Quinoa with Roasted Vegetables

Blerg, it's Monday again. Did you have a good weekend? I think the weekends go by way too quickly for my liking. Well, I was given a challenge this week...to come up with not one, but two vegetarian recipes. I must say that when I am given a culinary challenge like this, I have to face it head on. This recipe was already on my mind when the challenge was presented. I have had roasted vegetables on the brain since I made my roasted carrots and parsnips a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to do something similar, but this time I chose a wider range of vegetables. At the farmers market yesterday, I picked up whatever looked interesting and threw it in the salad. While I was peeling and cutting up the vegetables, I thought maybe I wouldn't add the quinoa and just have a roasted vegetable salad, but you know, it never hurts to have more protein so I did the quinoa. At the last minute I decided to add some pan-roasted garlic to the dressing. I have never made pan-roasted garlic before, but it was easy to do. I think I prefer regular roasting, but the pan-roasted came out really good and sweet. For presentation purposes I spooned the vegetables on top of the quinoa, but by all means, go ahead and mix everything together. Also, I picked smaller vegetables (I think the butternut was about 12 ounces), but as long as you chop everything to about the same size, don't worry about how big the vegetables are. This can be changed up so many ways so go ahead and have fun with it. I got the garlic idea from my always trusty Good Housekeeping Cookbook. Everything else, was me. Enjoy!






Quinoa with Roasted Vegetables

Makes at least four servings

Vegetables:
1 12 ounce butternut squash, peeled and chopped
1 medium bundle asparagus, chopped
1 large parsnip, peeled and chopped
1 small bundle of carrots, peeled and chopped
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 large red onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Quinoa:
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
2 cups of water
Salt

Dressing:
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, minced
1-2 cloves pan roasted garlic (recipe follows)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Garlic:
(Adapted from the Good Housekeeping Step by Step Cookbook)
2 head garlic, separated into cloves, unpeeled
1/2 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons olive oil
Pinch of salt


To make the vegetables:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil. Toss the vegetables with the olive oil, salt, thyme, and pepper (the best tool are your hands). Arrange the vegetables on a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake for 40-50 minutes until fork tender, turning once halfway through.

To make the quinoa:
In a medium saucepan, add the quinoa to salted water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 12-14 minutes until the quinoa is cooked through. Fluff with a fork.

To make the garlic:
In a large saucepan, heat garlic cloves and 3 cups of water to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 15 minutes until garlic cloves are fork-tender. Drain. Cool garlic under cold running water; drain again.

Peel garlic cloves. In a large skillet, cook garlic, sugar, oil, and salt over medium-high heat, stirring and shaking skillet often, about 5 minutes until garlic cloves are glazed and browned.

To make the dressing:
Whisk everything together

To assemble the salad:
Mix the dressing and the quinoa. Add the vegetables and toss to combine.