Quinoa with Grilled Italian Sausage

Once completely foreign to me I have learned and come to love quinoa. It is super easy to cook and is quite versatile. When I have it ‘plain’ I stick a stock cube in the water to add a little flavour, and while I have a limited number of recipes starring quinoa, they are delicious so I keep making them again and again. One of these is Quinoa with grilled Italian sausage.

This recipe came from the Metro daily paper many many months ago and hung out on my dining room table like every other recipe I clip out. Originally it lists faro (a teeny tiny pasta) I couldn’t think of any reason why quinoa couldn’t be used instead (one could probably use a nice rice too). The annual General Meeting of the Ottawa Celiac Assoc was coming up and it’s always a potluck. It seemed like the perfect thing to take. It was so tasty that the last little grain of quinoa was gone from the doubled amount I had taken (pat on the back, thank you). It was so delicious that my mom and I picked up some more sausages later in the week to make more for our lunches – fabulous! As a side note: Check your sausages to make sure they are gluten-free. More and more of them are (Metro’s Butcher Shop brand are, Farm Boy is good to go, and many butcher shops carry the real deal – usually gf).

Quinoa with Grilled Italian Sausage

1 cup quinoa

4 Italian sausages

¼ cup olive oil

3 tbs lemon juice

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

6 tomatoes, diced

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped

2 green onions, diced

1 tbs chopped fresh oregano

1-2 tbs toasted sliced almonds

Cook quinoa in 2 cups of water (add half a gf stock cube to boost the flavour). Fluff it up and put aside to cool. Grill sausages then set aside to cool. When cool, quarter them lengthwise then slice width-wise. In small bowl whisk together olive oil, lemon juice and ground pepper. Put quinoa into a large bowl and power the olive oil mixture on top and stir in. Add cucumber, onion, sausage, oregano, feta, almonds and mix. Add tomatoes and gently mix again. Serve.

Original recipe called for plum tomatoes, but I found any kind worked. You can also play around with the quantity or ingredients adding more or less of any item you like.