It's unbearably hot here. Being the good (frugal) environmentalists that we are, we have yet to give into the this "air conditioning" trend, and don't even own one. With temperatures into the 40s (celsius, after humidex), the last thing I really wanted to do tonight was turn on a stove. And with no propane in the BBQ, it took a bit of creative thinking to come up with a meal with what we had at home.
I've mentioned we're in a CSA. That means we're getting bags of veggies of weeks right now. Salads get a bit tiring, but they make nice side dishes. After a quick tour through the pantry I came across some red quinoa.
Perfect! Quinoa, a grain, is a complete protein. This makes it a great addition to any vegetarian meal. No need to make a meat dish when we have this amazing little grain. It's one of the non-local staples that I will keep in my pantry. You can eat almost the entire plant, although we really only see the seeds here in North America. It's native to Peru, and was sacred to the Incans. No wonder, given the nutritional fortitude of this plant. It contains about 15% protein and has a full spectrum of the amino acids that humans require. It is also gluten free.
I cook our quinoa in the rice cooker: 1 part quinoa to 1.5 parts water and usually a handful of fresh herbs, today I used oregano from my garden. About three-quarters of the way through it cooking I added in the steamer tray to which I added chopped rainbow swiss chard and topped it with chopped garlic scapes, sprayed lightly on top with peanut oil.
When this was done, I served it in a Napa (Chinese) cabbage like a little quinoa-chard-veggie-taco. I didn't add a sauce, but you could add sour cream or salsa, or another favourite sauce. On the side, a spinach salad, because we still have all those salad-type veggies to get through!
Stay cool...
