Toki has taken to endlessly chasing pieces of wood up and down the hallway and it is cute as balls. Unrelated, I made quinoa with broccoli pesto per Heidi’s instructions, and can I please take a moment to say that I’m in love with Heidi’s way of cooking? I recalled seeing ‘101 Cookbooks‘ on everyone’s blogroll, but only recently did I take a look. As my starch intake over the past week will attest, I’m not particularly committed to wholefoods, but I do love a good obscure grain, and broccoli and brussels sprouts, and wholemeal flour, and every recipe of Heidi’s that I’ve tried has been brilliant.
This is what it looked like. I still have some broccoli pesto left in my freezer.
Broccoli quinoa with pesto
Via 101 cookbooks. Serves 2-3
- 1 cup quinoa. I used red, and found it crunchy and delicious
- Two heads broccoli
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2/3 cup sliced or slivered almonds
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan
- Salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Rinse quinoa in a fine mesh strainer, put in a pan and cover generously with water. Add a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 15 minutes or so until cooked. Drain in the strainer and set aside.
Break the broccoli into small florets. Bring a large pan of salted water to boil and cook the broccoli until bright green and not-raw. Drain and rinse in cold water briefly. Transfer two thirds of the broccoli to a food processor along with garlic, almonds and parmesan and process until pulped. Drizzle in the olive oil as the processor runs.
Combine the leftover broccoli and quinoa in a bowl, then add as much pesto as you think is necessary. You’ll probably have some left over but that’s why the good lord invented freezers. Heidi served hers with sliced avocado and extra slivered almonds, but I forgot that part.
