Warm Quinoa Salad with Carrots

This recipe was paired with the fish stew from the previous post in the Food&Wine magazine from this month. It is published as accompanying chicken skewers, but I made it as a simple and tasty vegetarian side.

Here is the post from the magazine's website.

This is the recipe as I made it (as a veggie side dish)...

Ingredients:
1 cup red or black quinoa
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup slivered, toasted almonds
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, halved lengthwise and sliced crosswise into half-moons
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons mint leaves, ribboned

1. Put the quinoa in a small saucepan and cover with 2 cups of water. Add a large pinch of salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat until the water has been absorbed and the quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes.
2. Heat the 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the skillet. Add the garlic and onion and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the carrots and cumin, cover and cook over low heat until the carrots are just tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the quinoa and vinegar and season with salt and pepper.
3. Mound the quinoa salad on plates. Garnish with the toasted, slivered almonds and mint leaves.