Quinoa with Sundried Tomatoes, Basil and Shitake Mushrooms

Quinoa with Sundried Tomatoes,
Basil and Shitake Mushrooms

Here’s What You Need:

1 cup quinoa (I like to mix red, black and traditional all together)

1-1/4 cups water

A couple shakes of onion powder
1 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cube of no salt vegetable bouillon (I use Rapunzel)
salt for the water

3/4 cup soft sundried tomatoes, chopped (Potassium powerhouse, btw!)
2 Tbsp. butter

2 cloves garlic, minced 
1 small shallot, minced

6 shitake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
2 Tbsp. butter

6 - 8 large fresh basil leaves, julienned
Sea Salt (preferably Himalayan) and fresh ground pepper

Instructions:

In a medium sized pot, add the quinoa, water, onion powder, butter, bouillon and salt.  Bring to a boil, then turn the heat all the way down to low; simmer until all the water is gone (approximately 20 minutes).  If the water is gone but the quinoa looks too wet, remove the lid, fluff with a fork and continue to simmer with the lid off for another 10 minutes.  

While the quinoa is cooking, melt the 2 Tbsp. butter in a saute pan on medium-high heat; add the mushrooms and saute for approx. 2 minutes.  The butter will quickly disappear (mushrooms can suck up some liquid, can't they?!), and when it does, splash a bit (just a few tablespoons) of water into the pan and swish around.  Put the mushrooms into a small bowl and set aside.  

In that same pan that you just used for the mushrooms, heat the 2 remaining Tbsp. butter over medium-high heat; add the shallots and saute approx 2-3 minutes until slightly soft, then add the garlic and sundried tomatoes and saute 1-2 minutes more.  Remove from heat.  

Into a large serving bowl, scrape the sundried tomato mixture and add the reserved mushrooms.  Then add the quinoa and fold until really well blended.  Add the julienned basil last, season with salt and pepper.  

Serve drizzled with a good quality olive oil drizzle. 

Makes 3 servings.