Author Notes
Desperate to stem the tide of fresh veggies accumulating in my fridge, I decided to get busy with a hearty, vegetarian main course. Drawing on memories of deensiebats' kale and quinoa one pot dish as well as from some zucchini feta fritters I made recently, this delicious dish emerged.
The quinoa is "greened" with leeks, scallions and kales while the dressing is a whipped feta-yogurt sauce "herbed" with mint, parsley and dill. My husband, a card-carrying carnivore, didn't even seem to notice the complete absence of meat. I served this with my caramelized fennel with leeks, orange and coriander sugar, and what was left of boulangere's savory cheese boule. Fantastic!! —em-i-lis
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Ingredients
- For the greened quinoa
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1¼ cups
quinoa
-
½ teaspoons
salt
-
2 cups
chicken broth or water (or a combo)
-
1 tablespoon
butter
-
2 tablespoons
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
-
2
large garlic cloves, peeled and slivered
-
4
small leeks, washed, halved lengthwise and sliced crosswise
-
1
scallion, sliced into thin rings
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2
big handfuls baby kales (or the equivalent of regular kale) washed and coarsely chopped
-
4 tablespoons
fresh dill, chopped
-
salt and pepper
- For the herbed feta-yogurt dressing
-
1 cup
Greek-style yogurt
-
¼ cups
good quality feta, crumbled
-
2 tablespoons
fresh mint, chopped
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2 tablespoons
fresh dill, chopped
-
2 tablespoons
fresh parsley, chopped
-
2-3 tablespoons
water
-
1 tablespoon
extra-virgin olive oil
-
¼ teaspoons
salt
-
freshly ground pepper
Directions
-
Make the quinoa: Combine the quinoa, salt and broth/water in a 2 qt saucepan, bring to a boil and cook until quinoa is done, about 15 mins. Drain quinoa.
-
Make the greens: In a 10? skillet, heat 1 T butter and 2 T olive oil until butter is melted. Add the garlic, leeks and scallion and cook 4-5 minutes, until softened. Add the kale and dill and cook until kale is nicely wilted and cooked through. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.
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Add the drained quinoa to the greens mixture and stir to combine. Drizzle remaining 2 tsp olive oil over the top.
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Make the dressing: In a deep bowl or measuring cup, put yogurt, feta, mint, remaining dill, parsley, water and olive oil. Using an immersion blender (hand mixer), blend until combined and whipped. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
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Add about half of the dressing to the quinoa-greens mixture and stir to combine. Serve. (Reserve the remaining dressing for another use. It makes a great dip.)
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