Last weekend I headed to Buffalo for a long weekend with my college friends. We had an excellent time, but ate a bit too much unhealthy food. When I got home I wanted something lighter but full of veggies and great taste. This chicken is tangy and juicy while the quinoa offers a great crunch.
For the quinoa I finely chopped half of a white onion and sautéed it in a tbs of olive oil for about 3 minutes before adding my (rinsed) quinoa to toast. I let it toast for about 5 minutes before adding my broth. I sadly forgot to get stock at the store, so I made this on the fly with what I had on hand. I used 4 cups water (quinoa cooks at a 2:1 ratio of water:quinoa) 1 tbs cumin, 1/2 tsp cayenne, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp black pepper and 1/2 tsp kosher salt. If you have stock (chicken or veggie) you can still use the spices just omit the salt!
Once I added my broth I brought it to a boil, covered an reduced to simmer for 20 minutes. I then finely chopped half of a red, orange and yellow bell pepper, minced 2 Jalapeños and chopped up a handful of cilantro. Once the quinoa had simmered 20 minutes I turned off the heat and stirred in the veggies. I wanted to keep the crunch and raw flavor of the peppers so I didn’t really cook them in the quinoa just stirred them in to warm them up.
While my quinoa had been simmering I made my chicken. First is a bowl mix together olive oil, stone ground mustard (this time I used horseradish mustard with good results), fresh chopped Rosemary, salt and pepper.
Spread this onto each side of your chicken before cooking. Add it to a hot grill and cook until the center is no longer pink and juices run clear, about 6 minutes per side.
While the chicken cooked I made my sauce. 3 tbs light mayo, 1 tbs stone ground mustard and 1 tbs water. I served it with the hot chicken and quinoa.
