Quinoa, Take III

Yes, another quinoa recipe for Sweetnick's ARF Challenge this week.  Sorry, but I'm still not quinoa'd out.   Make sure to head over to there to check out the rest of the entries.  I'm sure there's lots of great stuff (there always is).

This dish started innocently enough with a search for "quinoa" and "blood oranges".  I came across the blog What We're Eating and this post describing a yummy looking salad.  I figured it shouldn't be too hard to recreate it so off I went.  I'm still not adept at creating salad dressings from scratch so I used this one from Emeril (cutting down on the oil though) thinking it should have enough kick to it to flavor the whole salad nicely. 

While, it looks nice and tastes good (and better the longer it sits), I still think my original quinoa attempt was the best and think I should just go back to making that for my quinoa fixes (maybe).

Quinoa with Blood Orange Vinaigrette
(Vinaigrette inspired by Emeril Lagasse)

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 small bulb fennel, diced plus 2 tablespoons of the leaves, chopped
• 2 jalapenos, diced
• 1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 cup red onion, diced
• Blood Orange Vinaigrette (follows)

1. Cook the quinoa in water according to package directions.  (Mine was cooked in a microwave rice cooker -- 5 minutes on high, 15 minutes on 50% power.)
2. Let the quinoa cool slightly and add the remaining ingredients.
3. Chill at least 4 hours or overnight.

Blood Orange Vinaigrette

Whisk together:

• 1/2 cup blood orange juice
• 1 tablespoon finely diced red onion
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste