Grains
Salad or not salad? – Salad of grain medley with cannellini, shrimps, artichokes in a herb-lemon dressing
Jul 12th
Salade ou pas salade? – Salade tiède de céréales et mélange aux haricots blancs, crevettes, artichauts, vinaigrette aux citron et herbes
Lately I have not been too well, that’s why I haven’t been posting any recipe on a regular basis like I used to, and my desire and energy for cooking has gone down, hopefully it will pick up at some point. I have no motivation for sitting in front of my computer either, but I sincerely miss everyone, people I met through this blog have been incredibly supportive, kind and generous. Thanks so much for anyone who reads my blogs and leaves genuine comments, they mean a lot to me. I apologize if I have had a difficult time to catch up with everyone, I have had very low energy level and some health issues, but hopefully will get back to my regular routine soon.
I started writing this recipe about three weeks ago and never managed to finish it, it took me forever…so here it is after such a long time. This salad is composed with a well balanced mixture of grains, vegetables, and proteins, such a nutritious and flavorful dish.
I call this a salad since it has a dressing but it can be called anything you like, and can be consumed lukewarm or cold. The particularity of this dish is that I mixed eight varieties of grains and seeds such as brown rice, oats, lentils, pumpkin seeds, etc… for a mixed variety of textures. Maybe you’ll think this look more like a bird meal to you than a gourmet salad. It is definitely questionable, but after you taste it, you will think bird ingredients can taste incredibly tasty.
The grains have been enhanced with vegetables, and seafood which complement the grains quite well. This is nothing complicated, you just need various grains in your pantry.
Ingredients for 2-3
- 200 g of mixed grains such as:
- brown rice
- wheat flakes
- sorghum rice
- buckwheat
- pearl barley
- black rice
- pearl rice
- red lentil
- 1 tbs roasted pumpkin seeds
- 10 large shrimps
- 4 medium artichokes
- 3 tbs dry white wine
- 70 g cannellini beans cooked (either dried or canned)
Ingredients for the herb-lemon vinaigrette
- 3 tbs avocado oil
- juice of one lemon
- zest of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tsp tarragon, chopped
- 1 tsp parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp chives, chopped
- 1 tbs red onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- one pinch cayenne pepper
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Mix all grains together and steam them. You can steam them the same way you would steam rice, even if there are many varities of grains, some of them cook a little faster than others but it does not make a big difference cooking them all together. You can use a rice cooker or use the regular technique using a simple pot.
Trim artichokes, removing the hard leaves around, and cutting off the top of the artichoke. Cut in quarters and place in a container filled with water and lemon juice to prevent the artichokes from darkening.
In a pan, heat olive oil, add 1 garlic clove, then drain artichokes and add to the pan, stir for a few minutes, coating the artichokes with garlic and oil, then add wine, salt and pepper. Stir well. Cover with a lid and cook at medium heat until artichokes are tender. Remove from heat and set aside.
Saute shrimps in olive oil, add salt and pepper and set aside.
In a large container, mix steamed grains with artichokes, cannellini beans, shrimps, pumpkin seeds. Pour vinaigrette on top by mixing all ingredients together. Stir well and serve. You can serve at room temperature or cold.
As cute as caviar – Black quinoa, adzuki beans salad with fennel, carrots and mushrooms
May 16th
Aussi mignon que le caviar – Salade de quinoa et haricots adzuki, fenouil, carottes et champignons
I had bought some adzuki beans a while ago, yes I know there are so many kinds of beans, and this one is one among many others. It’s a bean mainly grown in the Himalayas and used in Asia in sweet preparations, they’re mostly known as red beans. Of course, I am not Asian, therefore in my culture beans are prepared in savory dishes and I wanted to try to prepare them in a more Western way, because after all a bean is a bean. I love black quinoa, it tends to be more flavorful and earthy than white quinoa and its nuttiness in this dish allied with the sweetness of fennel and red beans make it a palate pleasing combination.
Honestly, I was not sure I would post this because I thought it will be another quinoa/bean dish which is not the first on on my blog. After the first bite, I definitely thought it was blog-worthy, the colors were so contrasting all together and it resulted in a delicious and harmonious blend of flavors.
