The fella: What is it?
Me: Quinoa.
The fella: What is it?
Me: Quinoa. It's an ancient grain. All the people who eat things we've never heard of eat it. You know. Hipsters. 'Sposed to be better for you than rice or potatoes.
The fella: But what is it?
Me: Don't worry about it. It's round rice. Just eat it.
The fella: Round rice? That's fun.
½ hour later ...
The fella: That was gross.
Me: Yup.
The fella: What was that again?
Me: Gross.
That's the approximate conversation from a few years ago when I made Quinoa for the first time. It was also the last time I made it until last year when we underwent the dreaded, asshead, whole foods, takes 17 hours and knocking a cow on the head to make dinner, "meal plan". Not a diet. It was a "meal plan".
The meal plan included a recipe for Stuffed Peppers made with Quinoa instead of rice. I gave them a shot, they were gross and I put the Quinoa back in the cupboard just behind the 7 year old "Family Pack" of Lipton Cup-a-Soup but slightly in front of the cardboard box of "potatoes".
Then last summer we went for dinner at a local restaurant which served Quinoa salad. Out of the blue that's what the fella ordered for an appetizer. He must have been having one of his adventurous days. Or he thought Quinoa was French for chocolate cake covered with chocolate sprinkles, filled with chocolate pudding on a bed of Chunky Monkey ice cream. He loved it (the Quinoa salad). He loved it a lot.
He loved it so much it led to an assault. More on that later.
Seems all those years ago I was making quinoa. I was making it gross.
Quinoa's kindda like rice. Or tofu. You need to add stuff to it to make it more than just a lump of something on your plate.
As we were leaving the restaurant the fella saw a man with food stains all over his clothes walking in. Now, I would have assumed this guy was just a messy eater. The fella assumed he was a "cook", and grabbed the fella by the lapels and said "HEY! Are you the one griddling up stuff?" Or something like that.
Quite possibly on the verge of making another stain on his clothes, Jeff Crump, owner of several high end restaurants around town said ... Yup. I'm the owner and chef.
The fella: WHAT'S IN THAT QUINOA SALAD??!!!
Jeff: Um ... er ... um ... well there's quinoa and some lemon and some oil and um ...
While the shake down was going on, I had my iPhone out recording all of the ingredients.
A few days later I scratched out some semblance of the recipe and we've been eating it ever since. It's not as good as the one in the Bread Bar restaurant but it's good enough for you people.
HAH!
So ... do you have yourself a bag of Quinoa with no idea what to do with it?
Do this ...
Gather your Ingredients ...
1 cup Quinoa
1 Tbsp. White Wine Vinegar
3 Tbsps Olive Oil
2 Green (spring) Onions (sliced thin)
1 Cup drained and rinsed black beans (scant)
1 Cup drained and rinsed chick peas (scant)
1 - 2 jalapeno peppers (diced super-fine)
Lemon (for juice)
Feta Cheese
Cook the quinoa. For this recipe I just use the immersion method. Dump your cup of Quinoa into slightly salted boiling water (uncovered). The amount of water doesn't matter. 4 cups or so. Simmer for 13-14 minutes. Drain.
Add quinoa to a big bowl, mix in vinegar, olive oil, green onions, black beans, chick peas, jalapeno peppers and a big squeeze of lemon juice. Crack in some pepper, add a sprinkle of salt (not too much) and top with feta cheese. Taste and adjust salt if needed. (remember the feta cheese is really salty, so you may not need to add salt at all)
The first day this salad tastes O.K. The second day, it tastes like something that would prompt you to grab someone by the lapels and scream "WHAT'S IN THAT QUINOA SALAD?!?"
Jeff Crump by the way, is the chef who graciously let me use his pizza dough recipe on this site. The one from his fantastic Earth To Table cookbook. Jeff Crump has no idea my fella was the one that accosted him for his organic, Quinoa and fresh feta salad recipe, and I plan to keep it that way.
Quinoa? What's that.
Amendment: Many people are commenting that Quinoa needs to be rinsed. While that used to be true, it no longer is. Most commercially processed Quinoa now comes with the bitter, outer shell already removed. Unless you're buying your Quinoa from a local farmer or sometimes in bulk, you do not need to rinse and soak your Quinoa.
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At a restaurant in Toronto, my friend had quinoa onion rings. They used the quinoa in place of bread crumbs and they were amazing with some sort of curry dipping sauce. Given the french fry love around here, maybe you could figure out a quinoa onion ring recipe for us??
Damn that sounds REALLY good!!
It was! I remembered the restaurant name, too. It was "Fresh." Great place.
this is so weird... just Wednesday I finally bought some quinoa -- determined to make it...into....something..... thanks! I'll try your "now what" salad!
Heh! Good name. ~ karen
Funny quinoa story. About a year ago, I was making pizza but I realized I didn't have any cornmeal to spread under my crust. I called my other half and asked him to pick up some cornmeal on his way back from work. He comes home proudly with a bag of quinoa and says, "it was hard but I found it!" My reaction: ....I said CORNMEAL. Him: oh I couldn't find any so I looked for something that sounded like it. A for effort I guess..
To this day I still have that quinoa... I should probably throw that away.
It's Keen-Wah? Seriously? I am so glad I never tried to order this off a menu. It's like the time I tried to buy Acai Berry at the health food store. It looks like little barleys. Does it taste like barley? I like barley. The salad looks delicious.
