bok choy with mushrooms, tomatoes, and quinoa

i made an interesting dish on saturday.  it is my first time having bok choy, and i used baby bok choy.  4 of them to be exact.  i was trying to make the dish on the front of the april/may 2011 vegetarian times cover except with a few modifications.  and, since i don't have the recipe in front of me, i'm going to tell you what i did.

1.i put some EVOO in a large frying pan over medium heat.  to that, i added a pint of pre-sliced button mushrooms and 1/4 tsp of minced garlic.  while that was cooking, i sliced in half a half of a container of grape tomatoes (which were already clean from a week ago when i bought them). when i got done with the tomatoes, i put them in bowl and started chopping two shallots.when the mushrooms were brown (i wasn't done chopping shallots yet), i removed them from the fry pan into a bowl and put the cherry tomatoes in the frying pan, cut side down, for about 1 to 2 minutes. i finished chopping the shallots.  when the tomatoes were starting to brown, i put them in the bowl with the mushrooms.

2. i added a bit more EVOO to the pan and when it was hot, i added the diced shallots. when they were cooking, i gathered the rest of my ingredients - quinoa and vegetable broth. after 2 to 3 minutes, i added 8 oz plus 1/4 cup of water and then 1 cup of quinoa, stirred, put the lid on the pan, and turned the burner down to low.

3.  while that was cooking, (remember i have no idea how to cook with bok choy), i sliced the ends off the bok choy and then cut them in half (semi-following the directions from the magazine).  when i cut the ends off, they fell apart.  i think you aren't supposed to chop the ends off.  after 10 minutes, i opened the quinoa, tasted it (added salt, it wasn't done yet), and laid the bok choy in  a spiral around the outside.  then, i poured the tomatoes and mushrooms in the middle.  it looked like the picture. 

4.  after 5 minutes, i turned the burner off and let it sit for 10 more minutes.

it makes 4 plates at about 200 calories each.  it will fill you up, and i didn't get hungry for anything else that evening because of the wonderful protein in quinoa.  i can't say that i'm a real fan of bok choy yet but it is supposed to be a "clenser" for your body.  so, i'll eat it. it doesn't really taste like anything.  i expected it to be more cabbage like.  i think brussel sprouts would be good on this, same for zucchini.  i think ginger would be good too, as for some cayenne and, well, more salt (but i am trying for less salt). 

as a side note, the quinoa is good cold, as mine has chilled as i've typed this.  quinoa is so yummy.  i think it is even better than rice.  quinoa cooked like this (with the shallots and mushrooms and veggie broth) reminds me of brown rice (not brown rice like the grain, but brown rice as in when it is white rice cooked in beef broth).

YUM!



in 5 more minutes, i turned the stove top off.