After yesterday delicious snapper with kumquat sauce I had shot, which for whatever reason my camera decided to not “save”, and after I ate everything, realized that not even one shot was there. I was wondering if this would happen again with this red bean dish…It seemed like my Canon was in a good mood today, and decided to keep this one. It happened a few times before and tends to be frustrating, especially after the terrible week I had.
Sometimes to speed up the cooking process of beans that have not been previously soaked, I add a little baking soda, it does reduce cooking time.
You can eat this salad warm or cold, either way it’s delicious.
Ingredients for 4
- 1 cup black quinoa
- 1 cup adzuki beans
- broth (1/2 onion, 1/2 carrot, 1 celery stick, 1 bay leaf, thyme)
- 1 shallot, diced
- 2 carrots, sliced in half lengthwise then crosswise
- 1 fennel bulb, diced
- 1 cup cremini mushrooms, diced
- 1 garlic clove
- 3 tbs cilantro, finely chopped
- salt and pepper
For the vinaigrette
- 2 tbs olive oil
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1/4 tsp cumin powder
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Cook beans in water with all carrot, onion, celery, bay leaf, thyme. Cook for about 45 minutes until the beans are soft. Drain and rinse.
Steam quinoa like you would do with rice.
In a pan, heat olive oil. Add shallot and let brown, add garlic and cook for another minute. Add carrots and fennel. Cover and let cook for about 10 minutes. When the vegetables are half cooked, add mushrooms, salt and pepper. Stir well and cook until the mushroom water evaporates.
Combine quinoa with beans, then add the vegetables. Let it cool.
For the vinaigrette, add all ingredients together mix well. Pour vinaigrette on the vegetable/quinoa mixture. Add cilantro, toss and serve.
Lilou's gourmande galette – Quinoa galette with bell peppers, mushrooms and mint – Leek cream
Mar 24th
La galette gourmande de Lilou- Galette de quinoa aux poivrons, champignons et menthe, crème de poireaux
Feeling like quinoa? after quinoa salads, I wanted something cakey but savory…My baby parrotlet Lilou ate all of the quinoa I made last Saturday, he loves quinoa and barley so now we share the same meals. There is always an extra portion for Lilou – Seems like quinoa is a bird seed along with millet but I do love bird seeds.
This particular parrotlet loves when I cook, he is so curious and intrigued to the point that when I chop vegetables, he gets so excited, he flies from his cage into the kitchen and starts chirping; just adorable.
I had a quinoa galette a few years ago in Paris at “La Maison du Danemark” on the Champs Elysées, a quite famous fish and seafood restaurant serving a Danish contemporary cuisine with an elegant touch and once in a while when preparing quinoa, I think about that galette.
With years going by, I really don’t remember what was in the galette, it seemed plain, I just felt like turning those cute seeds into something solid to bite on. After all, galettes are delicious, you don’t need to add too many ingredients into the mixture, you just enhance them with a coulis or a cream of vegetables like this one.
Dans le même esprit (in the same style), I made millet galettes a while ago, that are a derivative of those, so you can just play around with the ingredients and have fun. I used almond flour to thicken the batter and it added a pleasant nutty flavor. I like to steam quinoa, like I would do for steam rice, and usually I use 2 doses of water for one dose of quinoa.
Ingredients for 3-4 galettes
For the quinoa galettes
- 2 cups cooked quinoa (or 1 cup uncooked)
- 1/2 orange bell pepper, finely diced
- 4 cremini mushrooms, chopped
- 2 eggs
- 3 tbs almond flour
- 1 tbs mint, chopped
- salt and pepper
For the cream of leeks
- 1 large leek, chopped
- 1/2 cup vegetable broth
- 1 tbs crème fraîche or heavy cream
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Cook quinoa in a pot covered with twice its quantity of water. Cover with a lid and cook slowly until the water has been absorbed.
Heat olive oil in a pan, brown onions, then add mushrooms and bel pepper. Adjust with salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and let it cook until the vegetables are tender but still firm. Remove from heat and add to the quinoa.
Add eggs and almond flour, mix well. Add mint and adjust with salt and pepper. At this point, the mixture will be thick but still smooth.
Place in silicon molds of about 10 cm diameter or greased ramequins. I love silicon molds because the food doesn’t stick and cooks quickly. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 20 minutes.
