A Quinoa Side Dish Worth Trying

I apologize for having been absent a lot from my blog in these last few months, as it has been a particularly challenging time for my husband and me. I am hoping that life settles down a bit, so I can continue trying out recipes and posting them here.
 

Quinoa Pilaf in Acorn Squash

Quinoa Pilaf

A couple of weeks ago, I had an idea to make something with quinoa (KEEN-wah). Quinoa makes a great base to start with, because it doesn't have a whole lot of flavor on its own, so it lends itself to things like a pilaf, which, strictly speaking, is a rice dish, but this works the same way. I had bought an acorn squash with the intent of filling it with Smoky Beef & Currants mixture. However, since I had just made and served some Smoky Beef & Currant Empanadas, it seemed too much to use that same mixture again in so close proximity, despite how good it is. Which brought me back to what to do with the acorn squash. 

When I started thinking of what kind of mixture to use, I thought of quinoa, since I hadn't used it in a while. And once I started thinking of flavors and ingredients to add, I just kept going and the mixture turned out so delicious that it is perfectly acceptable as a side dish (I served it alongside small pan-fried, skinless, boneless chicken breasts) or even a main dish all on its own. It may (or not) have been overkill to fill the acorn squash with it, but it was truly delicious, either way. The quinoa mixture made just a little too much for filling the acorn squash halves, so I kept aside the remainder for a lunch snack the next day.

If making the quinoa to fill the acorn squash, the recipe would be for two people, but the quinoa pilaf on its own could easily be a sufficient side dish for 3 or 4 people.

Quinoa Pilaf in Acorn Squash

Serves 2 to 4
 

Quinoa Pilaf in Acorn Squash

1 acorn squash
½ cup quinoa (I used red quinoa)
1 cup water
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon butter
1 onion, chopped
½ teaspoon salt
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1½ teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
½ green bell pepper, chopped
1 Fresno chili, seeded, minced

ADDITIONS:
1 teaspoon capers, drained
½ cup dried cranberries (craisins)
½ teaspoon ground allspice
2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, minced
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves, minced
3 tablespoons pine nuts
2 teaspoons maple syrup 

Preheat oven to 350. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil or parchment and spray the foil or parchment with cooking spray. Cut the squash in half lengthwise, then scoop out the seeds and discard. Set the squash halves, cut sides down, on the foil or parchment, place in the oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the squash is tender when pierced with a fork. 

While the squash bakes, place the quinoa, water and first half teaspoon of salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to steam for 10 minutes, then fluff. If water remains in the saucepan, drain it off.

In a skillet over medium low heat, cook the onion in the teaspoon of oil and teaspoon of butter, adding in the second half teaspoon of salt. Stir occasionally until the onions are golden. Once the onions are done, add the garlic and thyme leaves and cook for a few minutes more. Add the bell pepper and Fresno pepper and cook for about 5 minutes more, until tender.

Off the heat, add the "additions" to the skillet, along with the steamed quinoa and mix thoroughly. At this point, the Quinoa Pilaf is ready.

Once the squash is baked, carefully turn the squash cut side upwards and with a sharp knife, score the squash in 1-inch intervals in a cross hatch pattern, being careful not to cut through the skin. Sprinkle the squash lightly with salt, then mound in the Quinoa Pilaf. Return the squash to the oven for about 15 minutes more, then serve.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Red Quinoa and Black Rice

Some may be wondering about these two things in the title: Red Quinoa and Black Rice. Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) has become much more popular and accessible these days, while black rice is perhaps less so. I only found out about red quinoa in the last couple of years. While I had some black rice prior to even knowing red quinoa existed, black rice is far less available in many places. There is always the internet. The entire world has opened up so much more each year, providing availability of items we had no real hope of acquiring just a few years ago. 
 

Red Quinoa

Red Quinoa, and Quinoa in General

Quinoa is used similarly to grains, but is not even related, making it a wonderful replacement for persons with gluten intolerance. It is ground into flour, though using quinoa flour alone produces rather dense baked goods. This is remedied by using it in combination with rice or tapioca flours. Quinoa is far higher in proteins than wheat, making it a more complete protein source. It has far higher fat content than most grains, and it is a heart-healthy kind of fat, mainly monounsaturated oleic acid, alpha-linoleic acid and omega-3 fatty acids. 

Quinoa is also a significant source of the antioxidant flavonoids quercetin and kaempferol, and can contain a greater concentration of these flavonoids than berries such as cranberries and lingonberries. Other significant properties being studied are quinoa's anti-inflammatory properties, effect on diabetes, cancer and heart disease. See this article from Healthline.

Black Rice

Black Rice

Black Rice, or Forbidden Rice / Emperor's Rice, was once forbidden to the common people and only eaten by Emperors. It is still relatively uncommon in the US, but as demand rises, it becomes more widely available. 

