the family table: fall session: quinoa

October 23, 2012

fall session: quinoa

The Family Table's fall season has started!

(We always start with a breakfast treat and a cup of coffee. These are quinoa carrot muffins.)

The focus of this session is grains: quinoa, farro, bulgar and barley specifically. Last week, I gathered with five others to talk, chop, saute and share, while focusing on the taste and versatility of quinoa. Quinoa is a complete protein. Excellent for vegetarian diets looking to maximize protein in their diets. Quinoa actually dates back some 3-4,000 years to the Andes mountains. It is high in amino acids, calcium, iron, magnesium and fiber. It comes in white, red, black and rainbow.

How to Boil Quinoa:

Rinse the quinoa, then put it in a pot (if you buy "pre-rinsed quinoa you can skip the rinsing step)
Top the quinoa with water, covering by a couple inches. Salt.
Bring to a boil.
Turn the heat down to a simmer, cover the pot.
Cook until it is to your liking. This usually takes about 20-25 minutes, you will see the "curlicue" emmerge from the grain. Test it, it is done when it is soft.
Drain the excess water out.

At this point you can use your quinoa for salad recipes, or as a side. Mark Bittman suggests some great mix-ins in "The Food Matters Cookbook": olive oil, butter, any flavor pestos, fresh chopped herbs, dried fruits, sauteed mushrooms, onions, garlic, assorted spices such as cumin, coriander, chiles, saffron, turmeric, whatever you have on hand that you love.

How to Steam Quinoa:

(method thanks to Ellen King)

Rinse the quinoa, then put it in a pot (if you buy "pre-rinsed quinoa you can skip the rinsing step)
Top the quinoa with 1 1/3 the amount of water as quinoa (ie. 1 C. quinoa, 1 1/3 C. water). Salt.
Bring to a boil. Boil for about 3 minutes.
Cover the pot, turn off the heat and let steam for about 20 minutes.
The quinoa is ready to use, no draining needed.

Cook a whole box. Eat what you need and then make quart ziploc bags of the remaining and freeze. Remember it is there, and then take it out and use as an accompaniment to stews, mix in for soups, use in a stirfry, the list goes on...

We made Quinoa Cakes, adapted from a wonderful nutritional vegetarian blog, 101 Cookbooks.

These are really tasty, satisfying vegetarians and carnivores alike (they make people think they are crab cakes). In class, we cooked them up, made a simple marinara sauce with sauteed eggplant, then grated smoked mozzarella cheese for the top. We did learn that it is best to saute them right before eating, they do not heat up well (texture suffers). Once they are in patties, you can keep them in the fridge until saute time, or put them in the freezer for a future quinoa meal. Just take them out to defrost the morning you plan to serve them.

Quinoa Cakes by The Family Table

Then we made a delicious composed quinoa salad with chicken, dried cranberries, cumin, lime juice carrots and greens.

Chicken, Quinoa and Dried Cranberry Salad by The Family Table

And another yummy quinoa salad with cucumbers, chickpeas, spinach, mint, feta and a smoked paprika dressing. I had never used smoked paprika. It is such a lovely and rich spice (available at the Evanston Spice House). Quinoa is so versatile.

Quinoa, Chickpea and Spinach Salad With Smoked Paprika Dressing by The Family Table

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IN THE GARDEN

Four years ago, after generous donations from local garden clubs, we launched the Urban Garden at the YWCA. It started as 6 raised beds and we grew tomatoes, herbs, lettuce, kale, swiss chard, cucumbers, zucchini, collard greens, okra, eggplant and yellow squash. In 2012, thanks to an exciting donation from CoBank, we were able to increase the beds by 3, then 2 the next year 2 more in 2014. In our growing season, from April to December (thanks, global warming), I harvest the vegetables and prepare them in my weekly cooking sessions with the women at Mary Lou’s Place. It has been a great experience for all of us: planting seeds, then seeing them pop up from deep dark soil, then harvesting and eating the vegetables. It is magical. Each week I showcase a seasonal vegetable by using simple and easily repeatable recipes and preparations. As our garden unfolds, I will offer those recipes up to you, entitled “In the garden”.

In 2013, we started offering classes to Evanston women participating in W.O.W. (women out walking) sponsored by the Health Department. I held three part series where we would plant seeds; three weeks later tend the seeds and talk about nutrition; and three weeks later harvest and cook with the vegetables.

In 2014, we continued the outreach classes to the Latino Advisory Committee, to clients at Connections for the Homeless, and to families in Y.O.U.'s community schools. It has been a great journey and I hope to add new cooking groups this year.

A big thank you to those who have helped me along the way: to Margaret, Betta, Missy and Laurel for helping me in the kitchen way back when; to Amy A. for being there, for 4 years now; to Kim F. who helped maintain the garden that first summer; to Courtney and Jean who are so lovely to cook with; to Cie, my outreach cooking companion; to Amy D. who is the green thumb behind garden care 2014 and 2015; to Kim C. for making this blog; to Charles without whom the garden would not exist and to all of the many family table cookers, crock pot buyers and garden waterers who have made my years working with the YWCA possible. Thank you.

FAVORITE COOKBOOKS

River Cottage Veg, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Vegetable Literacy, Deborah Madison

Roots, Diane Morgan

Food Matters, Mark Bittman

Super Natural Everyday & Super Natural Cooking, Heidi Swanson

Plenty, Yotam Ottolenghi

Ancient Grains for Modern Meals, Maria Speck

Tender, Nigel Slater

The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, Judy Rodgers

Simply Ming, One Pot Meals, Ming Tsai

Bills Food, Bill Granger

Art of the Slow Cooker, Andrew Schloss

Slow Cooker Revolution, America's Test Kitchen

Any books by Jamie Oliver

Sunday Suppers at Lucques, Suzanne Goin

Braise, Daniel Boulud

Hello.

I created the Family Table in late 2010 with the goal of helping families, of all backgrounds, share low cost, nutritional family meals. From my distant days of cooking in restaurants in San Francisco, I had learned the joys of braising: simmering pots, filling your house with the anticipation of dinner. Braising is simple, inexpensive, full of vegetables, and provides comfort food for the whole family. When I overcame my snobbism of slow cookers just last year, I realized that they were the missing link that could enable families to eat together, even with the crazy pace of life we all seem to lead.

Over the past years, through my bi-weekly cooking with women, I have discovered that we all share the primal desire to eat fresh, healthy and good tasting food. Standing together at a kitchen counter, peeling, chopping, grating, enables us to connect to one another as we share stories of our lives, our hopes, our insecurities in a safe way. We are nurturers by nature and as we gather together to create food for our family, we are brought closer together.

I choose my recipes for their simplicity, affordability and flavor. Wherever I can, I omit extra fats, add extra vegetables, within reason. I want to confess: I am not a health food fanatic. I believe in real food that people will enjoy sharing every night of the week. Most recently, I have started an edible garden where I plan to cook with the fresh produce as it blooms. I encourage people to visit my blog, read the recipes, and maybe even gather some friends and neighbors to cook together.

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