Final recipe from our week trying out Ottolenghi’s Plenty More cookbook!
Quinoa porridge does not sound appealing, but as you basically cook it as polenta it gets a fabulous and very satisfying consistency!
Although quinoa is not likely to become a favorite ingredient of mine, this recipe surely comes into the realm of comfort food. Rich from the butter and feta and – as always with Ottolenghi – the flavors are cranked up to 11: the fresh herb oil also packs some heat and goes so well with the feta chunks, while the pan-roasted tomatoes are bursting with flavor too. Everybody loved it and therefore (barely) served 4.
The recipe
For the herb oil
- 1 green chili pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
- 15g / ½ cup parsley leaves
- 15g / ½ cup mint leaves
- ½ tsp salt
- 120ml / ½ cup olive oil
For the quinoa porridge
- 250g / 8oz quinoa
- 1 liter/ 4 cups of vegetable stock
- 30g / 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 10g / 1/3 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 100g / 3oz feta, crumbled into chunks of about 1 cm / ½ inch
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 250g / 8oz baby plum tomatoes
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 10g / 1/3 cup mint leaves, chopped
- To make the herb oil, place all the ingredients in a small bowl of a food processor and blitz to make a thick, yet smooth sauce.
- In a medium saucepan bring the quinoa and the stock to a boil. Then reduce the heat to keep at a simmer for about 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally until reaching a porridge-like consistency.
- While the quinoa is bubbling away, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over high heat. When the oil is hot, add the baby plum tomatoes to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally so that all the sides of the tomatoes get some good charring.
- Add the garlic slices and cook for 1 minute so that it turns golden brown without burning. Transfer everything to a bowl and sprinkle over the salt.
- When the quinoa porridge is done, fold in the butter until it melts, then combine with the chopped parsley and feta, making sure the feta chunks stay intact.
- Chop the mint leaves and fold them into the tomatoes
- Spoon the quinoa porridge into shallow bowls or soup plates, top with the roasted tomatoes, drizzle over the herb oil, and serve immediately.
Suggested tweaks:
In the above recipe, I slightly tweaked the olive oil content to get a better consistency of the herb oil. The kids would have preferred parmesan over feta cheese, but I’d say: use both and grate some extra parmesan to finish the dish.
Verdict: 9/10, Will definitely be made again.
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