Quinoa with roasted beets and pear

Sooo, another monday has come around and it's been raining cats and dogs today. As soon as I got to the office, I boiled some tea and tried every little thing to stay warm. Today's recipe helped me do with keeping warm at lunch. I prepared it ahead yesterday, so I could have it all week. The recipe comes from Food52, a website where users can share their recipes. I love the site's construction, the pictures are just beautiful and their Twitter feed is the meanest thing, because it supplies you with endless pictures of the most beautiful looking dishes.
I loved the color from today's recipe and as I love beets and quinoa, trying this recipe was a no-brainer.

Here's the link:
http://food52.com/recipes/31742-quinoa-with-roasted-beets-and-pear

And this is how easy you'll get into quinoa heaven:

1) Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Rub the beets with some olive oil, wrap into tin foil and let them roast in the oven for about 50 minutes. It really depends on the size. I apparently ended up with large beets, so mine took about 1 hour and 30 minutes. 

2) In the meantime, rinse 1 cup of uncooked quinoa. Bring the quinoa along with 1 3/4 cups of water to a boil. Once boiling, add a little salt, and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes. Drain any remaining liquid, then place back on the heat and press a paper towel between pot and lid. Let the quinoa rest for 5 more minutes.

3) Cube the pear and feta cheese and place into a bowl along with the quinoa. 

4) Once the beets are cooked, take them out of the oven. Let the beets cool a little bit. As soon as you can touch them, peel the skin under running water. 

5) Lower the oven temperature to 175°C (350°F) and roast the walnuts for 8 minutes. 

6) Cut the beets into small cubes and roughly chop the walnuts. 

7) Toss all the ingredients together, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I used 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, but use however much you like.

Serves: 4 nicely
Active preparation time: about 20 minutes
Total preparation time: depending on the size of your beets, up to 1 hour and 50 minutes

This is how mine looks:

i like the sweetness of the beets and pear, the saltiness from the feta and the earthy flavor from the quinoa, punctuated by a little hint of acidity from the balsamic vinegar. I used red quinoa, as the beets will turn everything they touch into a soft pink color anyways. I also think the red quinoa holds its shape a little better than the white variety and its flavor is slightly nuttier. I served the quinoa warm as the mere thought of eating something cold left me shivering today, but it would probably be just as good served cold. 

Have fun trying!