Roasted Veggies with Parsley-Cilantro Quinoa

Roasted Veggies with Parsley-Cilantro Quinoa

Yield: 6-8 servings

Prep: 10 min

Cook: 40 min

Ready: 50 min

Ingredients

• 1 large eggplant, cubed

• 1 large zucchini, cubed

• 5 roma tomatoes, sliced thick

• 2 large handfuls spinach

• 1/2 cup kalamata olives

• 1 small red onion, chopped

• 4 cloves garlic, diced

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• 2 handfuls of fresh basil

• salt and pepper to taste

• 2 cups vegetable stock

• 1 cup of quinoa

• 1 1/2 cup chopped parsley

• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

• Pomegranate vinaigrette

• 1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds

Instructions

1. An hour ahead of time, slice the eggplant. Then salt both sides of each slice, and set aside allowing the eggplant to sweat out its bitterness.

2. Preheat the oven to 400. You'll be roasting the veggies on a large baking sheet, in stages, for a total of 40 minutes. All of the veggies need to be tossed with olive oil and well seasoned before placing in the oven. Start with the roma tomatoes and red onion. After 20 minutes, add the garlic, eggplant and zucchini. After another 5 minutes, add the olives. Finally, after another 5 minutes, add the spinach in a separate pan. If done in this order, all of the veggies should be ready at the same time.

3. Meanwhile when the veggies are roasting, prepare the quinoa. In a medium saucepan, add the quinoa and 1 1/4 cups of the chicken stock. Bring this to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, allowing the quinoa to soak up the stock.

4. In a blender, add the remaining 3/4 cup stock and chopped herbs and blend to a rough sauce. Add this to the quinoa and allow it to reduce over a medium heat. Also, toast the sunflower seeds for 2-3 minutes in an ungreased skillet over high heat.

5. To serve, toss the quinoa with the eggplant, zucchini, garlic, spinach. Garnish with the tomatoes, onion, olives, sunflower seeds and pomegranate vinaigrette.