While the galettes are cooking, prepare the cream of leeks. In a pan, heat olive oil then add leeks. Stir for about 3 minutes, then add broth, salt and pepper. Cover and let it cook until the leeks are tender, about 20 minutes. Add cream and stir well, cook for another additional 5 minutes.
Blend in a mixer, and if the sauce is too thick add more broth.
Serve each galette with a few spoonful of leek cream around.
Orzotto, almost like a risotto – Saffron barley with calamari
Feb 26th
Orzotto, quasi come un risotto – Orzo allo zafferano e calamari
It looks like I am on some seafood addiction lately, I understand it can get boring for people not fond of seafood. I bought extra calamari when I made the stew to be able to use in some other dish.
That wonderful little cereal used here, barley is one of my favorites. What I love about barely is that it always remains firm, so you always get that crunchy and a very pleasant little chewy bite. I used pearl barley whose bran layer has been removed (vs. bran barley) its size doubles volume when cooked due to its high content in fibers. It contains a lot of minerals and vitamins therefore makes it a perfect nutritious and healthy grain with low glycemic index. Orzo in Italian means barely and not “orzo pasta”.
The consumption of barley goes back to Greek and Roman civilizations due to its nutritious properties, the easiness of its transportation and long preservation, it’s supposed to be one of the most ancient grain that can be retraced back to the Egyptians.
In Italy, Orzo is also used in making a drink mixture called “caffè d’orzo“, basically it’s a powder like coffee (you can either dissolve it in hot water like instant coffee or preapre it in a moka maker) and used like coffee with milk to be served for breakfast. Its consumption as a drink started in the XVIII e century among peasants and continued throughout the years. It was mostly a drink consumed by elderly and kids for its healing properties, it’s nowadays served “al bar” (coffee shop) like espresso and is even more expensive. I love my bowl of caffè d’orzo, sometimes that’s my dinner!
I love saffron barley as much as I love saffron risotto, sometimes I just like something that has a less creamy texture than risotto, more chewy and fluffy, so barley or farro are my first choices. You can make this dish with farro too, it has equally lots of great nutrients. This barley dish has tons of character with the presence of saffron and gives it a distinct Mediterranean flair. A simple and flavorful dish very easy to prepare, un ottimo primo piatto molto gustoso ma veloce da preparare!
Ingredients for 2
- 6.34 oz (or 180 g) barley
- 1/2 shallot, finely chopped
- 1 dose saffron
- vegetable broth
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/3 tsp paprika
- 5.20 oz (or 150 g) calamari, (either already cleaned or not)
- 2 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Start preparing the barley like a risotto. In a pot, heat 1 tbs olive oil, then add shallot and brown. Infuse saffron in lukewarm broth. Add barley, coat with olive oil and progressively add broth, adjust with salt and pepper (I did not use white wine like in a traditional risotto nor parmesan) and proceed until barley is cooked. You want the barley to have absorbed all the liquid unlike in a risotto, the barley needs to be somehow “dry”.
In a pan, heat 1 tbs olive oil, add garlic and stir. Add calamari, paprika, salt and pepper and sauté at high heat until calamari are cooked but not rubbery and still tender. Reduce a little of the liquid, but keep some.
When barley is cooked, add to the calamari pan, and mix well until the juice has been absorbed by barley. Sprinkle with parsley and serve hot.
Is it really Israeli? – Israeli couscous with curry vegetables
Dec 17th
Est-ce vraiment Israélien? – Matfoul aux légumes et curry
I discovered this type of couscous in the US. I had never seen it before, so I started experimenting with it when I had some Israeli clients. I was so happy I found something “Israeli” to cook for them, but when they told me it was not Israeli, I was somehow confused and disappointed. I had no idea about what Israeli cuisine tasted like, I thought due to their geographical location it would have some Middle Eastern flair. In Paris, in the Marais quarter, the historic Jewish area has one of the most popular Felafel joint, called “L’As du Felafel”, so I my mind Felafel and spicy food was common in Israel and I figured that something called “Israeli” should at least be coming from Israel. Apparently not. It’s like the French manicure of French cleaner, not sure why they call it French but we are no specialists in nails nor cleaning!
So Israeli or not Israeli, I like this couscous variety, it’s fun to prepare and great to eat. Couscous is consumed in all Middle East, so I guess it must be coming from that side of the continent. In France it’s called Matfoul which I think is its original Arabic name. I am not Jewish and obviously not kosher but maybe in my previous life I was. I started cooking by not mixing dairy and meat and I have to say that I like it.
This is a great side dish that can be an alternative to rice, or some other carbohydrate dishes. I like to spice it up a little with curry and spices and add vegetables to it, to make it a little more exciting. I have a few cookbooks about Jewish cuisine and I like the simplicity of the recipes and influences coming from so many different countries.
I certainly know that this blog lacks meat recipes but I think the most important thing is to enjoy and take pleasure in whatever you do, cook or eat, no matter what it is. Otherwise there is no point in posting something just for the sake of posting it. I usually serve this couscous with sumac chicken tenders, that has been one of my most requested dish in the “Middle Eastern” category.
Ingredients for 3-4 as a side dish
- 4.2 oz (or 120 g) Israeli couscous
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 small eggplant, diced
- 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
- 3 tbs cherry tomatoes, cut in quarters
- 1 shallot, diced
- 1/2 cup cooked chick peas
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 tbs cilantro, chopped
- 1 tbs mint, chopped
Preparation
First start cooking couscous. Heat olive oil in a pot, add couscous and let it brown and get coated by olive oil like you would proceed for a risotto. Add broth and cook until couscous is tender but not too soft. Drain and set aside.
In a pan, brown shallots, then add the rest of the vegetables except for the chick peas. Add salt and pepper and let it cook until vegetables tender. Add chick peas. Add curry powder. Stir well and cook for about 5 minutes, then add tomatoes. Add couscous and mix well all ingredients together. Adjust with salt and pepper. Add mint and cilantro and serve hot.
Fregola is acting like a risotto – Saffron fregola with grilled zucchini and mushrooms
Oct 14th
La Fregola è gelosa del risotto – Fregola allo zafferano con zucchine e funghi
I adore Fregola’s texture…those little round balls that are similar to couscous but are really not…It’s a pasta specialty from Sardinia and when cooked they remain somehow chewy and al dente at the same time.
This fregola has been prepared like risotto with a saffron broth then enhanced at the end with grilled vegetables and parmesan. I think you can find Fregola at any Italian grocery store or specialty store. We have a Sardinian restaurant in San Francisco called La Ciccia, they serve traditional Sardinian cuisine, which is really good (you can find fregola dishes, octopus in umido, pane carasau, etc… lots of traditional Sardinian products) and not really the typical Italian-American you see very often in many Italian restaurants, which I think is a mixture of different cuisines and influences. It might have been traditional 150 years ago, then with time, it became a modified cuisine mixed with local influences and ingredients.
Fregola is an authentic Sardinian pasta product and I have never seen it served in any other Italian restaurant other than at La Ciccia. As a matter of fact, I have never seen it in other parts of Italy either because it is a very regional product mainly consumed in Sardinia. So if you can find it, try it out.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying Italian-American is not good food, I’m just saying it’s just not real traditional Italian cuisine. For example Cioppino, that tomato seafood stew you can find in many restaurants in San Francisco, even though it sounds Italian, it is not. It’s something that was created in San Francisco. Isn’t that funny? A well-made cioppino is excellent, but it’s not really Italian even though you can find some similar dishes in Italy, I have never seen Cioppino.
I would be very curious to see the cuisine in Australia, if it went through the same trends and if it evolved like cuisine in the US did. Australia being also a new country, it might have had a similar phenomenon. A friend of mine gave me an Australian cook book she bought over there, and I have to say that the cuisine is very interesting with lots of influences too but put together differently.
Anyway, going back to Fregola, which is somehow the topic of this post, it can be cooked like risotto, or like pasta, or used in soups, or like couscous. It is a very versatile little ball and really delicious.
Ingredients for 3-4
- 1 cup fregola
- 2 zucchini, sliced crosswise
- 10 medium size mushrooms
- 1 shallot
- 1 saffron dose
- 2 cups or more vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- Fresh parmigiano reggiano, grated
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Infuse broth with saffron for about 20 minutes.
In a medium pot, heat olive oil, add shallots and brown them. Add fregola and coat it with olive oil as you would do for risotto. Add saffron broth and wine gradually. Adjust with salt and pepper.
