v:gourmet

Adapted from Amy Chaplin’s At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen, this is a quick and easy recipe with a bit of heat and heartiness, that’s highly adaptable to whatever you happen to have in the fridge. Serve with some feta on top or not, a little gremolata, or extra harissa if you like the hit.

1 cup quinoa

1.5 cups water

Sea salt

2 peppers – red, orange or yellow – seeded, grilled, and cut into 1 ½ inch pieces

1/3 cup almonds

1/3 cup pine nuts

1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes

1 red onion, diced

3 tablespoons harissa

Juice of ½ a lemon

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

sea salt and pepper

Goat milk feta

Baby basil, or other, sprouts

Harissa

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

1 to 3 teaspoons cayenne pepper, depending on how hot you like it

1 clove garlic, crushed

Juice of half a lemon

Large pinch sea salt

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Place quinoa in a pot and cover with water and pinch of sea salt. Cover, place over high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn heat down to low and simmer until quinoa is cooked, about 15 – 20 minutes. Remove from heat, uncover, and set aside to cool.

For the harissa, warm a skillet over a medium flame and add the cumin, coriander and caraway seeds, toast for 3 minutes, shaking pan occasionally. Transfer into a spice grinder and grind until fine. Place ground spices in a bowl and add the cayenne, garlic, lemon juice and salt. Stir and then drizzle in the olive oil, stir until smooth. Set aside.

Meanwhile, brush peppers with olive oil and grill on a BBQ or roast in the oven. Once done, let cool and cut into bite size pieces.

Toast pine nuts and almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat until toasty brown and fragrant.

Place quinoa, peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, chopped onion, almonds and pine nuts, harissa, lemon juice, and cider vinegar in a bowl. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add additional harissa if you want more kick.

Transfer to a serving bowl; crumble feta, additional pine nuts, and sprouts on top if desired.