Like a distant long forgotten voice from the beyond I return to vegetarian fork.
I don’t know what to chalk my absence up to – I suspect it’s because after all the new changes in our life I got an office job (hopefully the last time you hear me say that) and then Nick did too so we were kicked off into exploring the pleasures of eating out, watching shows to turn off ‘stress brain’ (are you familiar?), cramming life into a weekend. Horrible – well guess what, I quit! And I am cooking more already! Yesterday afternoon I made my first quinoa bake experiment. It was suuuper easy and it came out great – maybe because it was packed with cheesy goodness (sorry vegans!) or maybe because it was packed with the sweet, sweet taste of freedom!
Cheddar Courgette Quinoa Bake
- 1 small courgette, diced
- 1/4 onion, diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tsp herbes de provence
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- small block o’ cheddar, sliced
- parmesan crumbles, 1 tbsp
- salt and pepper
First off, grab a sieve and rinse, rinse, rinse that quinoa (this gets rid of that bitter taste quinoa can have sometimes). To cook, pour 1 cup of quinoa and 2 cups of stock in a saucepan. Heat to a boil, reduce to a low bubblin’ until absorbed. Do not cover (this will get you a fluffier quinoa versus soggy). When absorbed, stir, season and add some butter.
In a separate pan sauté onion and courgette. When they are lookin’ good (about 5-10 minutes) add in minced garlic and sprinkle in your french herbie hancocks and sauté for a couple minutes more. Throw in quinoa and give it a good stir and then remove from heat.
Get a dish and fill halfway with quinoa mixture and then layer on some slices of cheddar. Cover with the rest of quinoa mixture and finish with another layer of cheddar and your parmesan crumbles.
Bake for 15 minutes on 375F or until cheese begins to get lovely and golden. Serve!
Suggested accompaniments: a nice cucumber, tomato salad and a blob of cottage cheese – mmm!
