Herb Quinoa

I'm a sucker for any recipe containing feta cheese and herbs. Combined, they deliver a punch of flavor. Add in any type of grain or pasta (quinoa, couscous, barley, etc) and I'm sold. That's why I saved this recipe. Oh and it was a big plus that I didn't have to turn on the oven :)

Quinoa Toss with Chickpeas and Herbs

(courtesy of Good Housekeeping Magazine)

1 C. quinoa

2 C. chicken or vegetable broth

2 ears fresh corn or 1 C. frozen corn, thawed

1 15-oz. can chickpeas

1/2 C. crumbled feta cheese

1/4 C. finely chopped sweet onion

3 Tbsp. snipped fresh basil

2 Tbsp. snipped fresh Italian parsley

1/4 C. olive oil

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 C. diced, cooked beets

Romaine leaves

Rinse quinoa in fine mesh sieve under cold running water, drain. In saucepan bring broth to boiling. Add quinoa. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, 15 mins. or until broth is absorbed. Remove from heat; set aside to cool.

Cut corn from cobs. Rinse and drain chickpeas. In bowl combine quinoa, corn, chickpeas, cheese, onion, and herbs. For dressing, in bowl whisk together oil, lemon juice, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Add to quinoa mixture; toss to coat.

Cover and let stand at least 1 hour, or cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Bring to room temperature before serving. Stir in beets just before serving. Serve in bowls lined with romaine leaves. Makes 8 (1-cup) servings.

My notes: This was a little more time consuming that other recipes I've put on my blog. First of all, who has a fine sieve for quinoa?  Quinoa is too tiny for my normal sieve so I had to use a teeny one I use mostly for straining tea leaves and lemon juice so I had to rinse the quinoa in portions (it looked ridiculous). That was a little annoying; I hadn't read that part before starting the recipe. Also, I ended up having to use frozen corn (it was fine) and a regular purple onion (the sweet one would have been better). The other time consuming part was the chopping/snipping -- have I stated before that I stink at chopping? I'm slow and I don't cut up everything evenly. I'm trying to get better but I'm still slow. It takes a while to snip 5 tablespoons of herbs. Maybe I was being too particular. Anyway, Lee looked alarmed when he saw me add the beets at the end (he doesn't like beets -- I did not know this. It's funny how you continually learn things about your spouse). But the beets were really more for color than flavor, in my opinion. Lee didn't have a problem with them.