Grill zucchini in a grill pan and cut in smaller pieces. Set aside. Saute mushrooms in 1 tsp olive oil, and cook until the water evaporates. Mix with zucchini.
When fregola is cooked. Add vegetables, and stir well. Add parmiggiano and serve hot.
A close cousin has just arrived – Whole wheat orzotto with shrimps, sea scallops, fennel, radicchio and herbs
Aug 24th
Un cugino è appena arrivato – Risoni integrali con gamberi, cappesante, finocchio, radicchio ed erbette
Orzo in the US, is that tiny pasta shape like a bird’s tongue, orzo in Italian means barley, so when I just arrived to the US, I got confused. Now since I am in the US, I will try to use american names so that people don’t get confused either. I have known orzo to be a cereal whole my life, in Italy they use it even as a drink, caffè d’orzo, it’s basically a powder like the instant coffee, you add hot water, dilute it and you get a cup of dark drink that somehow tastes like coffee and has no caffeine. It’s an alternative to coffee.
My mom used to make me soups with this pasta when I was a child and called it “bicca” meaning “seed” in her local dialect, they’re called Risoni in Italian (riso = rice, big rice grain).
Anyway going back to the other orzo, the pasta-orzo, in this dish I cooked it like risotto, coating it with olive oil, then adding broth and white wine gradually. You can also cook pasta this way. The water is absorbed gradually and pasta gets all the flavors of the stock.
I love this dish, it’s healthy, flavorful and very delicate and an alternative to risotto, if you want once in a while get some whole wheat grain in your diet and still be fully satisfied with your meal, this would be be perfect. I love risotto, a well-made risotto is heavenly but sometime I just want some whole wheat grains.
Ingredients for 2-3
- 1 cup whole wheat orzo
- 12 shrimps with shell and heads on
- 2/3 cups small sea scallops
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 1 carrot
- 1/2 onion
- 3 cloves
- celery stick
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 tbs fresh tarragon
- 12 mint leaves
- 6 large basil leaves
- 2 tbs parlsey
- 1 tbs fresh oregano
- 1/2 fennel, finely diced
- 1 cup shredded radicchio
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Start making the stock. Place 3 cups of water to a boil and add all the herbs, the fennel, the radicchio, let cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the water and drain. Chop the herbs finely and set aside.
Add carrot, celeri stick, stick cloves inside the onion, and add to the stock. Peel the shrimps, head and shell and add to the stock, reduce until you have about 2 cups of stock. Let it simmer for about 30-40 minutes, adding a little water if the water evaporates.
When the stock is ready, drain and keep the liquid.
In a pot, heat olive oil, add shallot and let it brown. Add risoni, coat them with olive like you would for a risotto. Add a little stock and wine, stir until the liquid has evaporated, and add continue stiring and adding stock and wine.
10 minutes before the orzo is almost cooked, add sea scallops and 9 shrimps cut in pieces, leave 3 or 4 for decoration. Stir well and cook until the seafood is cooked all the way through. Add the herbs, radicchio, fennel mixture. Stir well and let rest for about 5-7 minutes. Drizzle with olive oil and serve very hot.
Can I have some polenta please? – Rosemary and parmesan polenta crostoni with spicy wild mushrooms and pancetta ragù
Aug 4th
Mi dai un pò di polenta per favore? – Crostoni di polenta al rosmarino e parmigiano con ragu piccante di funghi e pancetta – cavolo in padella
I have been wanting to make polenta for months now, I had this bag of polenta in my pantry, but did not have the other ingredients I needed to make what I had in mind, so I kept waiting.
Polenta has been a big part of my life, my mom used to make a huge quantity of polenta, spread it on a large wooden surface and served it with a rabbit and tomato sauce. Everyone would take a spoon and eat it from the wooden board.
Polenta prepared in Northern Italy like Lombardia or Friuli is white, it’s served sliced with prosciutto and radicchio. Basically, it replaces the bread in some households. Actually, In Milano, they cook it with milk, and top it with a mushroom sauce, more like a gravy. That is the way I ate it at my childhood friend whose parents were from Milano. I was used to the yellow polenta served with a mushroom, or rabbit tomato sauce. Two different way to prepare it.
