Raiding the fridge for recipes

[yendi]

I know quinoa's all trendy, but I do love it. It goes with damned near anything, is easy to make, and pretty damned healthy. It ain't cheap compared to, say, rice, but it's so much better for me (and better-tasting).

Anyway, looking for something to scrounge for dinner the other night, I improvised the following:

Cook 1 cup of quinoa with chicken broth (you can always use water, but broth adds more flavor).

After letting it cool for a bit, stir in one can of cannellini beans. Then crumble a bunch of goat cheese into the mix; at the right temp, some will melt, and the rest will stay in crumbled form. Then toss it all with about 1.5 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil.

Eat the first serving warm. The leftovers (if you're the only one eating) work both warm (as an entree or side dish) or cold as a salad out of the fridge. You should get about four or five servings from it (I got three, but I like big portions).

Bonus: if you don't use chicken broth, this is entirely vegetarian.

Note: This would probably work fine with other white beans like great northern or navy or probably even chickpeas. I used what we had in the pantry.

Comments

[greylistening.livejournal.com]

NOM. I am trying this!

I am one of those people who can taste the bitterness of quinoa no matter how much it's washed, but I still eat it because it's like a wonderfood.

Adding strong flavors to it = WIN!

[yendi]

The one I use is pre-washed, but I've never really had a problem with the bitterness, to be honest. I'm a supertaster in other ways, but not on this front, I guess.

[rolypolypony.livejournal.com]

I keep avoiding quinoa thanks to reading something awhile ago about how the trendiness of it was making it priced out of the range of the people who depended on it as their main foodstuff. I keep meaning to look into that again, but if I do and discover it's ok, WHAT does it taste like??! I have never had it!

[yendi]

This is a good debunking of those original articles, but it does raise some legit environmental impact concerns. I know that there's been a push to grow it in the Pacific Northwest to try to increase sustainability, fwiw.

As for taste, gah, it's so hard to describe. Everyone says "nutty" but that's always seemed like a cop-out. But it does have that same rich flavor I find in some wild rices, fwiw, just with a totally different texture. It also tends to pick up a lot of flavors from whatever's in or on it.

I know that the Fac often has quinoa-based items at their salad bar, if you want to try a sample on day you're over there.

[rolypolypony.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Hah! Ok, I think I have a vague idea now, which is more than before - and thanks for the tip on the Fac! I'll give it a try next time I'm there to see if I like it enough to worry about it ;)

[mermaidnchains.livejournal.com]

Ive done this to make a 'greek' salad. I added roasted garlic while cooking to the stock, then when cold added fresh diced tomato, cucumber, red onion and some fresh thyme and lemon zest. I served it with fresh roasted lemon Rosemary chicken. You can also use the salad in a pita with tetziki *yeah I cant spell it* sauce and the leftover chicken.

[mermaidnchains.livejournal.com]

'This' meaning the same thing you did, with the stock and feta and beans while warm, then made the greek salad with leftovers. Sorry was vague before.

[yendi]

Made sense to me! I'm not a fan of feta, but otherwise, seems like a solid food option. :-)

[raidingparty.livejournal.com]

Horiatiki! Omnomnomnom