Quinoa with Mandarin and Pistachios

Citrus is in season and the store is full of great oranges and mandarins.  I especially love the Neopolitan mandarins so I've been using them in salads and decided to make a new quinoa dish.  It turned out really good.  The pistachios and fennel add a really great flavor and crunch.  I have used both roasted and raw pistachios.  If you use raw, make sure you toast them in a dry skillet with a little salt.

1 cup quinoa

Zest of one mandarin

Juice of one lime

2 T. fresh orange juice

1 clove garlic, minced

1 t. cumin

½ t. coriander

1 t. honey

2 T. olive oil

½ cup pistachios, roughly chopped

½ fennel bulb, sliced thinly, or 1 T. lightly toasted fennel seed

3 mandarins, seedless and segmented

¼ cup red onion, finely diced

¼ cup feta, crumbled

¼ cup fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped

Salt to taste

Bring 2 cups water or broth to boil.  (I use water but add a teaspoon of Better than Bouillon to the boiling water).  Add quinoa and stir.  Cover and lower heat and cook until all of the water has absorbed, about 15 minutes.  Quinoa sprouts a little tail when it’s fully cooked.  Transfer the cooked quinoa to a baking sheet and spread out so that it cools.  You can also put it in a large bowl and just keep fluffing it with a fork until it cools.

In a small bowl, combine the mandarin zest, lime juice, orange juice, garlic, cumin, coriander, honey, and salt.  Whisk in the olive oil.

Combine the cooled quinoa, mandarin segments, onion, fennel, and pistachios.  Stir in the dressing mixture and the feta crumbles.  Season with salt and garnish with parsley or cilantro.