The People, They Eat With Their Eyes: Quinoa

     I have been avoiding quinoa. First of all, its crazy pronunciation (keen-wah), feels awkward. I know, I know. It’s healthy. You’d think I’d be a totally earthy-crunchy girl and would welcome quinoa with open arms. After all, I wrote a vegetarian cookbook, and it was full of, well, grains and vegetables. I should note that it was also loaded with butter, eggs, cheese and cream and all the stuff that makes life worth living. It may have been a vegetarian cookbook, but by God, it was not health food!
    Now that I’m older and wiser, I eat less of  “the good stuff” and more and more vegetables and healthy grains. But my family will not brook all vegetables all the time, so I’ve become an equal opportunity cook. I do insist on serving up plates of whole-wheat pasta with a mess o’ veggies from time to time, but there’s quite a lot of roast chicken on my table along with the tofu. But quinoa? No.
     The other day I ordered a quinoa salad at a restaurant, and the reasons for my resistance immediately jolted my memory. The quinoa had the misfortune of being presented on a plain white plate in a neat little cylinder. Like an annoying car alarm, it screamed ‘Empty tuna can! Empty tuna can!’. I tried to make it stop, but I couldn’t. The quinoa was embellished with a micro amount of (wilted) micro greens and a murky streak of something dark brown, presumably the champagne vinaigrette. That didn’t help. We were getting off to a bad start, quinoa and I. But I was very, very hungry, so I took a bite. It was, to my surprise, quite tasty. But I simply could not get past the beige. Beige does not get the juices flowing. I sat there, recalling my dear old friend Bernard’s admonition when he took our restaurant by storm: “The people, they eat with their eyes.” Indeed.
     I resolved to do better. At my local Whole Foods, I determined to resist the offending beige in favor of red quinoa since both were available. One method I find my way to a new dish is to think of its context. Where did it come from? I’m on familiar ground with French or Italian, but South America? I’d been to Ecuador once, but nothing jumped out at me. Well, squash maybe. Nuts, the salad had candied nuts. Pecans and squash seemed like a good fit. What else? Kidney beans, for additional protein? Goat cheese? It added a nice salty contrast to the salad I ate in the restaurant.  Something green?

Back home I experimented with cooking the quinoa. Quinoa, it turns out, is a seed, not a grain. The seeds are covered with saponin, a soapy, bitter substance that must be rinsed away before cooking. I tried a few different methods before I landed on a formula of 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water or stock. After cooking for 20 minutes, I took the pan off the heat and covered the pot to let it steam for about 15 minutes to dry out the quinoa for fluffing purposes. Success.
Meanwhile I roasted some squash in the oven and toasted some pecans. Well, I burned the pecans, the only ones I could find in my cupboard. So I reached for pumpkin seeds. If you toast them in a pan you cannot burn them as easily, unless you don’t take them out of the pan in time—in other words, nothing is totally idiot-proof. They add a happy crunch to this dish, and in a way, fit the Latin American theme even better than pecans. As I thought through the recipe, I streamlined it a bit. I made it again.  I added the squash to the cooking pot instead of cooking it separately to save time and washing up, and I used the offending beige-colored quinoa. The chili powder turned it golden and it showed off the squash and spinach and cranberries. Now it’s a feast for the eyes, too.
How do you feel about quinoa? Like it? Love it? Hate it? Never heard of it? Can't find it? Tell all--inquiring minds want to know!

Quinoa with Butternut Squash and Pumpkin Seeds

An overnight trip to New York City turned into a couple of days last week because of snow. The snow was a mess, but New Yorkers are not nearly as impressionable as news people, so it was, practically speaking, almost business as usual. No complaints—I had more time to do what I love to do in New York: eat, shop and spend time with family. Still, I was happy to come home and make something as comforting and simple as this quinoa.

            If you prefer, you can roast the squash in the oven separately and add it to the quinoa after it has rested. Toss it with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, some salt and pepper and spread it on a baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, until tender, in a 450°F oven.


