I hope you had a chance to try the first two recipes I posted for this series. As you know, I believe part of feeding the soul is feeding your body with good food. I also hope this encourages you to get in the kitchen and start cooking for yourself if this is something you don’t do. Don’t worry it’s not about being perfect. It does take time to fully know your way around the kitchen. The more you practice the better you will get at it.
I am sure in no time you will come up with your own recipes or even variations to the recipes I have provided you with. Please share! I would love to share one of your recipes!
Since, it’s winter in Canada – it’s super cold y’all. I decided to make some comfort food. This is my spin on a tradtional Italian dish. I am not a huge fan of rice believe it or not. Even as a child I hated it and would tell my mother to keep it away. The reason? I have no answer for you. I do eat it every now and then if I am out at a dinner. Other than that, unless it’s in the form of a gluten free pasta you won’t see rice on my personal menu.
I thought a great substitute would be quinoa. Not only is it high in protein and iron it also contains a lot of great minerals and vitamins such as phosphorus, saponin and vitamins A & C.
For this recipe I used red royal quinoa by Pure Organic Foods. You can use whatever type of quinoa you prefer.
INGREDIENTS
1/2 pound of sliced cremini mushrooms
1/2 pound of sliced portabello
1/2 pound of sliced shittake
sea salt and peper to taste
1 cup of quinoa
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of finely chopped garlic
2 1/2 cups of low sodium organic vegetable soup broth (or whatever your prefer)
1/3 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese.
2 cups of cleaned deshelled, deveined shrimp (or as many as you want to cook, this is optional)
1 teaspoon of organic butter
FIRST: Give your quinoa a good soak early morning so it’s ready to cook at dinner. Soak it in 2 cups of warm water and a squeeze of lemon juice.
WHY SOAK?
Soaking aids in the breaking down of proteins found in this grain. This method should also be applied when cooking grains such as millet and amaranth. You can read more about this here.
When you are ready to cook your risotto rinse the quinoa over a strainer with warm water and then set it aside.
THE SHRIMP
COOK in a medium non-stick pan or cast iron pan heat 1 teaspoon of butter over medium heat. ADD shrimp and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until ready, pink on both sides. You can do this while making the risotto since it does take some time. Once cooked remove from heat and set aside.
THE RISOTTO
BOIL 2 1/2 cups of broth on low heat. Once it begins to boil remove from heat and set aside.
COOK in a large cast iron pan or large non-stick skillet heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.
SAUTÉ mushrooms until golden brown. ADD garlic and cook for less than a minute.
ADD quinoa and a pinch of salt/pepper sauté and mix together. You want the ingredients to be nicely combined to soak up the flavours; approximately 1 to 2 minutes.
ADD one cup of broth and gently stir, once broth is fully absorbed add the remaining broth (1 1/2 cups). Stir and cook until all the broth is absorbed. Quinoa should be fully cooked at this stage.
ADD parmesan and stir. Remove pan from heat while doing this.
You can mix in the cooked shrimp at this stage or place it on top and serve.
Please let me know how it goes.
This dish is super yummy and once you get rolling you will see that it’s not all that complicated.