Been there, done that! Discovered quinoa ...probably from some smarty pants PBS cooking show back when smarty pants PBS cooking shows were all that was. Back when quinoa was a lot harder to find. Now it's easy to find, but still kinda 'spensive! :( I usually make it with broth or a cream soup and make a batch half-n-half with rice or couscous. BTW you can tell the FF that quinoa really is one of the 'true grains' - it's been around in the Americas probably as long as rice in Asia! Good stuff, Maynard. :)
kelli - How long something's been around will have no influence on whether or not he considers it a true grain. It's too trendy for it to be a "true" anything for him. ~ k!
Karen, discovered your blog yesterday. You are pretty funny. My hubby is very similar- goes out in the garage, puts around, comes back in and fixes whatever I was hoping to buy new. Boy has he saved us money, and I am finally able to appreciate his virtues.
OMG I'm totally addicted to quinoa! I love it!! I do love it in place of rice in stuffed peppers. Here are a couple other wonderful recipes you must try!
http://iowagirleats.com/2012/02/16/mini-ham-cheese-quinoa-cups/
http://www.eatcleandiet.com/the_kitchen_table/recipe/recipe.aspx?id=805
I love quinoa. Here's my favorite recipe:
http://www.bhg.com/recipe/beans/greek-quinoa-and-avocado-salad/
Is quinoa one of the five True Grains?
SamiJ - Don't be ridiculous. You're so ridiculous. I don't want to speak for the fella's father but I'm pretty sure he'd call Quinoa a "trumped up, pretentious grain that doesn't deserve to be in the same class let alone kitchen as the true grains. Bah.". ~ karen
Ha, I loved the shake-down story. My quinoa is also gross, so I will try making this! It seems like something my husband would like, as we love the artistically created salads at the co-op and sometimes try to make them.
Also wanted to share, we just made a new website perhaps you might like to use sometime. It's for comparing two photos, and giving a description. You can make your own page and showcase the gist of all your projects there if you want. It's http://www.myspinonpins.com if you're interested. We'd be honored if you gave it a whirl. My page is coming along at http://www.myspinonpins.com/kathryn . Thanks!
I buy my quinoa at a co-op in their bulk section and it definitely needs to be washed alot. The same co-op makes a great quinoa salad whIch is sorta similar to yours but minus the black beans, chick peas and feta, and plus cilantro, baked or fried tofu in tamari, and finely chopped red onion. And a dash of oregano. It s strangely addictive.
I used to be able to eat quinoa..my sister makes a fabulous salad with kale and roasted yams. But I noticed that it started to give me terrible stomach aches and wondered if maybe it did need to be rinsed before eating. I am hesitant to test my theory. Wondering if anyone else has the same aversion? This same occurrence also has happened with me and avocados! Sad story!!
Sounds yummy. Anything with feta cheese - yum. I make quinoa (or couscous) with cucumbers, fresh tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes & grilled, marinated artichokes & feta cheese - yummmmm. Instead of water, I use chicken or vegetable broth - gives it even more yummy flavor. So many options.
My first experience making quinoa was the same as yours - DH and I looked at each other and said "never again!" Now, I love me a good quinoa salad - in fact, I think I've only ever had it in a salad. Oh! And in a delicious gluten-free chocolate cake. Yum!
My favourite salad consists of quinoa, caramelized leeks, roasted almonds, celery, dried cranberries, feta, olive oil, lemon juice, and s&p. Addictive!!
Halleluia! I've always wanted to try quinoa but have always been reluctant...my family is very skeptical, (and down right picky), of anything out of the norm. Especially my son who usually won't try anything new, unless of course he goes to a friends house and happens to eat with them, then it's back home saying "Mom, you should make such and such like Mrs.So-n-So does, it is SO GOOD! Grrrr....Thank you Karen for this recipe, and also to your loyal followers with all their quinoa ideas. Going to pick some up at the store today!
I just discovered quinoa a few weeks ago and love it. This recipe looks fantastic. I happen to have some quinoia kicking around so tonight that's what's on the menu. I bought Jeff's book on your recommendation and it's one of my all time favs.
And here I thought that 2lb bag of KeenWah in my freezer was just for icing strains and sprains. Whodda thunk it's good for eatin' too!? ~;)
Oh my god, Karen. You`re totally in my brain! I was given Quinoa as a shower gift on Saturday, and a Quinoa cookbook, too - but, although the pictures look pretty, I prefer the interweb - where I can read reviews!
You haven`t let me down with any recipes yet, so I am soooo going to try this one!
karen - what does "scant" mean next to the beans & chickpeas in the recipe?
BTW I am obsessed with your blog and find a new friend to send it to at least once a day.
Laura G - Thanks! I appreciate every single time anyone refers someone else to my blog. By "scant" I mean not a big heaping rounded cup. Just slightly less than a cup. ~ karen!
Ahh - ok so it means exactly the definition then - wasn't sure if it was a Canadian translation for some fancy cooking term (since I am neither a cook nor Canadian I wouldn't know..)
:)
Can't wait to use up my quinoa in the pantry as well!
Funny, I just made Quinoa salad last night to take to a family cook-out tonight. Mine has lime, red wine vinegar and cumin. I love it, the fella still doesn't "get" quinoa-and he's not picky at all!!