Serves 4 as generous main veggie course

1 cup quinoa (brown variety shows off the squash and cranberries)

2 tablespoons olive oil plus a drop for the pumpkin seeds

1/2 red onion, finely diced

3/4 teaspoon chili powder

1 2-pound butternut squash, peeled (or not) and cut into 3/4-inch cubes

1 3/4 cups water or vegetable stock

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

2 large handfuls baby spinach (about 2.5 ounces)

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1. Put the quinoa in a bowl and cover it with cool water. Rub it between your hands and pour off most of the water. Add fresh water and repeat two or three times, until the water runs clear. Drain thoroughly in a fine-meshed strainer. Set the strainer over a bowl until you are ready to cook the quinoa.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large (4 to 5-quart) pot. Add the onion and cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes, until it begins to soften. Stir in the chili powder and the squash and cook, stirring every so often, for 3 more minutes. Add the drained quinoa, water or stock and salt. Bring the liquid to a boil, adjust the heat to a simmer, and cook, covered, for 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, set a small plate next to the stove. Pour a few drops (about 1/2 teaspoon) of olive oil into a small skillet. Heat the oil over medium heat and add the pumpkin seeds. Stir and shake the pan until the pumpkin seeds turn from green to olive to slightly golden brown. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and immediately scrape them onto the awaiting plate.

4. Remove the pot from the heat and add the spinach and cranberries. Cover the pot and let rest in a warm place for 10 minutes. Mix and fluff up the grains with a fork. Serve sprinkled with toasted pumpkin seeds.

Will spring come? Chai mix recipe to keep you warm

Uh, that’s a rhetorical question. Still, at times, it feels literal. For instance, right now. For us Northerners, February is the longest month. But the other day, I went into the grocery store at 4:30 and came out at 5:00 and it was still light! Wow. Progress.

  

The reason I bring this up is not because weather is the most exciting thing happening in my life (okay, some days, it is) but if ever I were to feel stuck in a rut, it would be at this time of year. Just as every snowstorm is a sure indication that winter is endless, progress on plans or hopes or dreams can often appear to be at a standstill. Oh ye of little faith. It is exactly the time to hunker down, dig in and allow the possibilities to swirl. They are underneath the surface. At least, that’s what I keep saying in an attempt to keep myself from falling into the abyss of discouragement. After a while, that just seems like a pointless exercise. So now I am contemplating what is just around the corner. I am excited about changes that I know will come, just as surely as I know the snow will melt and my sad little garden will start to wake up. Meanwhile, I am going to make myself a cup of chai to perk me up while the forces of nature take their course in their own sweet time.

Homemade Chai Mix

           

This chai recipe comes from my book Food for Friends: Homemade Gifts for Every Season. I had almost forgotten about chai until I read Amanda Hesser’s comments on the subject on Food 52, the blog she writes with Merrill Stubbs (if you haven’t discovered it yet, go there right now!) This chai has quite a bit more than cardamon, but since you mix up a mess of it and keep it in your cupboard, it’s easy enough to grab a little during the three o’clock slump. A benefit to making your own mix is that you can add as much or as little sugar as you like. The same goes for the milk. When the weather warms up (and yes, I know it will) you can drink it iced—a nice change from ordinary iced tea.


Makes about 20 cups of chai

5 tablespoons cardamon pods

2 tablespoons whole cloves

1 tablespoon coriander seeds
8 2-inch stick of cinnamon, broken into pieces

1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns

2 whole star anise

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1. Combine all of the ingredients except the ginger in a bowl and crush coarsely in a mortar in manageable batches. If you don’t have a mortar, use a rolling pin, or even easier, pulse briefly in a coffee grinder. Just don’t overdo it, you want pieces, not powder. Stir in the ground ginger and store in an airtight jar. (Note: if you use a coffee grinder: unplug it, wipe it clean and grind some coffee beans. Leave the ground coffee in the grinder for a while; it will absorb the spices.)

Chai for one (adjust according to you own preferences):

1/2 cup milk

1 rounded teaspoon chai mix

1 teaspoon or more brown sugar

1/2 cup strongly brewed Assam or other black tea

1. Combine the milk, chai mix, and sugar in a Pyrex measuring cup and nuke in the microwave for about 30 seconds, until hot. Let steep for 5 to 10 minutes while you brew the tea. Fill a mug halfway with the tea, and strain the infused milk into the cup.

