Quinoa and Pistachio Salad with Moroccan Pesto

So I should really be telling you all about Sanctuary and Being Human and Quantum Leap and Revolutionary Road and Guitar Hero 5. I really should be. But I am not going to. Maybe later. Hopefully later.

Wednesday night we had Oven Roasted Italian Chicken Sausage (from Martin's, grilled on Monday) with Mashed potatoes (with caramelized onion, roasted garlic and marinated mozzarella) and broccoli and cauliflower (frozen, put in microwave with 2 cloves of chopped garlic to cook, then add crushed red pepper, white balsamic vinegar, olive oil and stone ground dijon mustard). It was all very tasty.

But nothing compared to last night's dinner, in my opinion. We made Quinoa and Pistachio Salad with Moroccan Pesto with chickpeas and had whole wheat pita on the side. It was SO delicious. It was a little wet which worked nicely with the pita, it held together a little bit so we could scoop it up with the bread. But I think you could probably leave out a little bit of the liquid. Also it is easily veganized by substituting vegetable broth for chicken. Highly highly highly recommend!

Quinoa and Pistachio Salad with Moroccan Pesto


Quinoa [KEEN-wah] is a quick-cooking whole grain supplying protein, iron, and vitamin E. (One of my absolute favorite go to ingredients!) Pair this side dish with simple grilled chicken or fish. For a vegetarian entrée option, use organic vegetable broth and add one (15 1/2-ounce) can of rinsed, drained chickpeas to ramp up the protein. (We added the chickpeas but still used the chicken broth and had this as the main course with a side of pita) Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 3/4 cup) (For us this was 2 entrees and 1 lunch [excellent leftover too!]) Cooking Light, JULY 2009

1 red bell pepper (I would probably use 2 next time)
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup fresh orange juice (this is about 2 medium oranges worth of juice if you are going to fresh squeeze like I did)
1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
12 oil-cured olives, pitted and chopped (I used 13 kalamata and i think next time I will use a few more)
1/4 cup chopped pistachios
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1. Preheat broiler. (We grilled the pepper on Monday so I didn't do this step.)

2. Cut red bell pepper in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Place pepper halves, skin sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet; flatten with hand. Broil 12 minutes or until blackened. Place in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand for 10 minutes. Peel and chop. (Monday we grilled the pepper and then I put it in the fridge until last night. I didn't peel it because I forgot Monday and it was too hard last night but it didn't seem to make a difference)

3. Place quinoa, broth, 1/2 cup water, and juice in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 12 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. (It took a bit longer and the liquid was never fully absorbed but worked lovely!)

4. Place cilantro and next 7 ingredients (through garlic) in a food processor; process until smooth. Combine bell pepper, quinoa mixture, cilantro mixture, and olives in a large bowl. Sprinkle with nuts. (I made the "pesto" and then mixed it with the chopped pepper, olives, nuts and chickpeas and then added the quinoa when it was finished. I let it stand about 5-10 minutes before serving so it wasn't quite so hot.)

CALORIES 263 ; FAT 15.8g (sat 2.2g,mono 8.3g,poly 2.4g); CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 36mg; CARBOHYDRATE 28.2g; SODIUM 318mg; PROTEIN 5.8g; FIBER 4g; IRON 3.3mg