Bruchetta Quinoa Casserole

I love to try new recipes and thanks to this blog, I rarely ever want to make the same thing twice. Only the really awesome or the really good/easy recipes get to be repeats.

I have always been afraid of falling into  that deep dark place where meals are on a two week rotation. You know the drill…the same 14 dishes over and over and over again.

My husband and I grew up with similar meal rotations and because of that we each have meals that we would just assume never eat again. He hates spaghetti. I hate any form of hamburger helper.

It is no surprise that I love to try new things and I have been impatiently wanting to try quinoa…but I kept putting it off not knowing how it would be received by C.J. However, when I found this recipe for bruschetta quinoa casserole, I came to the conclusion that this recipe might be a good first quinoa experience.

I absolutely LOVED it! It was easy, the ingredients are fresh, and it tasted amazing. C.J. ate it…but we are going to test out some more quinoa recipes. I say that it is a good start!

If you have tried quinoa, what are some good recipes? If you haven’t ever had quinoa, this recipe is a must try!

 

Ingredients 

• 2 ½ cups cooked quinoa (about 1 cup of uncooked quinoa)
• 1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, one minced and one halved
• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella, divided
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, divided
• Ground black pepper to taste
• Handful fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
• Balsamic vinegar (optional)

Instructions 

1. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C) and place a rack in the middle.
2. Rub a 8×8 baking dish with the halved garlic pieces and coat with one tablespoon of olive oil. Set aside.
3. Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute’ for 5 minutes, until translucent. Add ½ teaspoon of salt and garlic and saute’ for one further minute, until everything is fragrant.
4. Stir in tomato sauce and heat to a gentle simmer, this takes just a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and carefully take a taste, and adjust with seasoning.
5. Stir in Parmesan cheese and set aside.
6. In a dry non-stick pan over medium-high heat, toast quinoa with red pepper flakes, oregano and a pinch of black pepper for 2 minutes. Set aside.
7. In a large bowl combine toasted quinoa, tomato sauce, half of the mozzarella, half of the cherry tomatoes, half of the basil leaves and ½ teaspoon of salt.
8. Transfer quinoa mixtures to the baking dish, top with remaining cherry tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.
   Bake for 15 to 20 minutes and then turn on the broiler and broil for 2 minutes until cheese is bubbly.
9. Remove from the oven, let sit for 5 minutes, sprinkle with remaining basil, lightly drizzle with balsamic vinegar and serve.

Enjoy!