Meat Free Mondays — Summer Quinoa Salad

Here in Chicago, summer seems to be winding down already.

This year, we got all our really hot weather early: There were 44 days of 80F-plus temperatures from in June and July, which caused our garden’s harvest to arrive early. Tomato and pepper plants that usually produce fruit through the end of September are already startng to whither.

Still, it’s been a good harvest this year, with more Roma, Beefsteak and even Heirloom tomatoes than we could possibly use, as well as bushels full of jalapenos, green and red bell peppers. Even our yellow squash did well this year.

So far, I’ve already made garden tomato sauce, Caprese salad, bruschetta and any other tomato-centric recipe I could think of, not to mention desperately giving away surplus produce to anybody who will take it.

Having stumbled across this tri-coloed quinoa at Trader Joe’s (don’t you just love wanding the aisles at TJ’s, looking at all the fun ingredients and dreaming up recipes? I sure do!), I decided to make this summer quinoa salad. While it makes a great appetizer, the addition of some black beans and smoked mozzarella make it protein-rich enough to be served as an entree.

This is an example of a compound salad, which basically means you take a primary ingredient and build a salad around it using other ingredients. Compound salads can be protein-based (chicken or tuna salad), carbohydrate based (potato, rice or quinoia salad), or vegetable based (broccoli, carrot and raisin, coleslaw).

The great thing about compound salads is that they can be made out of just about anything. I’ve been the buffet chef at a lot of different restaurants, and having a large assortment of compound salads is a great way to add value to your salad bar.

When designing a compound salad, there are four elements to consider: Flavor, color, texture and nutritional value.For this particular salad, because quinoa is a nutty-flavored grain (texture), I wanted to add tartness (garden tomatoes), color (asparagus), and complimentary flavor (smokiness of the mozzarella).

Part of the garden, including a jalapeno plant, globe basil, regular basil, Greek oregano and some sort of spring onion plant

A lot of times, the dressing of a compound salad is a balance of sweetness and bitterness, usually accomplished through the use of some sort of vinegar and sugar or honey, such as a coleslaw dressing.

But for this particular salad, I wanted the nuttiness of this fun tri-color quinoa to be the central flavor, with the other ingredients either contrasting it and underscroring it, so I dressed it with plain Extra Virgin Olive Oil to add a lush richness but not to interfere with the other flavors.

Am I overthinking this salad or what?!

Summer Quinoa Salad

1 cup Tri-Color Quinoa (or plain quinoa)

2 cups Water

1/2 lb Fresh Asparagus

1 can Black Beans, drained and rinsed

6 oz. Smoked Mozzarella, cubed

1/2 Red Onion, small dice

2 stalks Celery, small dice

2 Jalapenos, ribs and seeds removed, small dice

3 Tomatoes, ribs and seeds removed, diced

4 TBS EVOO

Sea Salt

Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

Cayenne Pepper

1. Combine quinoa and water in a saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for about five minutes so all the liquid is absorbed, then fluff with a fork. Allow to cool completely (I was in a hurry, so I transferred it to a sheet pan and spread it out so that it cooled down in about 10 minutes time).

2. Blanch aspagus by steaming it until cooked soft but still bright green, about 4 minutes, then immediately plunging it into ice water to stop the cooking process. Cut into 1/2-inch peices.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the quinoa, black beans, asparagus, tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, mozzarella and celery and toss together. Drizzle with EVOO, add  just a dash of cayenne,  and season to taste with salt and pepper.

While you can use cayenne pepper to add heat to a dish, adding just a small amount is a great way to bring out the flavors of other ingredients.

Whether I am serving a compound salad in a bowl on a salad bar or on plate for individual service, I always underline it with a leaf of red or green leaf lettuce. I wanted to add a little height to this salad, which otherwise just slumps on the plate, so I stuck some scallion stalks coming out of it, but in hindsight something bright red, such as thinly sliced red bell pepper rings, might have worked better.

 

Meat Free Mondays – Quinoa

You are starting to hear more about quinoa lately.

Quinoa is a lot like rice, except it’s better for you and easier to cook. I’ve already chronicled my struggles to make brown rice. Quinoa gives you the same nutritional value with half the effort. It’s almost impossible to screw up and, in my opinion, the flavor is far superior.

Plus quinoa comes with an incredible back story. It originally comes from Central and South America, where it was held sacred by the Incas more than 4,000 years ago as the “mother of all grains.” Traditionally, the Inca emperor would sow the first grains of the growing season using golden implements.

When the Spanish conquistadores invaded that area in the 15th Century and discovered the Incas praying to their quinoa, they burned their crops and forced them to grow wheat instead.

Fortunately, quinoa staged a comeback and today is becoming increasingly popular as a base for salads, side dishes and even this entree.

In fact, the United Nations has declared 2013 the International Year of Quinoa. Take that, conquistadores!

