Let's talk about quinoa

[Jenise]

Robin and I confided that though we've had tasty quinoa, it was somehow not compelling enough to seek out again.

But I'm prepared to give it another go. Yesterday while shopping for Kashi (unsuccessfully), I found "Inca Red" quinoa which is possibly a better reason to give quinoa another try. The grains are a pretty, ruddy red, and reflexively I presumed the color was the result of a hull left on, like brown rice.

But maybe not, the box says, "working with local indigenous farming communities in the altiplano highlands of the Andes mountains, the Quinoa Corporation has "rediscovered" and helped recover this ancient and almost extint Pasankalla variety of red quinoa. "

The box also makes these health claims: that quinoa contains more high quality protein than any other grain, that it's a complete protein grain with all the essential amino acids, and that it contains no gluten.

For those who haven't made quinoa, it cooks in about 15 minutes in a 2:1 ration of water to grain.

Do you love this grain? Let us hear from you. Tell us what is unique about the taste or what you love about the texture, tell us how you prepare it and why, health benefits aside, we should consider quinoa instead of rice, say. Or is it in fact all about those health benefits?

Quinoa should remain on your list of starches as a mere matter of diversity, if nothing else.

Quinoa has a natural taste affinity with scallions. Toss a few very-thinly-sliced scallions into the quinoa near the end of cooking or immediately after it comes out (so the heat wilts the scallions just a teeny bit).

Let us hear from you ... tell us how you prepare it ...

%^)

Quinoa Tabooli Salad from a 2005 post on the old FLDG ...

http://www.wineloverspage.com/user_subm ... 07800.html

Clink !

%^)

I love Bill’s quinoa recipe and have made it a lot. More often now, I substitute Israeli Toasted Couscous. I love the mouth feel better. Quinoa does have its own unique taste and is a very healthy food. I know some moms who use it when they have children who will not eat much meat, because of the protein value it has.

As I recall from many years ago reading Mother Earth News (or was it one of the Rodale Press publications?), quinoa can be popped like pop corn. I did that once. But those teeny tiny seeds made, well, teeny tiny popped seeds. Not too exciting and not exactly a viable snack food to replace pop corn. Though, perhaps they would have been nice tossed on top of something as garnish.

I sometimes use some quinoa flour in my bread. I also grew quinoa one year to see what it looked like.

We seem to be on a quinoa kick here at my workplace. Last week it was the 7 grain salad, and last night Dylan made sort of a quinoa curry as a side.

He warmed a curry spice mixture in oil until fragrant, added chopped walnuts, pecans, and raisins. Let them toast for a few minutes. He then added vegetable broth and the quinoa.

It was really good.

Edited to add that there are Native American restaurants here in Santa Fe that regularly serve quinoa.

Betsy has periodically done recipes from the Sonoma Diet Cookbook, several with quinoa are pretty good. I tend to like it best in multi-grain dishes, but enjoyed this one as a side:

Basil Quinoa with Red Bell Pepper
Makes 8 servings

Start to finish: 25 minutes

INGREDIENTS


• 1 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (2 teaspoons minced)
• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup sliced green onions
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup shelled sunflower seeds

DIRECTIONS
Boil 2 cups of water. Set aside a small bowl with cold ice water. Add basil to boiling water, stir once and drain. Put in ice bath.
Place basil in food processor, add other ingredients.
Stir together cooked quinoa, bell pepper and onions and add basil mixture. Season to taste. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds.

Make-ahead directions: Prepare as directed, except do not sprinkle with sunflower seeds. Cover and chill for up to 6 hours. To serve, sprinkle with sunflower seeds.

TIPS
Note: Look for quinoa at a health food store or in the grains section of a large supermarket. To make 2 cups cooked quinoa, in a fine strainer rinse 2/3 cup quinoa under cold running water; drain. In a small saucepan combine 1 1/3 cups water, the quinoa and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Let stand to cool slightly. Drain off any remaining liquid.

Jenise,

Thanks for talking about quinoa. I have never bought it, but it's in a lot of the bread/cake/pasta mixes that I make for my son. I will have to look into it as an alternative starch...especially since it's high in protein and that's really important.

Thanks everyone for posting recipes. I am going to try and buy some this week.

[Jenise]

Jeff, thanks for that suggestion. I'll try it.

Bill, that's an interesting option! I love tabouli, trying it in place of what I normally use in an overall taste package that I'm familiar with is a great way to test it's appeal.

Cynthia, you have a chef at work? Where in the heck do you work? That looks like a yummy salad, a main dish lunch kind of salad.

Dale, I love the looks of that recipe, too. I'm all over cold grain salads. Hmmm...phone just rang between the last sentence and this. I'm invited to a party tomorrow night, she's serving BBQ ribs and I was asked to bring a salad. I'll bet this would work very very well, and it would be so different.

Martha, now that's interesting! I'm going to go pop some in a few minutes. Will report back.

Cynthia, you have a chef at work? Where in the heck do you work? That looks like a yummy salad, a main dish lunch kind of salad.

I'm administrator of an international sabbatical center. Participants come for a 100 day program. We need to feed them sometimes.

In point of fact, at the moment we have two chefs... Della who has been with us for 12 years, and Dylan, the vegetarian chef, who has been with us a year. Della is the Goddess of Soups, and Dylan is the Baking Guru.

This morning there were fresh, warm cinnamon rolls for the break, and in addition to everything else at lunch there was a fantastic many-bean soup made from the ham bones from Easter dinner.

Yes, it's difficult being me, but someone has to do it!

Cyn, I am glad I am not you with food like this! I am as big as a house now, and with food like that I would be as big as the Taj Mahal if food like this was "set out on the table" for the eating. What wine goes with fresh baked warm cinnamon rolls on the table. My Mother baked her bread twice every week for as long as I can remember. Occasionally, she would sweeten some of the dough and make what she called "Cinnamon buns" that she timed to come out of the oven of her wood burning kitchen range, just as we kids got home from school. Nothing says loving like something from the oven!

What wine goes with fresh baked warm cinnamon rolls on the table.

Muscat de Beaumes de Venise.

Minnesota blueberry wine!

Barolo goes with everything right? :^)

"Barolo goes with everything right?"

It does Jeff, and as Otto says Musar Rocks, and Tahbilk marsanne rules!

Bout I would just as soon have a nice cup of coffee with my iced cinnamon roll!

[Jenise]

Larry said:

I sometimes use some quinoa flour in my bread

Do you mean as a supplement? What does quinoa do for bread, besides add protein that is?

As a supplement. I frequently add a bit of this or that in my bread (quinoa, Kamut, various blends of coarse grains, Indian rice grass, etc.). It does add protein, plus I can just say that it has quinoa in it.