The Faithful Foodie

August 18th, 2009 No Comments

Almond Quinoa Pilaf

My son was coming over for dinner the other night but I was going to be too busy to spend a lot of time cooking that day. Since my hubby and I had re-purposed food (in other words leftovers) the night before he was to come over, I still had energy to do some cooking for the next night. I’d gone to the farmers market so I cooked up some green beans and chopped onions with some smoked tabasco added for a little zip and smokiness and then whipped up this almond quinoa pilaf. I’ve already extolled the virtues of quinoa in a previous post so won’t go into that again! I like to make this recipe ahead anyway because it’s one of those that actually tastes even better after the flavors have blended for 24 hours. To these two dishes, I added chicken grilled with Buffalo Wild Wings Spicy Garlic sauce, sliced fresh tomatoes, and cantelope for dessert.

Ingredients

2/3 C. sliced almonds
3 T. olive oil, divided
1 C. chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
1 C. quinoa, rinsed well
1/2 C. raisins
1 t. cumin
1/2 t. salt
1 – 14 oz. can chicken broth

Saute the almonds in 1 T. olive oil until golden, remove from pan and reserve.

Almonds sauteing

Saute the onions, red pepper and garlic in the remaining olive oil until soft. Add the quinoa, raisins, cumin, & salt and saute 2 minutes.

The quinoa, raisins, cumin, and salt added to the onions and garlic

Add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 30 minutes. Drain excess liquid if necessary. Stir in the toasted almonds just prior to serving. Serves 6