Recipe: Quinoa Varnishkes with Mushrooms

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup minced shallots

1 8oz package of mushrooms

1 cup of quinoa

2 cups of beef stock

½ pound bow-tie pasta

¼ cup minced dill

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

Lo Note: The original recipe called for Kasha (roasted buckwheat groats) instead of quinoa as well as wild cremini mushrooms instead of the baby bellas you can find anywhere.  I used what I could find kids…I’m resourceful that way.

Directions:

1. Heat butter, add shallots and sauté for 6 to 8 minutes or until they begin to brown.  Add mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes or until tender. Remove pan from heat.

2. Bring stock to a boil. Add quinoa and cook until done.

3. While quinoa is cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add the pasta, a dash of salt and a dollop of olive oil. Cook until done. Reserve ½ cup of the pasta water when draining.

4. Combine the onion-mushroom mixture, cooked quinoa, cooked pasta, dill, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, ½ cup pasta water. Cook until liquid is absorbed.

I got the recipe from our Ina Garten book, “Cooking For Jeffrey.”  It’s a traditional Jewish recipe, which I was excited to make, as I’ve never made a Jewish dish before.  I had to can the kasha idea though, because it was difficult to find.  So I don’t know how Jewish it is anymore.  I’d still like to make it the way it was intended.  So I’ll have to keep an eye out for Kasha.

Anyway, I’d rate this as an easy recipe.  It also has a great reheat quotient. I think I’ll make this in the future as one of our trough meals.  We like to cook for the week on Sundays and this would be a great dish to have for lunch several days in a row.

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