/2 cup chicken broth
- juice of 1 lemon
- zest of 1 lemon
- 3 tbsp minced flat leaf parsley
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Use a microplane and zest the lemon and reserve the zest in a small bowl
- Put chicken broth and the juice of 1/2 lemon in a sauce pan and bring to a boil
- Add quinoa, stir, lower the heat to a simmer and cover
- Cook for 15 to 20 minutes until soft and the liquid is absorbed
- In the bowl with the lemon zest, add juice of 1/2 lemon, parsley, garlic, thyme, oregano, pinch of salt and ground black pepper.
- Stir in 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil.
- When the quinoa is done, stir in the herb mixture.
- Serve hot
Nutrition
Here’s another tasty quinoa recipe you might like.
After making the quinoa I found it to have too much lemon in it. Next time I will try it using only the juice. Otherwise it was great and paired well with the Maple Garlic Pork Chops (w/sauce) I made.
My wife & I had heard of quinoa & how good & healthy it was so when in the store I bought some & made this as a side with chicken & it was great…..
This is just so light and healthy and delicious that it was hard for me to stop eating it. This is one of those recipes that will show regularly in our menus.