OLD DOG LEARNS NEW TRICKS--QUINOA GREEK VEGETABLE SALAD

I have used quinoa for twenty years in my multi-grain bread, but I had never cooked with it. My yoga friend, Barb, kept telling me how good it was. I had some in the cupboard that I had meant to cook, but “life happened.” I heard you cook it like rice so a couple of months ago I threw some in my rice cooker and waited to see what happened. It was good and we put it in our winter soups.

Our spring weather swings all over the temperature range and when it is warm we start thinking salads instead of soup. I have a recipe that uses orzo pasta, small pasta shaped like rice grains, which originally started with Bobby Flay that Tom’s cousin cooks at their cottage. I had changed the recipe around and thought maybe my version would be perfect to try with quinoa.

Quinoa has been used since long before Columbus landed in the “new” world. It is technically not a grain but a seed. According to Wilipedia, it is closely related to beets, spinach and tumbleweeds. It is in the Genus, Goosefoot. It is gluten free, high in dietary fiber, high in protein. It is a complete protein which corn, beans, and peanuts are not. That’s why it is always good to have milk with peanut butter, and corn and beans together to form complete proteins for the human body.

TO COOK QUINOA
Use 1 cup of quinoa to 2 cups cold water. Before cooking, put quinoa in a sieve and rinse well. Use a rice cooker on white rice setting or cook on the stove top. To cook in a pan, place water and quinoa in a pan with a cover. Bring water mixture to a boil, turn down heat to low, cover, and simmer quinoa for 15 minutes. One cup of uncooked yields 1.2 pounds of cooked.

Salads are like soup. Use recipe as a guide, adding as much or as little of each ingredient as you want. Original salad contained dill weed, but dill and I do not get along so I eliminated it. It also was made with a ½ pound of uncooked orzo, cooked.

GREEK VEGETABLE SALAD WITH QUINOA

1 c uncooked quinoa, cooked
1 large cucumber, quarter and sliced, (I used about 1/3 of cucumber in this salad)
3 green onions
Red onion, chopped, to taste, (I used ¼ c)
3 carrots, halved lengthwise and sliced, (I used 1 ½ carrots)
Sliced black olives, to taste
1 red bell pepper, chopped, (I used ½)
½ green bell pepper, chopped, (I used ½)
4 to 5 radishes, halved and sliced, (I didn’t have any)
½ lb. Greek feta cheese, (I used 1/3 lb.)
DRESSING
1 t fresh marjoram leaves, (I used a few shakes of dried and 2 sprigs fresh thyme)
1 t sugar
¼ c white wine vinegar
3 T Dijon mustard
½ c olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

SALAD INGREDIENTS

DRESSING INGREDIENTS

Combine cooked quinoa with chopped vegetables in a large bowl. DRESSING: In a blender, put herbs, sugar, white wine vinegar and mustard. Blend. Slowly add olive oil with blender motor running. Blend until dressing is emulsified. Season to taste. Pour dressing over quinoa and vegetables. May not have to use all the dressing and any left-over can be kept in the refrigerator for use later.  It is yummy on a plain lettuce salad. Crumble feta into dressed salad and gently fold into salad.