Quinoa Salad with Fruit and Herbs

This salad was just going to be this salad made with quinoa instead of couscous, because quinoa was what I had in the cupboard. I was going to take a photo, and put it on Facebook and Twitter and call it a day. I started glancing around the kitchen and the garden, however, and decided that a fresh pineapple needed to be included, as well as some pineapple sage. The result was a different enough salad to warrant the writing of another recipe.

The dressing for this salad is virtually identical to the original, but since I was going to include the fresh pineapple, I added a couple pinches of ground ginger to the mix. It really goes well with the fruit as well as with the lime, cumin, coriander, and mint. The proportions of herbs and fruit are also similar in this recipe, although I left out the chickpeas from the original. Quinoa is a complete protein, so I felt like the salad was nutritionally significant without them. If you want to make a more substantial meal out of this salad, you certainly could stir in some chickpeas or some black beans.

I love the way this salad turned out! The bright flavors of the fruits and herbs really set the tone, while the slightly nutty flavor of the quinoa could stay in the background, but still compliment the whole salad. I loved the mint with the fruit, quinoa, and dressing, but I have to admit to being of two minds about the pineapple sage. It has a bit of a fuzzy mouthfeel, and its flavor is rather bitter with just a bit of the fruity-floral tone I was hoping for. It was good enough, but I don’t think it’s worth seeking out for this salad if you don’t have ready access to it. I included it in the recipe below, but as “optional”.

 

Other herbs would be great here, too, I’m sure, and a salad like this would be a good place to experiment with them if you like to grow them. You also could swap in different fruits depending on what you can get or what you like. This particular combination was delightful, gently sweet, well-complimented by the earthy cumin and coriander, and enhanced by the bright flavors of the fresh herbs. A really fun way to eat well this summer!

Quinoa Salad with Nectarines, Pineapple, and Mint

Don’t worry about getting your hands on pineapple sage for this recipe. The mint is great, however, and worth putting in.

Swap another liquid sweetener for the honey to make this salad vegan.

2 cups cooked and cooled quinoa

1 cup finely chopped nectarine

1 cup finely chopped pineapple

¼ cup finely chopped red onion

¼ cup finely chopped fresh mint

Up to ¼ cup finely chopped pineapple sage, optional

Finely grated zest of 1 lime

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon ground coriander seed

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

1. In a large bowl, combine the quinoa, nectarine, pineapple, onion, mint, pineapple sage if using, and lime zest. Gently toss together to combine.

2. In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Whisk together until very well blended. Pour over the quinoa mixture and gently toss together to coat.

Makes 2-3 main-dish servings or about 6 side-dish servings. Refrigerate leftovers.

Other recipes like this one: Brown Rice Salad with Walnuts, Pears, and Blue Cheese; Couscous Salad with Nectarines and Chickpeas; Farro and Apple Salad with Craisins

One year ago: Asparagus Flatbread with Aged Gouda and Hazelnuts

Spinach Casserole

One good thing about spring spinach is that, since spinach was also in our fall CSA boxes, there hasn’t been quite enough time for me to completely lose the spinach casserole recipe I had set aside but never got around to trying. Said recipe is for a dish loaded with spinach and quinoa and held together with cottage cheese and eggs. And, since spinach is in season and in the CSA box, when the recipe writers (the people at Martha Stewart Living magazine, no less) indicate a whole pound of spinach is required and I’ve only got half of that, the casserole is going to get shorted. Don’t worry. It turned out delicious anyway.

I used a couple other seasonal substitutions when bending this recipe to my will, including green garlic, which is the immature bulb of the garlic with which we’re all familiar, and some beautiful locally-grown scallions. I also adapted the procedure of the original recipe to streamline it a bit by sautéing the spinach rather than blanching it, which also resulted in fewer pots, pans and bowls to wash.

I might have taken things a bit too far in the made-from-scratch department by making my own cottage cheese, using a recipe in How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. You, of course, could use store-bought cottage cheese, and you probably will if you’re not as inclined to make messes as I am. You might want to taste the cheese for salt before deciding how much additional salt to add to the casserole. I made very lightly salted cheese, and would have liked more than the ½ teaspoon or so of salt that I put in my casserole. I think, however, that a commercial cottage cheese might have enough salt in it to carry the flavor of the whole dish. Here, you’re going to have to be your own judge. And more on that homemade cheese in another post.

I want to say that this casserole has a mild flavor, but I don’t want you to get the impression that it is bland. The taste of the spinach, whole grain quinoa and mild cheese are enhanced nicely by the onions, garlic and herbs. I cut the casserole into serving-size rectangles that we ate with a fork, but I think you could cut it into small squares and serve it as finger food, even at room temperature. The cut pieces hold their shape firmly, thanks, I suppose, to the eggs and cheese.

