Sliced Ribeye Steaks with Roasted Radish and Orange Quinoa

Sliced Ribeye Steaks with Roasted Radish and Orange Quinoa

I have had my issues with quinoa in the past, but suddenly after reading blog after blog I have found the secret, it came from the Manila Spoon she is a genius: the rice cooker & an orange peel. In the past I had soapy or sticky or gooey quinoa, it was so gross I gave up totally on the newest wonder food. I was so wrong.  Following Manila Spoon’s how to directions it was so fun to conquer my nemeses grain, most importantly better (read more aggressive) washing and the use of the rice cooker made really great quinoa possible.  It was nutty and tender and fluffy and my family ate it!! So now I am loving playing with quinoa.

Last weekend we took a trip to the charming city of Savannah, Georgia and while there we enjoyed some really lovely dinners in a few great restaurants. At one of the restaurants they served roasted radishes as a side/garnish, they were great. I had to roast my own radishes as soon as I could to see if I could recreate the yummy-ness. The mellow buttery roasted radish paired so perfectly with the nutty quinoa and the pop of citrus, I was just thrilled with everything in this dinner. More importantly my family loved it; they even nibbled on the cold quinoa right out of the fridge the next day, in my mind that is success.

We paired our yummy quinoa with a big lovely ribeye but you could easily swap the beef out in favor of pork or chicken if that is more your style. The citrus steak sauce is great for either chicken or pork too so don’t feel bad about swapping out the steak for your favorite protein; I bet a hearty fish would even be great with this sauce.  This dinner was so well received at my house that I think my husband may start including it on his all-time favorites list, and that is saying a lot.

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Sliced Ribeye Steaks with Roasted Radish and Orange Quinoa

Ingredients

• 2 large boneless ribeyes at room temperature
• 1-2 tbsp favorite steak seasoning

For the Steak Sauce

• 1 small bunch fresh parsley
• 1 small bunch fresh basil
• Juice of half a grapefruit
• Juice and zest of one orange
• 1 jalapeno seeds and ribs removed
• 2 tbsp champagne vinegar
• ¼ cup olive oil

For the Quinoa

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups of water
• 2 oranges
• 20-30 radishes halved or quartered
• 8-12 oz of baby bella or other mushroom halved or quartered
• 2 small bunches of kale
• 2 tbsp of the citrus steak sauce
• 1 tbsp honey or blue agave
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Citrus Herb Steak Sauce

1. In a small food processor put the herbs, juice and jalapeno. Turn on the food processor and then drizzle in the oil. This is a thinner sauce like a chimichurri. Give the sauce a taste and add as much of the vinegar as you desire, we liked about two tablespoons but if you like more or less go for it. Same thing goes for the salt and pepper; I did a big pinch of salt and just a dash of pepper. You can make this as early as the day or two before you cook the rest of this meal.
   

Roasted Radish and Orange Quinoa

1. Start by really, really, really rinsing the quinoa, the reason is the saponins that are on the quinoa, if you skip this step you will regret it when you dinner tastes like soap. If you want to learn more about saponins and quinoa give it a Google it’s an interesting ingredient. I cooked my quinoa in the rice cooker, but feel free to cook it however works best for you. Add the quinoa, water and one orange peel to the rice cooker or pot and cook until the water is absorbed. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
   
2. As the quinoa is cooking, put the mushrooms and radishes on a large baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. Mix the veggies well and put them in the oven for about 15 minutes.
   
3. While they cook supreme the two oranges, catching all the juice you can to dress the kale with later. Strip the kale off the hard stems and into bite sized pieces. Toss the kale with the oranges, a drizzle of olive oil, the juice you caught when cutting the orange sections and some salt and pepper. Add them to the roasting veggies after the first 15 minutes and let roast for another 5-8 minutes until the kale starts to brown.
   
4. In a small bowl mix 2 tablespoons of the citrus steak sauce, the blue agave and any orange juice you can squeeze out of the remnants of cutting the oranges supremes to make a simple dressing. Mix the dressing, hot veggies and quinoa together, taste and add salt or pepper if needed.
   

Ribeyes

1. I had my wonderful grill-master husband cook our lovely steaks on the gas grill outside. If you don’t grill please cook your streaks using your favorite method. We put the room temperature steaks on the very hot grill for about 3-4 minutes per side. Once off the heat we let them rest for about 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving with the citrus steak sauce. I try to time this meal so that as the steaks are coming off the grill about the time the kale and oranges are going in the oven with the radishes. That way everything is finished about the same time. Enjoy!