Quinoa with Grilled Veggies

Quinoa with sweet peppers, white onions, mushrooms and zucchini.

I am very happy to belong to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) again this year. This is our third year being CSA members and each year we know that we will be inundated with zucchini and summer squash (the yellow zucchini).  I didn’t get time this year to get very creative with the zucchini and a lot of the other veggies we got in our CSA box combined with some sweet peppers from our pathetic little garden.

Some people might like this served at room temperature but I serve this hot.  The leftovers are one of my favourite lunches to bring to work. It is filling and healthy. All I have to do is pop it in the microwave, maybe add a pinch of salt and carry on with my work while eating.

This year we planted three sweet pepper plants, that we got from Bailey’s Local Foods, in big resin

Purple, red and chocolate brown sweet peppers!

containers that look like half barrels.  Two of the plants were the red shepherd peppers but one of the plants produced a pepper that I had never seen before. They are chocolate brown and the plants was by far the most prolific of the three. We probably got about a dozen or more peppers off of that plant and there are still some struggling to ripen with fall chasing them. In our CSA we have been getting green peppers, which I do not like, and purple peppers. The down side to grilling the purple and brown peppers is that the colours get rather murky when they are cooked. They taste just like regular sweet peppers so cutting them up and serving with some dip is also a great way to eat them up. I served a couple of the brown peppers that way at Timothy’s birthday party with some store-bought dip. The brown peppers worked well with the Shrek theme.

I make the recipe below at least once a week during the summer and serve it as a side dish for burgers, grilled chicken, pork chops, hot dogs, grilled sausages…well, you get the picture.

Quinoa with Grilled Veggies

Christina Austin

Delicious way to serve quinoa with grilled zucchini, sweet peppers, mushrooms and sweet onions.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 50 minutes mins

Course Side Dish

Servings 6

Ingredients

  

Quinoa

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups low sodium chicken broth

Grilled Veggies

• 1/2 pound cremini mushrooms
• 1 large sweet pepper any colour or 2 small peppers
• 1 red or sweet white onion
• 1 medium zucchini any colour
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp Maldon sea salt*
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

Instructions

 

Quinoa**

• In a medium saucepan bring the chicken broth and quinoa to a boil and then reduce to a low simmer and cover.
• When all the broth has been absorbed, remove from heat and set aside.

Grilled Veggies

• 
  Cut the end off the onion and cut it in half and then cut each half in quarters.
• Cut the zucchini into 3/4 inch discs and cut each disc in half to get two half moons.
• Cut the sweet pepper(s) into large pieces. Discard the stem, ribs and seeds of the peppers,
• Clean and add the mushrooms. Cut them in half if they are large.
• Start your grill so that it has time to heat up.
• Toss the veggies with the olive oil, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire Sauce.
• Place a stainless steel bbq wok (with holes in it) or an aluminum grill pan, also with holes in it.
• Cook over a medium heat with the lid down for 5 minutes. Lift the lid and move the veggies around so that they all get some slight caramelization on them. Cook with the lid up for 10 or 15 more minutes, moving the veggies around frequently. When the veggies have some caramelization on them and the zucchini is slightly tender if you poke it with a fork, take it off the grill.
• Serve over top of the quinoa in a large bowl.

Notes

*Use less salt if you are using a fine sea salt or regular free-running table salt. Maldon salt has large crystals so 1 tsp is closer to 1/2 tsp in fine salt
**Some quinoa needs to be rinsed before it is cooked otherwise it will have a nasty bitter after-taste. Many packaged brands of quinoa are pre-rinsed. If in doubt, rinse.
Roasting Option: If you don't have a grill, you can roast the veggies in the oven. Preheat the oven to 425 F and follow the same preparation steps. Put the veggies on a baking sheet and roast for 15-20 minutes.