this is a super simple recipe that comes together in just a few minutes if the quinoa is already cooked! and if not – then about 30. easy peasy, y’all!
i won’t lie – this is somehow a lot tastier than it sounds. one might say, i inhaled it. i originally wanted to add a kewpie mayo sauce to it (always good, no shade), but i thought no – let’s see how it tastes with just tamari and lots of lemon juice and it was *chefs kiss*. perfect for a wfh lunch or even a take-to-the-actual-office lunch. if you’re taking this on the go, i’d just make a boiled egg or two instead of the fried egg. this recipe serves one (me), but could easily be doubled, tripled, what have you.
any grain will work in this recipe, but my grain of the week is black quinoa. what the heck does that mean? well, you know when you’re hungry and you look in the fridge and realize you have to actually COOK something if you want to eat something? having a grain of the week helps solve for that problem. you look in the fridge and BOOM… you’ve got grains. that’s pretty much how this recipe originated. so, it means that i’ve been soaking a grain overnight and then cooking it the next morning to use as a base for veggies, protein, whatever. i store the grains in the fridge and use them until they’re gone. it speeds things up when it’s already cooked! and provides a starting point for recipes. without further ado… the recipe for black quinoa with garlicky spinach and a fried egg.
ingredients:
- 1/2 – 1 cup cooked quinoa
- few handfuls of spinach
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 scallion, sliced on an angle
- 1 lemon, cut in half
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- aleppo pepper flakes (or red pepper flakes)
- kosher sea salt
- tamari
directions:
- cook the quinoa if you haven’t already: here is a basic recipe on how to cook quinoa. i added 1 cup quinoa and 4 cups filtered water to a bowl and let it sit overnight – then drained and rinsed in the AM and cooked. again, you can use any grain as the base here. once you’ve got it, add it to the plate or the bowl (see the photo).
- cook the spinach and garlic: heat olive oil on medium-low heat. once heated, add chopped garlic and aleppo pepper flakes and sauté for a couple of minutes, until garlic is starting to turn golden and fragrant. then, add the spinach and sprinkle it with kosher salt. sauté until beginning to wilt (or desired doneness). turn off heat. squeeze ½ lemon juice on the spinach and stir to distribute the lemon evenly. now you have your garlicky spinach – add it to the top of your quinoa.
- fry the egg: add another drizzle of olive oil to the same pan (wipe it out first if it’s got a lot of leftover stuff in it), and bring the heat to medium-high. crack the egg into the heated pan and sprinkle with a healthy dose of kosher salt – especially on the yolk to make it extra tasty. reduce heat to low and cover pan for a few minutes, or until egg is cooked how you like it. turn off heat. the longer the egg sits in the pan, the more jammy the yolk will become. add egg on top of the garlicky spinach and quinoa. in the middle. like the star it is.
- garnish: top with a healthy dose of aleppo pepper flakes and scallions. finally, squeeze the other lemon half over everything and drizzle everything with tamari, to taste.
- LE SERVE.
cooking with leeks 