Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Mediterranean-ish Quinoa Salad

I thought I'd start things off with a quinoa dish I made last night that made me, my tummy, and even Alan happy. I went to the store and bought a bunch of ingredients for nothing in particular, thinking that for sure I would have everything I needed to make any number of recipes I'd found online, and discovered that I had about 70% of the ingredients for a large number of them. So I improvised a little bit. It worked as a main course for us (just because I ate so much), but I think it would go perfectly as a side dish with some grilled fish. Since I didn't have any, I included some tofu in this. Substitute at will.

Ingredients:
-1 cup uncooked quinoa
-1 Tbsp olive oil
-12 oz tofu, cut into small cubes
-1-2 cloves of minced garlic
-1-2 zucchini, cut in half and then into thin slices
-handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
-1 cup crumbled feta or goat cheese
-juice of lemon
-dill
-salt to taste

Get the quinoa cooking - I do mine in my rice cooker, and it actually works quite nicely. While that's cooking, heat the oil on medium-high in a large saute pan, add the garlic and tofu, and let the tofu brown (about 4-5 minutes). Add the zucchini and let it soften, another 4-5 minutes, then add the cherry tomatoes. I don't like mine cooked very much, so I just let them cook for about 2 minutes, tossing the pan most of the time.

Put the cooked quinoa in a large serving bowl and add the veggies, feta, and lemon juice. Add as much dill as you want - I like a lot, but for some it's overpowering (like Alan, who picked up a sprig, smelled it, and made a face you don't want people to make when they're tasting your cooking. Maybe let people add it individually). Toss it all - add a little more olive oil if it's dry.

This is good warm, but it's also super yummy the next day when the dill has flavored everything.

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