One spoonful of black rice provides the same amount of anthocyanin antioxidants (the purple and dark red pigments that give color and nutrients to blueberries, grapes, blackberries, dark cherries and acai berries) as a spoonful of blueberries. Out of various kinds of rice, including polished white rice, brown rice, purple rice and red rice, black rice has the highest concentration of nutrients. It has nearly double the fiber of brown rice. See this article from the Cleveland Clinic.

Moving on...

With the information here, one can understand the reason why these two foods are of interest. For me, this is coupled with the fact that they taste really good. Either quinoa or rice is easy to prepare and both lend themselves to the addition of other vegetables and or fruits to enhance the flavors. I have made rice "salads" in past, using the addition of some chopped fresh vegetables and a light vinaigrette for flavors. One of my daughters has done the same with white quinoa, with fantastic results. In fact, she is the one that started me on quinoa to begin with.

Red Quinoa & Black Rice Salad

I have had many colors of rice in my pantry. Currently, I have white basmati rice, arborio rice, brown rice, purple sticky rice and bamboo rice (infused with bamboo juice), in addition to black rice. Thinking back to a rice salad recipe I used long years back, it used white rice and "wild rice" (not a rice at all). I recall really liking that recipe, though I never made it again. I thought that this combination of black rice with red quinoa would be interesting to look at, and with the addition of some vegetables, would make both a lovely presentation as well as great flavor and texture. As we are in the dead of winter up here where I live, while vegetables are available, they are more expensive and sometimes I just avoid buying things when who knows how far they have traveled before reaching a store nearby. 

Some things I do keep on hand are artichoke hearts, pimiento and other things in cans or jars, for when the mood strikes. In this case, the mood struck yesterday afternoon, when thinking of what to add to this recipe I was thinking up. There is a timing difference between cooking black rice and quinoa, so two pots must be dirtied to make them, but sometimes, the desire to eat a thing outweighs the consideration of how many things to wash up afterwards. 

Red Quinoa and Black Rice Salad, served with pork chops

Ultimately, I just loved this dish. It did turn out as pretty as I imagined. In summer I might add in other fresh vegetables such as green or red bell peppers, carrot, summer squash and other things. I love cilantro, and used it in this dish, but if cilantro is not your thing, use parsley instead, or even celery leaves. I used feta cheese in my salad, but other cheese can be substituted as desired. I had Feta in the fridge, as well as crumbled blue cheese and goat cheese, but opted for the Feta as it's saltiness was to play the part of any extra salt needed. If all you have available is white quinoa and brown rice, these would work just as well, though without quite the pretty color combination. Brown rice often must be cooked longer than the black rice also, so keep this in mind and follow your package directions.

Red Quinoa and Black Rice Salad

Serves 4 - 6

½ cup black rice
½ teaspoon salt

Red Quinoa & Black Rice Salad

1 cup water
-----
¾ cup red quinoa
½ teaspoon salt
1¼ cup water

VINAIGRETTE:
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
1 - 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
¼ teaspoon mustard powder
salt and pepper

EXTRAS:
1 (4-ounce) jar diced pimientos, drained
1 (6.5 or 7-ounce)jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained
⅓ to ½ cup chopped scallions
½ cup chopped cilantro
4 ounces diced or crumbled Feta cheese

In one small saucepan combine the first three ingredients, bring to boil, cover the pot, reduce temperature and cook until rice is tender and water is evaporated, about 30 minutes. If water is not completely gone, drain of any excess. Cool to lukewarm.

In another saucepan, combine the next three ingredients, bring to boil, cover, reduce heat and cook until water is evaporated, about 15 or so minutes. Cool to lukewarm.

Mix together all the vinaigrette ingredients and whisk well. Set aside. Drain the artichokes and cut them into smaller chunks. Add the diced pimiento to the artichokes. Place the cooled rice and quinoa into a larger bowl and toss. Add the vinaigrette and toss. Add in all remaining ingredients and mix lightly but thoroughly. Serve tepid.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Cracker of a Challenge

My painting of a Current Critter on a plate for my Dad

I am a creative person. I realized this long, long ago. My creativity has come out in different areas as my life went along. I drew pictures as a child, and they were pretty good. I was still drawing, going into high school and my one semester of university. When I moved to Guatemala as a young wife, I learned to cook, finally, and this was a logical step in the creativity department. I learned to cook and eat far different foods than I grew up with. I learned to can foods; make jams. Then I learned to do macramé. I always loved plants and had a relatively green thumb. I made the macramé hangers for plants and sold them along with a potted plant to set in them. Later I learned from my friend Elena how to crochet. I made doilies, baby blankets, sweaters for my kids and lots of other things. I learned to knit, though not as well as I could crochet. I learned to work with ceramics and paint lovely pictures, copying the "Current Critters" of the era.



A Cooking Class at
the Dacotah Prairie Museum

Through all this, I still did a lot of cooking with 4 young children at home. Then I met my second husband who is into computers in a huge way. We usually have software and hardware that he termed "bleeding edge", rather than just cutting edge, as it was so far out there in the vanguard of what was the norm that most knew nothing of it. He taught me to use computers and my artistic creativity went wild with the advent of graphic art. I have been asked to give cooking classes at or for the local museum. And now, not quite a year ago I started a website, this blog site, a Pinterest site. I wrote about 100 articles which my husband posted onto many, many online 'zine sites.