In case “mild” does read as “bland” to you, I think there could be many variations that would work well with this basic recipe. Crumbled feta cheese could replace some of the cottage cheese. (You could probably use ricotta instead of cottage cheese as well.) Different grains, such as barley, brown rice or millet might be good in place of the quinoa. You could probably substitute chard or other greens for the spinach. This time of year, when it’s just getting exciting to find and cook with locally-grown produce, you can take something relatively simple and basic (but not bland!) like this casserole, or another recipe you’ve been saving, and add to it all the best of the fresh and delicious ingredients available.

Quinoa and Spinach Casserole
Adapted from a recipe in Martha Stewart Living magazine

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped scallions
2 cloves garlic or 1 small head green garlic, minced
8 ounces fresh spinach
a pinch or two of kosher salt, to taste
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 cup cottage cheese
2 eggs, beaten

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat a 2-quart casserole dish with cooking spray, oil or butter. Set aside.

2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add the scallions and cook about 2 minutes or until just beginning to brown. Add garlic or green garlic. Cook about 30 seconds, stirring constantly.

3. Add the spinach and salt to taste. Cook until completely wilted, stirring frequently. Stir in the thyme, rosemary, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. Remove from heat and set aside for a few minutes to cool.

4. Stir in the quinoa. Gently stir in the cottage cheese and eggs.

5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350 F for 60 to 70 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Cut into squares or rectangles and serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 4-6 servings.


Other recipes like this one: Broccoli Cheese Casserole with Mustard Rye Croutons, Chard Tart with Feta Cheese and Olives, Spinach and Feta Souffle

One year ago: Asparagus and Goat Cheese Dip

Two years ago: Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce and Strawberry Rhubarb Fool

Three Grains are Better

I unearthed a recipe from a magazine for a salad with white beans, artichoke hearts and spelt, an Old World grain. The recipe looked great, but I was fresh out of spelt. Okay, so I’ve never owned a single kernel of it in my life. What I did have was a bag of cooked wheat berries in the freezer (leftover from when I made this salad.) But as long as I was putting a dent in what was in the freezer, I figured two grains might be better. I’d see what was in the cupboard as well. It turns out that the cupboard needs more attention than I thought, so if two grains were better, a three-grain salad must be on its way to greatness. I went with slightly exotic, but not unattainable: wheat berries, wild rice, and quinoa.

I’m probably not as scientific as I should be about cooking grains. I’ve got rice down pretty well, but, so I don’t have to memorize or look up ratios and recipes, I tend to just throw most other grains in a pot of water and boil them until they are tender. That’s how I cooked the wild rice and quinoa for this salad. It took about 20 minutes to cook the quinoa and about 40 minutes to cook the wild rice. The wheat berries, which I had cooked a while back, I first soaked for several hours (much like I would dried beans). This cuts the cooking time down from a couple hours to about 45 minutes. Cooking times of grains may vary depending on your source of raw materials. I usually cook much more than I need for a recipe and freeze the rest for quicker meals when things get busy.

I brought this salad to a potluck lunch at Harry’s workplace, and it received good reviews. I really like it too, and I think this might now be a regular resident in our refrigerator. The coats of the wheat berries pop as you chew them to reveal their starchy interiors, while the wild rice (which isn’t even a rice but a grass native to this part of the world) is chewy and earthy. The tiny quinoa grains fill in the gaps between the other grains, creamy beans and sort of leafy artichokes. The lemon vinaigrette is super-simple (just lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper) but cuts through the stodgy beans and grains to liven and brighten them up.

While these three grains seem to compliment each other well, you could probably use other grains such as brown rice, barley, or even corn. You could change up the type of beans, add different vegetables or tinker with the dressing. Before long, you’d have a completely different recipe. I better stop now before I give away all my secrets to recipe development and you won’t have a reason to read The Messy Apron any more!

Three Grain Salad with White Beans and Artichokes
Modified from Cooking Light Magazine

I used canned artichoke hearts. The brand I used listed only artichoke hearts, water, salt and citric acid (to prevent browning) in the ingredient list. You could use frozen artichokes, and I have included the approximate equivalent to the weight of the drained canned variety.

1 cup cooked wheat berries
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup cooked wild rice
½ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
¼ cup finely chopped red onion
1 ½ cups (about 1 15-ounce can) white beans, such as navy, Great Northern or cannellini, drained and rinsed (I used some I had cooked myself and froze)
1 14-ounce can (or about 8 ounces frozen) artichoke hearts, drained (or thawed) and coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon salt (plus more to taste, if desired)
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. In a large bowl combine the wheat berries, quinoa, wild rice, parsley, onion, beans and artichoke hearts.

2. In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt and pepper. Whisk until well-combined. Pour over the wheat berry mixture and stir to mix the ingredients together and coat them well with the dressing. Taste the salad for salt and add more if desired. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Take this Squash and Stuff it

If you don’t hear from me for a while, you might want to come by and make sure I haven’t been buried by a pile of winter squash. In my efforts to increase the WFQ* of my diet, procure food from more local sources, and eat more seasonally, I get the bigger of the two boxes the CSA** offers. About now, it becomes clear to me that it is difficult for two people to eat one or two squash a week.

