Quinoa Paella

 

A local restaurant in Michigan serves an incredible Vegetarian Paella plated along side a 1/4-1/2 slice of Acorn Squash.  It's the perfect amount of sweet and salty mix.  I found a recipe on VegWeb.com and modified it to my liking and added a little soy butter and brown sugar to the squash.  The restaurant's version uses rice but since I just purchased a jumbo sized bag of Quinoa from Cost-Co, I thought I should try to make a dent in it. I actually like the texture better than rice in this dish.  You can swap out any veggies you would like, the restaurant's version included green beans.
Quinoa Paella (adapted recipe from Vegweb.com) 

    3 tablespoons olive oil

    1 red or yellow onion,   sliced

    1/2 red and green bell pepper, chopped

    as many cloves of garlic as you have in the  kitchen, minced or chopped

    1/2 teaspoon paprika

    1/2 teaspoon turmeric

    1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder

    1-2 bay leaves (optional)

    1 3/4 cup quinoa, rinsed

    1 15 oz. can pinto beans

    a pinch of saffron

    1/2 cup sherry

    2 1/4 cups vegetable stock

    a generous handful of cherry tomatoes,

    3/4 cup frozen peas

    lemon slices

    Acorn Squash for accompaniment

Acorn Squash on side:  Slice Squash in half, fill casserole dish with water.

Place squash upside down in water and cook at 350 degrees until soft, approximately 20-25 min.  Dab with butter and a little brown sugar and serve with Paella.

Directions:

Heat the oil (3 Tablespoons, or however much you like to use) in a large, wide skillet (preferably nonstick). Saute the onions on medium heat until soft, then add the peppers, again cooking until the vegetables begin to soften.

While this is cooking, combine the spices in a measuring cup. Stir the garlic into the pan, then add the bay leaves and mixed spices after a minute or two. Add the quinoa and cook for two minutes, stirring. Next add the saffron and sherry, and allow to simmer for a moment. Add the vegetable stock and salt, and reduce the heat to low.

Cover the pan and allow the ingredients to simmer for 20-25 minutes, without stirring. You may want to check on it periodically to make sure the quinoa doesn't dry out.

After 20-25 minutes, when quinoa seems tender enough, remove the pan from the heat, and sprinkle the tomatoes and peas , and cover again. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then serve with lemon slices.