Quinoa & Black Bean Salad

Thursday, May 5, 2011 - 
I've had this in my back pocket for quite sometime (okay really, I just forgot to post it and found it sitting there...waiting patiently.)  With all of the mache we've received from our CSA, hubs and I made fish tacos the first time around.  And when hubs said he wanted fish tacos, I happily agreed and quickly thought how great a black bean side would be as an accompaniment.  Had some quinoa in the pantry and decided to mix up with the two ingredients.

I sauteed some finely chopped white onion with about 4 cloves of garlic.  Once the onions were translucent, I added about 3/4 cup of quinoa.  Then, some cumin and cayenne pepper to the mix.  One this was all mixed up, I added about 2 cups of vegetable stock and let it come to a boil.  Then, the simmering began.

I was thinking maybe 15 minutes for this, but the quinoa was just tough for some reason.  I don't cook with quinoa very often, so I may have had the texture wrong, but I knew that I wanted it to be cooked a bit more.  It was soaking up the liquid like a rock star, so I kept adding 1/4 cup here, a 1/4 cup there until it was the texture I was looking for.  This lasted for about 30 minutes total, but it wasn't a big deal because I started it much earlier than everything else.  I guess my mind knew something it wasn't really telling me during the cooking process.

Once it was a good texture, I added two cans of rinsed black beans and cooked until everything was hot.  Added some cilantro (what was left - so only about a tablespoon, though it could have had more) and wild chives.

It made a lot of salad, let me tell you.  Plus, it was extremely filling.  All good things in my book.  There was enough for me to make a meal out of it the next day.  And to jazz it up, I added the leftover grilled nectarine salsa we had from our fish tacos the next day - it was delicious (and just as filling!)