Qui... What?... Quinoa and quinori, of course

Every time I enter my local health store, I get an irresistible urge to buy all sorts of stuff that I can't normally find at the supermarkets.
On one of those trips, and after having read a lot about quinoa, I bought several packages: (regular, white) quinoa, red quinoa, tri-colored (red, black and white) quinoa, and this mixture called quinori, that looked quite interesting. It is a mix of red quinoa (30%), white quinoa, partially cooked whole grain rice, crushed chickpeas and sesami seeds.
Now, you can imagine, not everybody in my family shares my love for healthy and different food, so I mostly cook it for lunch when I'm alone at home. And this stuff lasts...
The other day I found an interesting recipe for Quinoa burger. It looked so inviting, I made them within a few days, and they were gorgeous. Even my husband loved them ("Qui... what? Never mind, they are very good").
I'll definitely make them again, and then share the recipe with you.
The idea to develop the recipe furtherly, however, brought me to create this dish using the above mentioned quinori mixture and adding some more vegetables like broccoli. And instead of making patties and frying them in a skillet, I made one dish that could be baked and therefore a little bit healthier. Of course, if you don't have quinori, but quinoa is available to you, you can sub that, and also use your imagination and tastes to add various other ingredients, like different vegetables or spices of your choice. I'm thinking of adding some mushrooms to the broccoli, for example.
It is an ovo-lacto vegetarian and also gluten-free dish.
If you often get tired of eating meat, like me, this is an excellent alternative.

Quinori and broccoli dish
(2 servings)

1/2 cup quinori
50 g ricotta cheese
25 g feta cheese
25 g grated Parmigiano cheese
1 egg
1 scallion (green onion)
1 carrot
1 small head of broccoli
gomasio (or salt), pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Put the quinori into a fine mesh sieve and rinse well under running water.
Put it in a saucepan with twice as much water (1 cup), bring to a boil and cook covered for about 15 minutes on moderate heat, until almost all water has been absorbed. Let it cool completely.
Divide the broccoli head into small florets and cook them for not more than 5 minutes in a pot of boiling, salted water. Drain and set aside.
Lightly whisk the egg in a mixing bowl, add all three types of cheese, the ricotta, the crumbled feta and the grated parmigiano.
Mix well and then stir in the finely grated carrot, finely chopped scallion and the cooked quinori. Season to taste, with ground gomasio (or salt) and pepper.
Mix everything to get a relativly smooth mixture.
Line a small baking dish (mine was 18x14 cm) with wet (well squeezed) baking paper, drizzled with EVOO.
Spread half of the quinori mixture on the bottom of the dish, top it with the broccoli florets, and finish with the rest of the quinori and cheese mixture.
Drizzle with a little EVOO and sprinkle with sesami seeds.
Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C for about 25-30 minutes.
Serve warm with a salad of your choice, and a light sauce like tzatziki.

Sformato di quinori e broccoli
(per 2 persone)


1/2 tazza di quinori
50 g di ricotta
25 g di feta
25 g di parmigiano grattugiato
1 uovo
1 cipollotto
1 carota
1 piccolo broccolo
gomasio (o sale), pepe
olio extra vergine d'oliva


Mettete il quinori in un colino a maglie fitte e sciaquatelo sotto l'acqua corrente.
Cuocetelo aggiungendo 1 tazza di acqua per 15 minuti, coperto a fuoco moderato, finché si sarà asciugata quasi tutta l'acqua. Lasciatelo raffreddare.
Staccate le cimette dei broccoli dal loro fusto, quindi lavatele e lessatele per 5 minuti in acqua salata, quindi scolatele.
In una ciotola sbattete leggermente l'uovo e mescolatelo con la ricotta, il parmigiano grattugiato e il feta sbriciolato.
Unite al composto di uovo e formaggi la carota grattugiata, il cipollotto tagliato finemente e il quinori freddo. Mescolate bene e condite con il gomasio (o sale) e pepe.
In una pirofila (la mia era 18x14 cm), coperta con la carta da forno, bagnata e strizzata bene, e poi unta con un po' di olio EVO, stendete metà del composto di quinori.
Distribuite i broccoli divisi in cimette piccolissime, e coprite con il resto del composto di quinori.
Cospargete la superficie con un filo d'olio e i semi di sesamo.
Infornate per circa 25-30 minuti nel forno preriscaldato a 180°C.
Servite lo sformato caldo accompagnandolo con l'insalata a piacere, ma anche con una salsina tipo tzatziki.


QUINORI e una miscela di quinoa rossa, quinoa bianca, riso integrale precotto, ceci e semi di sesamo. Potete comprarlo nei negozi di NaturaSì.

Složenac od quinorija i brokule
(za 2 osobe)
1/2 šalice (125 ml) quinorija
50 g ricotte
25 g fete
25 g naribanog parmezana
1 jaje
1 mladi luk
1 mrkva
1 mala glavica brokule
gomasio (ili sol), papar
ekstra djevičansko maslinovo ulje


Stavite quinori u gusto cjedilo i isperite pod mlazom vode. Stavite ga u posudu za kuhanje i dodajte dvostruku količinu vode (1 šalicu). Kuhajte poklopljeno na laganoj vatri oko 15 minuta, dok se skoro sasvim ne osuši. Ostavite da se ohladi.
Brokulu podijelite na cvatiće i kuhajte 5 minuta u ključaloj, malo posoljenoj vodi. Ocijedite je.
Pomiješajte u zdjeli malo razmućeno jaje s ricottom, parmezanom i namrvljenom fetom.
Dodajte smjesi sitno naribanu mrkvu, sitno nasjeckan mladi luk i ohlađeni quinori. Dodajte gomasio (ili sol ako ga nemate) i popaprite po ukusu.
Obložite dno vatrostalne posude (moja je 18x14 cm) navlaženim i dobro ocijeđenim papirom za pečenje. Nauljite dno pa rasporedite polovicu smjese od quinorija.
Preko nje rasporedite na što manje cvjetiće podijeljenu brokulu, a preko brokule ostatak smjese od quinorija.
Pospite s vrlo malo ulja i sjemenkama sezama (ja nisam, ali bilo bi bolje prvo ih malo popržiti nasuho u tavi) i zapecite oko 25-30 minuta u pećnici zagrijanoj na 180°C.
Poslužite toplo uz salatu po želji, i po želji uz umak poput tzatzikija.


QUINORI je mješavina crvene quinoe (30%), bijele quinoe, (djelomično kuhane) integralne riže, razlomljenog slanutka i sjemenki sezama.
Ako ne možete naći ovu mješavinu zamijenite je quinoom, koju sigurna sam možete naći u svim trgovinama zdrave hrane.