Quinoa with broccoli, cauliflower and toasted coconut

Today it was finally grilling weather again, and unlike some years where it’s been warm enough to grill but the patio was still snowbound, this time Dave didn’t have to shovel a path to unearth the grill from a snowy mound. 

Quinoa with Broccoli, Cauliflower and Toasted Coconut

Adapted from “Marcus Off Duty: The Recipes I Cook at Home,” by Marcus Samuelsson, whom locals count as an honorary Minnesotan given his time here at Aquavit and his Scandinavian roots. This book purports to be what the chef cooks when he’s offline, so to speak. Several of the recipes still look like they take a bit of a time commitment, but this one came together in about the time it took the lump charcoal to heat up and the main dish to cook. (Samuelsson offers music to cook to options in each section; it’s a possibly cheesy device, and now I’ve got a song by The Time running through my head, but every book needs a good gimmick.)

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa

1½ cups water

½ cup coconut milk

½ cup small broccoli florets

½ cup small cauliflower florets

1 medium carrot, peeled and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

4 green onions, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon ground ginger (or 1 tablespoon minced fresh)

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 tomatoes, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh marjoram or oregano

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper or hot red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons coconut flakes, toasted in a dry skillet until golden

Method

Combine quinoa, water, coconut milk and ½ teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook until liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Add broccoli and cauliflower and cook for 2 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and set aside. Add carrot to pan and boil for 1 minute. Drain and add to other vegetables. (You’re aiming for barely threatened vegetables, not cooked all the way through.)

Heat olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add celery, green onions, ginger and garlic. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring often. Add pepper flakes, boiled vegetables, tomatoes and herbs. Stir to combine and season with salt and pepper.

Spoon quinoa into a large bowl and fluff with a fork. Stir in vegetable and coconut flakes. Serve hot, or at room temperature.

Rating: A quite nice side dish to accompany grilled food, or it could make a standalone main dish.  (The recipe says it serves 4, and if it’s the main course, that might be about right. Otherwise I’d say it serves 6 or more as a side dish.) Very colorful, and nicely textured since the veggies retain a hint of crispness. I used sweetened coconut and hot red pepper flakes because that’s what I had on hand. The contrast between the heat and the sweetness of the two kind of flakes really made this dish work, so I think I’d opt for the sweet kind anyway. He uses mint in the original recipe, which naturally I did not do since I think it’s nature’s attempt to make me very ill, but any bright herb could work.