Twice Roasted Vegetables with Quinoa

Roasted fresh vegetables with quinoa, topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

On weekdays, I follow the VB6 Diet by Mark Bittman of The New York Times. VB6 stands for "Vegetarian Before 6 pm," and this is what I try to do from Mondays till Fridays. Weekends are my cheat days when I eat almost anything, but in moderation.

One of the best vegetarian dishes I ever tasted was at the Pump Room at the city of Bath, on a recent visit to the United Kingdom.  It was very simple but delicious! I ordered this dish as a main course and here, I've tried to replicate it at home.

It's a very healthy dish, what with the vegetables, as well as the quinoa, which can substitute for rice. Thus, with this dish, you don't need to eat rice at all, because it's very healthy and filling. You can also make it a tasty side dish for meat.

This recipe also includes how to cook quinoa.

TWICE ROASTED VEGETABLES WITH QUINOA

Serves 6

Note: I roast the vegetables twice, as I don't want them soggy. They are first roasted as a single layer on a baking sheet to dry them out (especially for water absorbing vegetables like zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, etc), then mixed together and roasted again in a deep dish, during which I add the cooked quinoa. I find that when I mix all of them in a dish and roast them, some of the watery vegetables "weep," making the dish wet. I personally like this a bit dry, but if you do not mind it wet, just roast once.

Ingredients:

2 yellow or red bell peppers (I like red and yellow paprika the most, because of their sweeter taste, vs green paprika), cut into chunks. (For presentation purposes, you can reserve half a bell pepper to put on top of the dish.)

1 zucchini, cut crosswise, like coins
1/4 of a pumpkin, cut into wedges
2 stalks celery, cut into 1" pieces

1 large onion, cut crosswise and lengthwise, into chunks

1 small head of broccoli, florets separated and stalks trimmed (I like to trim the stalks and discard the hard, outer layer. The inside of the stalks is just as edible!)

1/2 quinoa, cooked in 1 cup water
10 pieces baby corn, cut in fourths, lengthwise

1/2 lemon, rind and juice

salt, pepper and chili flakes, to taste

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (from the block, not from that green plastic bottle!)
fresh chives, for garnish
1 tablespoon oil or herbed butter 

Procedure:

1.  Cut the vegetables and lay them onto a baking pan. Drizzle with olive oil, and broil them in the oven, positioning your rack on the upper third of the oven. Roast until the vegetables are softened and the edges turn a bit dark.

2.  Grease a deep dish with oil. Put the roasted vegetables and season with salt, pepper and chili flakes. Mix well.  Put the paprika halves on top of the vegetables, if using.

3. Rinse the quinoa in water. Drain. Cook the quinoa by heating oil or the herbed butter in a pan. When the pan is hot, put in the quinoa and toast it until a bit brown.  

Pour the water and stir frequently, until it is cooked and water is fully absorbed. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Cover.

Tip 1:  Herbed butter - whenever I have left over herbs, I chop them up and put them in a plastic container with some softened butter. This preserves the herbs and I can use the herbed butter for a lot of other recipes.  It's an excellent way to keep your herbs fresh and preventing wastage.

Chopped left over herbs (these are rosemary) in softened butter. 

Tip 2: You can cook quinoa two ways.  One is just to boil it with water and the other is to toast it first, then boil it in water (like the process described above).  Quinoa is cooked when you can see an "eye" in each grain, surrounded by a translucent ring. 

This is quinoa that's not quite done yet. The opaque "eye" is still there. It is cooked when that eye is no longer visible.

4. Spoon the quinoa into the vegetables and mix well. Roast again for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are browned in the edges. Top with chopped, fresh chives, the lemon rind and lemon juice.

You may also present this dish individually, by putting the vegetables in a bowl, and topping it with the paprika half (just like in the first picture above.) Grate parmesan on top. Enjoy!

Other vegetables you can use for this dish: French beans, pumpkin, cherry tomatoes, Brussels sprouts...the possibilities are endless!