Anyway, I found the most interesting mushrooms at the Berkeley Bowl yesterday, and I was so curious about those tiny but still chunky-legged mushrooms, that I just had to buy them. Trying new ingredients gives me some adrenaline rush, and for the particular purpose, that store is perfect.
To be really honest, I am unable to tell you the exact name of those mushrooms, the hand-written sign was unreadable, and I did some research on the web to try to find out their names and I am uncertain of what they’re called. I believe they’re shimeji. Some kind of Japanese mushroom, that has the shape of porcini mushroom but a smaller size. A Heavy stem and a small cap. It has a great flavor and I really liked the mixed flavors of those three different mushrooms.
Going back to polenta, you can buy the pre-cooked or the regular polenta that needs to cook slowly for an hour on medium or even slow heat, so if your wrist is not trained, since you have to stir for the entire hour, you will get a sore wrist and arm. If you are new to polenta and don’t have too much time for preparation and cooking, the pre-cooked kind would work fine. Unfortunately, I only had the regular one, so I had no choice than go the traditional way.
Big polenta eaters like in Friuli, have a special pot with a mechanical arm that stirs the polenta, so you just have to sit and wait.
You might not see it on the picture, but those crostoni have been carved in the middle so you can stuff them with the mushroom sauce.
Ingredients for 4
For the polenta
- about 4 oz. pre cooked or regular polenta
- 1 tbs rosemary, chopped
- 1 tbs parmigiano reggiano, grated
- 3 cups broth
- salt
For the mushroom sauce
- 4 slices pancetta, chopped + 4 slices whole (for decoration)
- 5 well riped tomatoes, chopped seedless
- 1 cup small shitakee, some sliced, some whole
- 1 cup oyster mushrooms, sliced
- 1 cup shimeji mushrooms
- 1 shallot
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tbs parsley
- chili flakes to your taste
- 2 tbs olive oil
For the cabbage
- 1/2 cabbage, shredded
- 1/4 yellow onion chopped
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
First start preparing the polenta. Bring broth to a boil, add salt. Add rosemary, then pour polenta. Stir non stop and cook at very low heat, add water if necessary. If using regular polenta, it needs to cook for at least 40 minutes, always stirring. If using pre-cooked polenta, cook for about 7-10 minutes, and keep stirring. Add Parmesan.
When the polenta is cooked pour in a small deep dish so that the polenta has a thickness of about 1.5 inch. Let it cool. When cooled, with cut circles of about 2.5 inches in diameter. With a teaspoon, remove some of the center of each polenta circle. Drizzle with some olive oil, and brown under broiler for about 5 minutes or until the top of the polenta is golden brown. This broiling part needs to be done at the end, when the tomato sauce and cabbage are almost cooked, or the polenta will get cold.
For the mushroom sauce
Heat olive oil in a pan, add mushrooms. Cook at medium heat, until the water has evaporated, add salt and pepper. Remove from pan and set aside.
In the same pan, add olive oil, add shallot, let it brown. Add chopped pancetta, and brown the mixture. Add garlic and parsley, stir well to get the flavors out, add tomatoes and chili flakes. Cook until the sauce has reduced but do not reduce too much, there needs to be some tomato juice left. Add mushrooms and adjust with salt and pepper.
For the cabbage
Heat olive oil in a deep pot, add onion, and brown it, add cabbage, stir and add wine, salt and pepper. Cover and cook at medium heat until the cabbage is cooked.
Grill whole pancetta slices in a non stick pan.
Serve in a plate with 2 tbs of cabbage on bottom, add polenta crostoni on top. Fill the center of polenta with mushroom sauce. Add 1 grilled pancetta slice on top. Decorate with whole shitakee around the plate.
It's warm, it's flavorful, it's a salad – Warm quinoa salad, with cannelli beans, carrots and cauliflower with a four herb salsa
Jul 25th
C’est tiède, c’est plein de saveur, c’est une salade – Salade tiède de quinoa aux carottes, cocos, chou fleur et salsa aux quatres herbes
Today I said goodbye to my long time and faithful friend, my VW Golf I had for over 10 years, and that over the years turned into an old lady. I gave it to a charity and I have to admit that when the tow-truck came pick it up, I was somehow sad. I know it’s just a thing, and I should not get attached to material, but still, it was the first car I got in the US and I was somehow attached to it. We went through some good and bad times together. I did not feel comfortable selling it, since the steering wheel was really hard to manoeuvre and I stopped driving it for a month, fearing it would break down in the middle of the street…and many other things were wrong with it, so I figured I would give it to charity. C’est la vie, nothing lasts and things like people sooner or later quietly go.
