Quinoa Stuffed Mushrooms
Servings: 4
One of my favourite meatless Monday meals, these Quinoa Stuffed Mushrooms are really tasty and quite simple to make. Plant powered nourishment!
Ingredients
For the stuffed mushrooms:
- 135 g quinoa (¾ cups)
- 8 large portobello or field mushrooms -stalks removed and set aside
- ½ red onion/s (small) finely diced
- 30 g baby spinach - or kale leaves, finely chopped (approx. handful)
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves -picked off the stalks (or 1 teaspoon of dried)
- 100 g feta cheese -or goats curd, crumbled
- 60 g walnuts (½ cup) roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp chia seeds (optional)
For the dressing (optional):
- 1 clove/s garlic -unpeeled (roasted with the mushrooms)
- 1 lemon/s -(small) zest and 2 tablespoons of juice
- 60 ml extra virgin olive oil -extra virgin (4 tbsp)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180º C/350°F (fan-forced).
- Rinse the quinoa in a fine sieve really well for at least 1 minute (this removes the bitter saponins from the quinoa). If you have time to soak the quinoa in water with a splash of apple cider vinegar (for up to 12 hours) this will improve its digestibility. Cook the quinoa by placing it into a pot with 1½ cups of water.
- Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, then decrease the heat a bit to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook uncovered until the quinoa has absorbed all of the water, about 10 to 12 minutes.
- Remove the pot from heat, cover, and let the quinoa steam for 5 minutes. This step gives the quinoa time to pop open and the little white spiral to appear. After 5 minutes, remove the lid and fluff the quinoa with a fork.
- Chop the mushrooms stalks up and combine in a bowl with the quinoa, onion, spinach or kale and thyme leaves.
- Now mix through the feta or goats curd. Taste and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Spoon onto the mushrooms, pressing it into place and then top with the walnuts and sprinkle with the chia seeds.
- Place them in a baking tray with the whole clove of garlic and roast for 20 minutes.
- For the dressing mix together the zest, lemon juice and olive oil, and once cooked, squeeze out the soft centre of the roasted garlic and mix into the dressing.
Serve
- With rocket and a drizzle of dressing.
Make-ahead
- Re-heat in a low oven until just hot.
Store
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge.