Cue the violins. Brussels sprouts season is almost over. Let's give it a proper send-off.

This one's a side dish, a dinner, or a salad all in one. The sweetness of crunchy pecans, carrots and onion work so well with the earthy quinoa and mushroom flavors, and it's all rounded out a nice hit of red pepper. It works hot or cold and makes an awesome healthy work lunch.

This is another dish that accomodates all kinds of substitutions. Today I used a touch of soy and sherry vinegar, but you could play with lemon, miso, mustard or fish sauce too.

A note on quinoa. The directions on the box often lead you to mushy, overly wet quinoa, in my humble opinion. I usually use a ratio 1 part quinoa to 1 2/3 parts liquid.

Quinoa with Brussels Sprouts and Pecans

Yield: Serves 4

Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 35 min Total Time: 45 min

Ingredients

1 cup / 225 g quinoa, any color

1 2/3 cup / 375 mL vegetable stock or water

1 lb / 450 g Brussels sprouts, sliced thin

2 Tbs cooking oil, divided

1 small onion, diced

2 small carrots, diced

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

4 oz / 114 g shiitake or other mushrooms, sliced

0.5 cup / 114 g chopped pecans

Large pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

2 tsp soy sauce

Dash of sherry vinegar or lemon juice

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Rinse the quinoa thoroughly in the strainer. Heat stock or water with quinoa in saucepan til boiling. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook 20 minutes. If quinoa still has a lot of water left, drain in the strainer.

Heat 1 tbs oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add Brussels sprouts, season with salt and pepper and cook til browned but still bright green with crunchy centers, about 5 minutes. Remove from skillet.

Heat remaining oil over medium heat. Saute onion and carrot for about 5 minutes, til onion is translucent. Add a pinch of salt, garlic, mushrooms, pecans and chili flakes and saute another 3 minutes, until mushrooms are cooked through.

Add cooked quinoa and Brussels sprouts to mixture in skillet. Stir through soy sauce and sherry vinegar or lemon juice.

Serve warm or at room temperature.