Luckily, since squash is so prolific, ingenious cooks have been coming up with different ways to serve it for generations. Luckily also, winter squash keeps well for weeks (sometimes even months if stored properly), so I don’t have to try all those recipes in an insane 10-day squash marathon. I’ve got some time.

After a yummy success with some little stuffed squash last year, I couldn’t wait to try this recipe when the squash rolled in this year. These carnival squash are great for stuffing, since each half is one generous serving. I can roast the squash halves and stuff them, and it’s dinner for two (the usual format around here), and I can eat the leftover stuffing for lunch the next day. Since the quinoa in the stuffing is a complete protein, and all that vegetable matter is quite filling, the stuffed squash is a real meal, at least as far as I’m concerned. (In fact, it’s a rather large meal, which you might want to take into account if you’re a light eater.)

There are all kinds of great foods with which one could stuff a squash, I suppose, but I get a kick out of using “New World” (ie, native to this hemisphere) grain with the New World winter squash. If you haven’t tried quinoa, what are you waiting for? I like the way it keeps a little bit of pop in the bite when cooked (not to be confused with the crunch of an undercooked grain). It has a mild, nutty flavor, and this stuffing, with its savory leeks, sweet-tart dried cranberries, and crunchy walnuts seems a natural accompaniment to the sweet, almost creamy roasted squash.

I’m thinking that if you’re serving a large fall celebration meal (such as, oh, Thanksgiving in a little over a month) with a roasted turkey, chicken, ham or whatever, and you’ve invited a vegetarian, rather than saying, “Oh, s/he can just eat the side dishes,” why not give them just a bit more of your time and serve him/her a little stuffed squash. The squash can be roasted ahead of time, and you can also make the stuffing in advance. Just stuff the squash and warm everything through after you take the meat out of the oven to rest and be carved for everyone else.

This quinoa stuffing is great on its own, just eaten with a fork, although I’d recommend tasting it for salt before adding all the salt called for in the recipe. The squash itself isn’t seasoned much and benefits from the extra punch in the stuffing, but the stuffing might be a little salty by itself. (It will probably depend on the saltiness of the broth you use to cook the quinoa.) So, stuff that squash or just eat the stuffing. Or do both. The stuffing recipe is easily doubled.

*WFQ = Whole Food Quotient
**CSA = Community Supported Agriculture. This one is ours.

Quinoa Stuffed Squash Recipe

To Roast the Squash

Two small squash (four halves) will generously serve four people, and can be stuffed with one recipe of Quinoa Stuffing. You can use this method for roasting most varieties of winter squash, although cooking times will vary.

2 small winter squash

salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cut the squash in half from stem to base. Scoop out the seeds and seed fibers. Sprinkle the squash cavity with salt.

2. Place the squash halves cut side down in a baking dish. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour. Begin testing squash for doneness at 40-45 minutes. It is done when a fork easily pierces the flesh all the way through.

Quinoa Stuffing Recipe
This recipe makes enough stuffing for 4 small squash cavities. You could use chicken broth in place of the vegetable broth. With the vegetable broth it is vegetarian. Use oil for the butter and this dish is vegan.

This recipe is inspired by a recipe in Cooking Light magazine.

1 cup vegetable broth
½ teaspoon coarse (kosher) salt
½ cup uncooked quinoa***
1 Tablespoon butter
1 cup thinly sliced, well-washed leek
½ cup finely chopped celery
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons minced fresh sage
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup dried cranberries

¼ cup chopped toasted walnuts

1. Bring the vegetable broth and ¼ teaspoon salt to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the quinoa. Cover, reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes, or until the quinoa is cooked and most of the broth is absorbed. (Just taste the quinoa to see if it is done.) Remove from the heat and set aside.

2. Melt the butter in a large skillet (preferably nonstick, or you may need more butter) over medium heat. Add the leek, celery and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt. Saute about 8 minutes, or until the leek is beginning to brown, stirring often.

3. Stir in the black pepper, sage and garlic, and cook 1 minute more. Stir in the quinoa, dried cranberries and walnuts, and cook 1 more minute, or until warmed through. Set aside to cool slightly (or cool completely and refrigerate for later use).

For the Stuffed Squash

Oven: 350 F

1. Spoon about ½ cup of completed stuffing into each roasted squash cavity. Place the stuffed squash in a baking dish and bake at 350 F 15-20 minutes or until the squash is very soft and the stuffing is slightly browned on top. If the squash and stuffing were prepared ahead of time, it may take longer to bake the stuffed squash. Increase the baking time until heated through.

Makes 4 generous servings.

***Most quinoa sold in the U.S. has been processed to remove saponin, a bitter, soapy, naturally-occurring substance on quinoa grains. If you have reason to believe your quinoa has not been so processed, you can rinse the grains before cooking.