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Saturday, February 24, 2007

February 23, 2007: Minted quinoa with pine nuts


After three fairly rich dinners in a row, I was looking for something nutritious and summery to eat on Friday night. As the feature ingredient (sorry, I'm watching Iron Chef as I write this!) I chose quinoa, since I had bought a packet from Allergy Block a week or two ago without any specific plans for it. Over breakfast Michael found this recipe from the Whole Foods Market website, and we served it wrapped up in wholemeal Mountain Bread, with mixed greens and Lebanese cucumber. The quinoa and pine nuts were a great combination and this was just the kind of fresh meal my body needed. However I found the overall flavour a bit bland: next time I'll add the juice of a lemon at the end - it's perking up the leftovers nicely.

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4 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:36 am, February 27, 2007

    Oh my god, PUMPKIN!

    sorry - automatic reaction! Whenever I think pine nuts I think pumpkin :D Quinoa is one of those food stuffs that I've seen around and have been meaning to try but haven't got round to yet...

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  2. Cindy9:52 am, February 27, 2007

    Heh, pumpkin and pine nuts are a pretty fantastic combo! I reckon they'd work well here, too, as well as or instead of the cauliflower.

    I'd definitely recommend giving quinoa a go - it's as easy to cook as rice and not too heavy and mealy like a lot of health food gimmicks. :-P Next up I'm going to try substituting it into my favourite couscous recipes, although this just turned up on 101 Cookbooks today...

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  3. Anonymous5:41 pm, February 27, 2007

    I absolutely adore quinoa - it is such a gorgeous looking grain when cooked, the germ curling out to look like a halo/planet ring around the grain.

    I discovered it a couple of years back whilst travelling through Peru, and found it very hard to locate in Melbourne on my return. I'm glad to see it is becoming more available, although I would love it if they dropped the price somewhat!

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  4. Cindy9:28 am, February 28, 2007

    Yep, this organic packet cost a fair bit more than your average bag o' rice. (It was worth it.)

    Your description of the cooked grain is both cute and bang on - I was wondering what the recipe was talking about with the grains "opening up" when ready. But when I saw it, I got it!

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