Love Apple Soup: The Chocolate Alternative

I have nothing against chocolate. It’s an all-purpose food. Just like champagne is an all-purpose drink. It suits all occasions. When the chips are down: chocolate. When romance calls: chocolate. When the afternoon goes on forever: chocolate. See what I mean? It’s an obvious choice and no doubt about it, you will be eating it on Valentine’s Day.

           

Which brings me to a thorny subject and that is: Valentine’s Day. No problem if you have a sweetheart. No problem if you don’t have one and don’t care. But in between on the misty flats, there you are, sitting on the couch with a bowl of Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy. Oh, who are we kidding? You are eating it out of the carton. And if you’d had the foresight, you would have made these Rocky Road cookies. Go ahead, you still have time. They are the antidotes of the moment. You can watch Under the Tuscan Sun while the cookies bake. It has great scenery. I forget the ending, but does it matter? All you need to know is that it starts out bad and ends up better. The point is, nothing is static. One day you are miserable, and the next day, or week or month or year, who knows how you will be? Even an endless dry spell has its nuances, and it only seems endless. It has a termination point. You just can’t see it yet.

      

Now that you’ve had plenty of chocolate, it’s time for lunch. You need something to fortify yourself before your next encounter with the ice cream carton. That’s where these pommes d’amour come in. (Why does everything sound so much better in French?) Though tomatoes are out of season, you can make a very good soup with roasted plum tomatoes. You’ll hardly notice how long they’ve been off the vine or how far they’ve traveled. With so much flavor from the roasted tomatoes, no stock is necessary or wanted. For Valentine’s Day, why not spice it up with a garnish of sour cream spiked with some chopped chipotle chiles in adobo. You don’t need a hot date to be a hot tamale.

Roasted Tomato Soup

Summer seems far, far away right now and the temperatures are not climbing fast enough to make it feel like spring will ever come. Never mind. In the meantime, I am going to break my rule of cooking only with seasonal ingredients. What could possibly be in season right now? The ground is hard as a rock and underneath the snow it is brown, brown, brown. I need a little color and spice. The spice here is from chipotle chiles and they are hot. For the uninitiated, chipotles are smoked jalapenos and you can buy them in a can “in adobo.” They are marinated in a tomato, garlic, and vinegar sauce. Just remember, a little goes a long way.

Serves 4

About 2 tablespoons olive oil

3 pounds plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

A pinch of sugar

3 cloves of garlic

A few sprigs of thyme

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/2 medium onion, coarsely chopped

1 stalk celerey, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon rice

1/2 cup sour cream or crème fraiche

1 1/2 teaspoons seeded and finely chopped chipotle chile in adobo, or to taste

1. Heat oven to 450°F. Lightly oil the bottom of a large baking dish.

2. Place the tomatoes in one layer in the baking dish with the cut side down (you may need to use more than one baking dish.) Sprinkle them with salt, pepper and sugar and drizzle them with a little olive oil. Slice off the tips of the garlic cloves but leave the root end intact. Do not peel them. Distribute the garlic and thyme around the tomatoes. Bake them on the upper shelf of the oven until they are soft and their skins are loose and wrinkled, 35 to 40 minutes. If the skins are slightly charred, so much the better for flavor.

3. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large (3 to 4-quart) pot over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook gently until they are tender, about 8 minutes.

4. Remove the tomatoes from the oven and fish out the garlic cloves and the thyme. Discard the thyme and slip off the husks of the garlic cloves. Add the tomatoes and their juices to the pot with the garlic and rice. Simmer gently for 10 minutes.

5. Puree the soup in a blender until very smooth, in batches if necessary. Rinse out the pot. For a silky smooth soup, pass it through a food mill or strainer to eliminate tiny bits of tomato skin and seeds. Add the blended soup back to the pot with enough water (about 1 cup, depending on juiciness of tomatoes) to thin it to the consistency of heavy cream. Reheat the soup and season with more salt and pepper if necessary.

6. Stir the chopped chiles into the sour cream and float a spoonful on top of each bowl of soup.