Parmesan and Rosemary Quinoa Muffins

So this will be the last recipe with rosemary in it for while I promise. Otherwise I would have to consider renaming the blog Just Add Rosemary. I can report that the rosemary bush in the garden is now looking somewhat smaller – please don’t misunderstand me, we still have more rosemary than any family would want to eat in a year, but I seem to have banished the need to use it all up.

Whenever we use herbs and spices, I am always letting the kids have a smell so they can get a feel for the flavour before we use it and therefore be more likely to enjoy it or barely notice it in the recipe.The children now recognise the scent of rosemary and are happy when we use it. Atticus is in fact always offering to go and get me more for the cooking projects that we do. This is even for projects which don’t require it, and as I have been using it is all sorts of things recently this isn’t really surprising! It is not as if we are running low on the stuff so I see no need to complain if he is enjoying himself.

I have been wanting to try quinoa in muffins for a while. Initially I had in my head to use them in something sweet, but then after eating a quinoa salad I changed my mind and decided that savoury muffins would be really tasty. That is how these rosemary and parmesan quinoa muffins came about.

Ingredients

• 150g uncooked quinoa
• 450ml water
• 200g finely grated parmesan
• 3 large sprigs of rosemary
• 4 eggs
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Place the quinoa and the water in a pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15 minutes until the quinoa is tender. Allow to cool. I did this bit for Atticus and Ophelia.
2. Preheat the oven to 170°c fan.
3. Grate the parmesan with or without the help of your little people.
4. Wash and dry the rosemary. Take the rosemary off the stalks and chop. Atticus enthusiastically pulled it all off the stalks and then helped with the chopping. This will need quite a sharp knife, so there was discussion about sharp knives, being careful and paying attention and not getting distracted.
5. Put the cooled quinoa in a big bowl. Add the chopped rosemary, the parmesan and a small amount of salt and pepper.
6. Crack the eggs in and mix thoroughly.
7. Evenly distribute between the 12 muffin cases and cook for 25 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

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