Yellow Squash Stuffed with Quinoa

1 Large yellow squash

1 cup Quinoa

2 cups Water

1 TBS Extra virgin olive oil

1 cup Black beans, drained

1 cup Corn, Cooked, charred and cut off the cob

1/2 Red onion, small dice

1 Jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, small dice

1/2 Green bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed, small dice

1 clove Garlic, crushed

1 TBS Cumin

1 tsp Chile powder

1 tsp Granulated garlic

1/3 cup Grated parmesan

Sea salt

Fresh cracked black pepper

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cut yellow squash in half length-wise, then use a teaspoon to remove the seeds and hollow out, leaving about 1/2 inch wall on all sides and bottom. Place squash in boiling water and cook 5 minutes, then remove with tongs, dump water, fill pot with cold water and return squash to the water to halt the cooking process. Remove from the water and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, bring two cups of water to a boil in a sauce pan. Stir in quinoa, cover, return to boil, reduce to simmer and cook 18 minutes. Turn off flame and let sit for 15 minutes, then fluff with fork.

3. Put cast iron pan on the fire over a medium heat. When hot, add EVOO. When smoking, add onions, jalapeno and green pepper and saute until onion is translucent, about five minutes. Add garlic, cumin, chile powder and granulated garlic and cook another minute then remove from heat.

4. Preheat oven to 375F. Fold sauteed vegetables, black beans, corn and about half the parmesan into the quinoa. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Place half the quinoa mixture on the bottom of an 8″x8″x2″ casserole dish, then place yellow squash canoes on top. Use a tablespoon to stuff the squash with the remaining quinoa mixture. Sprinkle the top with the remaining parmesan and cover tightly with aluminum foil.

5. Bake at 375F for 25 minutes, remove foil and bake another 10 minutes to brown up the parmesan.

Quinoa is a very versatile grain. It actually is considered a pseudocereal because it is not a member of the grass family, but instead it is related to beets, spinach and tumbleweeds.

It has a mildly sweet and nutty flavor and a soft texture that reminds me of couscous. Look for it in either the baking supplies or dried beans aisles of your grocery store.

Seafood Fridays – Grouper

Grouper always reminds me of family vacations in Florida.

That’s because my parents used to have a condo on Siesta Key, which is near Sarasota on the Gulf Coast, and grouper is very common on restaurant menus in that area because it is plentiful in the Gulf.

Grouper is one of my favorites because it is from the sea bass family. It is firm fleshed like mahi mahi or even tuna, yet its meat is slightly sweet and still flaky.

I find grouper to be one of the most durable fish to cook. It is most commonly deep fried, but it also will stand up to grilling, like salmon or tuna. Most importantly, it is delicious.

Grouper is a very interesting fish. In comes in a lot of different varieties and can be found all over the globe. In the Gulf, it is sometimes called jewfish and can grow up to 700 lbs. Yet it is commonly caught with a fishing line under bridges and in narrow creeks.

Fun fact: Groupers are born and mature as females, then become males when they grow older. They also have no muscular bones, so they are easy to fillet, although the skin is extremely tough and difficult to remove.

Because grouper meat is so chunky and can withstand a lot of cooking, it is used a lot in stews and chowders. It is also commonly found in bouillabaise and paella.

In Florida, we most commonly ate grouper that was deep fried or grilled and served on a sandwich. So that’s how I prepared it for this recipe. I served it with a chipotle aioli, quinoa salad and braised mustard greens.

There are two ways to make the chipotle aioli: The easy way and the hard way.

For the hard way, you use a food processor to blend one egg yolk, one TBS of lemon juice and just a touch of Dijon mustard together, then slowly add 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil until it is emulsified into a mayonnaise, seasoning it with salt and pepper. Then you fold in 3 TBS chipotle salsa.

For the easy way, you just mix one cup of mayonnaise (preferably reduced fat) and the chipotle salsa. Most of the restaurants serving chipotle aioli make it the easy way, in my experience.

The grouper is simply sprayed with pan spray, seasoned with sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper and then grilled until done. It was served on whole wheat rolls.

Here’s the recipe for the quinoa salad:

Quinoa Salad

2 cups water

1 cup quinoa

1/4 cup red onion, small dice

2 stalks celery, medium dice

1/4 cup cucumber, peeled and seeds removed, medium dice

1/3 cup parsley, chopped

3 radish, small dice

2 green onions, sliced thin

1 jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed, small dice

1 clove garlic, crushed

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup EVOO

1. Bring water to a boil and whisk in quinoa. Return to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Cook 12 minutes. Turn off and let sit 15 minutes so all the liquid is absorbed. Remove cover, fluff with fork and let sit until it’s at room temperature.

2. Combine cooled quinoa with onion, parsely, cucumber, radish, green onion, celery and jalapeno in a mixing bowl. Juice lemon into a separate mixing bowl, add garlic, then slowly whisk in EVOO until emulsified into a dresssing. Season with S&P, then fold into the quinoa salad. Season salad with S&P, then refrigerate at least 30 minutes so the flavors can meld together.

Are there any foods that remind you of your family vacations? Let us know what they are in the comments section below. And thanks for looking at my blog!