quinoa with grilled sweet corn & red onions {farmers market finds}

A dinner featuring a few farmers market finds. Iowa sweet corn (grown in Muscatine), red onions (grown by a lady I work out with) and basil (from my garden) are combined with quinoa that is drizzled with a honey lemon vinaigrette that highlights locally produced honey.

Quinoa with Grilled Sweet Corn & Red Onions
Inspired by a recipe posted on Iowa Girl Eats a few weeks back, I made a few minor adjustments to suit our tastes and produce on hand.



You'll need::

• 1/4 cup coconut milk*
• 1.5 cups vegetable broth*
• 3/4 cup rinsed quinoa
• 2 ears sweet corn
• 1 small red onion
• coconut oil
• salt and pepper

To prepare::

• In a saucepan, bring the coconut milk, vegetable broth and quinoa to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. *Alternatively you could use 1.75 cups of water.
• Preheat your grill to medium-high
• Lightly brush the corn and onions with coconut oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on grill and cook about 2 minutes per side. Watch closely as you really just want to cook the corn and onion slightly, giving them nice char marks.
• Remove from heat and set aside until cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile, prepare the dressing.

You'll need::

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon minced basil (I would use more next time!)
• 1 clove garlic - minced
• 1 tablespoon honey
• salt and pepper to taste

To prepare::

• Combine all ingredients (except salt and pepper) in a small jar. Cover and shake vigorously until combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

When corn and onion are cool enough to handle - remove kernels from the corn cob and chop onions into medium-sized chunks. To remove the kernels from the cob, lay the ear of corn on a cutting board and slice strips off, rotating the cob as you go. 

Stir the corn, onion and dressing into the quinoa, top with some basil and serve!

Even your husband who is a self described "hater of all things lemon" will gobble it up, help himself to another bowl, and quietly declare that maybe, just maybe his taste-buds are maturing, and maybe, he might actually like lemon. But just maybe.