OK, let’s not dwell on this, it’s just a car after all!
Let’s go back to the fun world of cooking, I love to play with quinoa, it’s delicious in soups, salads, taboule and any kind of side dishes. The great flavor comes from the herb salsa I made, which enhanced this whole salad.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup quinoa
- 1/2 cauliflower
- 2 carrots
- 1 cup cooked cannelli beans
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 celeri stick
- 3 cloves
For the salsa
- 2 scallions
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 bunch parsley
- 1/2 bunch cilantro
- 1/3 bunch mint
- 5 tbs olive oil
- 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- a pinch chili powder
- salt and pepper
Preparation
If you are using dried cannelli beans, they need to be soaked overnight in water, if you didn’t have any and don’t have time, you can use canned beans, but they don’t taste as good as the dried ones.
Cook quinoa by steaming it, like you would make steamed rice. Add double its volume of water, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to a minimum and cover with lid. Cook for about 20 minutes.
If used, dried cannelli beans, cook them in water for about 30 minutes with 1/2 onion, 3 cloves, 1 celery stick, and 2 bay leaves. When cooked remove onion, cloves, celery, bay leaves, and drain beans.
Cut cauliflower in small florets, cut carrots in slices, then cut in half. Steam for about 10 minutes and set aside.
Mix the salsa ingredients in a mixer to make it into a smooth mixture.
When quinoa is cooked, place in a mixing bowl, add vegetables. Spoon salsa at the end and mix well.
Like a little boat – Stuffed zucchini with millet, spinach, parmesan and herbs
Jun 17th
Comme un petit bateau – Courgettes farcies au millet, épinards, parmesan et herbes
I don’t know why I am not a fan of stuffed vegetables, it is something I quite never had a great pleasure eating and I really cannot understand why. Maybe because they remind me of my childhood: the stuffed vegetables my aunt was preparing in Italy, they were so greasy and floating on oil, that I could not eat them…and of course, I had absolutely no other option than eat them, because she would not let me go. I would elbow my mom so she could take them discreetly in her plate, but of course, that was not an option either since zia Flora was scrutinizing us. Now, zia Flora has no internet and does not speak English, so she will never know I hate her stuffed eggplants!
In France we have an expression that says “marche ou crève” meaning “walk or die”, in Italy it would be more like “mange ou crève” which means “eat or die”!!
Anytime I make stuffed vegetables, I just cannot avoid thinking about those beautiful purple eggplant soaked in oil. Not sure why some of the older generation of people think that if there is little fat, there is no taste, that somehow fat and taste are related. Where does this come from? Obviously you need fat, I don’t like anything “fat-free”, and never buy those fat-free products but you just cannot use half liter of oil anytime you make a meal.
Those zucchini are different, they are fulfilling but light and certainly not greasy. I used little millet and actually I was quite happy about the result, so I figured I would post it, for those of you who want an idea for stuffing veggies.
I know millet is mainly a bird seed but I somehow like its taste and nutritious values, since they are filled with proteins.
Ingredients for 6
- 3 medium size zucchini
- 1/3 cup millet
- 1 tomato, seedless, peeled and diced
- 1 tbs parsley, chopped
- 1 tbs basil, chopped
- 2 tbs parmigiano reggiano, grated
- 1/2 cup cooked spinach
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 shallot
Preparation
First start cooking millet. You can either use a rice cooker, or steam millet in twice its quantity of water until it’s soft and the seed has popped out.
Cut the zucchini lenghtwise, scoop the flesh with a teaspoon, cut in small pieces. Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallots, and cook until soft, then add garlic and cook for another minute or less. Add the diced zucchini flesh and cook until soft.
In a container, mix zucchini, shallot mixture, add tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients and the cooked millet. Mix well and stuff the zucchini with the mixture.
Cover with aluminum foil and cook in a 375F oven for about 20 minutes, then remove foil and cook for additional 10 minutes to brown the top.
