Red Quinoa With Pistachios

My first time using quinoa, I'm embarrassed to say, but it most certainly won't be my last... particularly if future endeavors with it taste THIS good. I'm so sold on this recipe, I can hardly stand it! Nabbed from Epicurious with no shame, I urge you to give it a try. I upped the shallots from one to one LARGE or two small, and I increased the parsley from 3 Tbsps to probably 5. We actually had just this for dinner with pita bread and a little garlic hummus and were completely satisfied. No meat necessary! I suppose you could eat this cold as a salad too, but I have yet to try it.

• Ready In: 50 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1  tablespoon olive oil
• 1  large shallot, finely chopped (or 2 small)
•  kosher  salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1  cup quinoa, preferably red, rinsed well in a fine-mesh sieve
• 1 1⁄2 cups low sodium chicken broth (recommended) or 1 1⁄2 cups water
• 1⁄4 cup  shelled raw pistachios, unsalted and chopped (ok, mine were roasted and salted, but that didn't hurt!)
• 4  tablespoons  chopped flat leaf parsley (I used one healthy handful, more that the original recipe)
• 1 -2  tablespoon  chopped of fresh mint

Directions

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots, season with salt and pepper, and cook about 5 minutes or until soft, stirring occasionally. Add quinoa and cook, stirring frequently, until quinoa starts to toast and smell nutty, about 5 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil.
2. Give a quick stir to the quinoa, cover and reduce heat to low, simmering gently until quinoa is tender, 25-30 minutes (15 if using white quinoa). Remove pan from heat, fluff quinoa with a fork. Cover; let stand for 5 minutes.
3. Carefully fold pistachios, parsley, and mint into quinoa. Season with salt and pepper.