And for the first time in my life, as I started "A Harmony of Flavors," I realized I didn't need a recipe to make a new food!  This was such a revelation. It shook my little world. I have been making recipes, but changing things about them to my own taste, for as long as I can recall. This first happened in Guatemala. I had a cookbook my Mom gave me, called "Jiffy Cooking". As one might expect, it used time-saving/labor-saving things like cans and boxes. All of which were not available to me in Guatemala, so I had to improvise and make those "time-saving/labor-saving" ingredients from scratch. I mean, what the heck does one do when a recipe calls for cream of celery soup and no such thing exists?

I have been merrily making up my own recipes now for nearly a year. So when a new friend with an extremely restrictive diet gave me a challenge to make her some crackers yesterday, my mind went crazy with possibilities. I had a hard time focusing on our conversation after that little challenge was set down. It percolated in my mind all day yesterday, and this morning I got going. Before I even had breakfast, I set some brown rice to cook!

Two kinds of Crackers this morning

This lady is not on a gluten-free diet, per se, though she is not eating gluten. She cannot eat much of seeds or nuts. Beans of various sorts, brown rice, quinoa and many vegetables are her staples, along with some little meat or fish. Nothing from the nightshade family, no citrus or anything at all with acid. I wrote down those things that she could eat, and with those parameters I came up with two different kinds of crackers for her. As they baked this morning I was so excited. The first batch smelled wonderful while baking, and my only concern was that they be too fragile to hold a topping. This seems not to be a problem after all. I called them: 

Garbanzo Brown Rice Crackers with Herbs and Onion

dough set on parchment, scored and ready to bake

Makes about 35 to 40 (1½ x 2-inch) crackers

1 cup cooked garbanzo beans (drained, canned beans work just fine)
1 cup cooked brown rice (¼ cup before cooking)
2 tablespoons onion, very finely minced
2 cloves garlic, very finely minced
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely minced
½ teaspoon fresh thyme, finely minced
½ - 1 teaspoon salt, as needed
¼ cup olive oil

Place in the bowl of a food processor all ingredients except the brown rice. Process , scraping down sides as needed, until a smooth paste has formed. Add in the brown rice and process again, until well combined.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (350 on Convection Bake). Cut a piece of parchment that will fit on a baking sheet. Pour the cracker dough onto the parchment and smooth with a spatula as much as possible. Cover with another piece of parchment that has been sprayed lightly with cooking spray, sprayed side downwards, onto the dough. With a rolling pin, smooth the dough to about 1/8-inch thick. Peel off the top parchment sheet very gently and discard. Slide the parchment onto the baking sheet. With a pastry cutter or knife, score the dough into whatever size or shape desired, but keeping them relatively small. Bake them for about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and slide the parchment onto a rack to cool.

Once cool enough to handle, carefully peel the crackers off the parchment. Some will be crisp and many will not. If they need more crisping, reduce the oven to 300 degrees (275 on convection bake) and bake them for another 10 to 12 minutes, or until they reach the desired crispness.

I went ahead with a second variety as the first kind came out of the oven. The second variety I named: 

set on parchment, scored and ready to bake

Quinoa Brown Rice Crackers with Bragg's and Garlic

Makes about 35 to 40 (1½ x 2-inch) crackers

1 cup cooked red (or white) quinoa (½ cup before cooking)
1 cup cooked brown rice
2 cloves garlic, minced fine
1 tablespoon Bragg's Liquid Aminos
2 tablespoons olive oil

Place all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and process until fairly smooth. The quinoa will remain visibly "whole" even though it is cooked. The mixture will look rather like a whole-grain mustard.

Preheat oven to 375 (350 on Convection Bake). Cut a piece of parchment that will fit on a baking sheet. Pour the cracker dough onto the parchment and smooth with a spatula as much as possible. Cover with another piece of parchment that has been sprayed lightly with cooking spray, sprayed side downwards, onto the dough. With a rolling pin, smooth the dough to about 1/8-inch thick. Peel off the top parchment sheet very gently and discard. Slide the parchment onto the baking sheet. With a pastry cutter or knife, score the dough into whatever size or shape desired, but keeping them relatively small. Bake for about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and slide the parchment onto a rack to cool.

Once cool enough to handle, carefully peel the crackers off the parchment. Some will be crisp and many will not. If they need more crisping, reduce the oven to 300 degrees (275 on convection bake) and bake them for another 10 to 12 minutes, or until they reach the desired crispness.
 
Both turned out so very good. The lady loved them and was so happy with the crunch. I set some out with slices of plain avocado on top and they were excellent. The crackers are highly flavored on their own, so they do not need flavor enhancing and go well with anything not highly flavored.

These crackers are gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, vegan. Simple ingredients, with a most flavorful outcome. I hope that your diet does not need to be so restrictive as Cindy's for you to try these crackers. They are just too good to miss.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.