Red quinoa pilaf and other red grain adventures

These days I’m seeing red everywhere: red quinoa, red rice, red lentils. They’re now the hot darlings instead of the redheaded stepchildren. But do they taste any better? Well, sometimes. And sometimes it’s just a more expensive way to buy something. But they do look pretty.

Cooked red rice has a nutty flavor and hefty texture

I like everything about red rice but the price. It’s got that nutty flavor that brown rice has, but it cooks in much less time and is less likely to try to boil over and make a mess of the stove. Nutrition-wise, it’s got lots going on, certainly a big step over the white variety, although slightly different from the brown-rice variety. A viable alternative to pretty up a recipe, if you can find it and stomach the price.

Uncooked, above, and cooked, top, red quinoa has the looks edge.

As for lentils, well sometimes you want green for the color, and sometimes you want red. For flavor, I kind of give the red a slight edge. Quinoa? I’m not sure I can tell that much difference flavorwise; the red I tried did seem to have a slightly better texture, but that might have been due as much to preparation method as its inherent nature.

Red harvest quinoa

Adapted from “Whole Grains: Easy Everyday Recipes” from Betty Crocker

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked quinoa (either red or white will do)

1 tablespoon butter

¼ cup chopped red onion

1/3 cup chopped celery

½ cup chopped apple

1½ cup stock

½ cup orange juice

½ cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

¼ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Method

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add quinoa, red onion, celery and apple. Cook for five minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add stock and orange juice. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over medium low heat for 15 to 20 minutes until liquid is absorbed and quinoa is tender. Fluff with a fork.

Stir in cranberries, nuts, salt and Parmesan. Garnish with parsley. Serves 8 pathetically, 4 generously, and makes 6 company-size servings.

Rating: Tasty, with a nice texture and good mix of flavors. There’s enough chew factor to let you know you’re eating something, without being overbearingly grainy. Definitely repeatable. The red quinoa makes this prettier than I suspect it would be with regular quinoa (can I even believe that’s a thing?), but either would work flavorwise.