Tired of Rice? Try Quinoa... Weekend Herb Blogging!

Our brief fling with spring is over and winter has returned to our little corner of the world.  The barbecue grill was wheeled back into its shed and thoughts turned back to comfort food: hearty, rib-sticking, warming food.  Lentils - but not a salad.  Salads are for warm warmer weather.  I needed a stew!  And I had just the thing to go with it.

I found it at the supermarket last week.  Something new!  Well, new for me, anyway.  I know the rest of the world has been extolling its virtues for the last 6,000 years or so, but we're a conservative lot here in the Vendée.  We don't embrace new things easily.  That's the thing with me and spring: I get the urge to get out and do things, try new things, be adventurous, if only for the moment.

So, what is it, you ask, that I'm talking about for Weekend Herb Blogging #76?

Quinoa.  Actually, in my case, quinoa mixed with bulgar - one can't expect the French to be too open to new foods.  After all, no one believed me when I said wild rice could be eaten on it's own.  (It's always mixed with Basmati.)

Quinoa has been grown in the Andes for over 6,000 years and was second only to the potato as a food crop (third was maize).  It was grown and held sacred by the Incas.  Nutritionally it's very high in protein, gluten free, high in fiber and minerals, and " contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete foodstuff".   Not only that, it's good!  It has a nutty taste with just the tiniest bit of crunch: when cooked the germ (a tiny, white spiral) separates from the seed and maintains an 'al dente' bite. 

Quinoa has an outer coating that is very bitter and must be thoroughly washed.  If you buy packaged quinoa this will have been done so all you need do is cook it. 

My French package said to cook it like pasta, in lots of boiling water.  Google said to cook it like rice, which is what I did: 1 part quinoa t o 2 parts chicken stock, ready in 15 minutes - as soon as the germ starts to separate.  Something new instead of the stand-by brown and Basmati rices!

With it we had a nice, almost vegetarian Lentil Stew (I had a piece of Vendéen ham left from the asparagus starter).

Lentil and Bean Stew

1 onion
2 stalks celery
3 cloves garlic
1 tbs oil
1/2 cup lentils either Lentils du Puy or regular tan or brown lentils
1 cup beef stock
1 can white kidney beans (Cannellini) 15oz (450gr)
1 can whole tomatoes, 15oz (450gr)  2 cups
1 tbs crumbled sage
1 - 2 slices Prosciutto  or Vendéen Ham

Pick over lentils in case they missed the odd stone.  Put lentils and beef stock in small saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until lentils are done.  They should absorb all of the stock but don't let them dry out.  Chop onion, Prosciutto, mince garlic and slice celery.  Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion and celery, sauté 5 minutes. Then add garlic and ham to pan and sauté briefly.  Open, drain and rinse beans.  Open and drain tomatoes, discarding juices.  Roughly chop tomatoes.  Add beans, herbs and tomatoes (with the juices from chopping) to pan. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until lentils are done, about 15 minutes.  When lentils are done, add them to beans and mix well.  serve with quinoa.

In case your wondering about the lack of red color - I used a bag of frozen yellow tomatoes for this.  It gave it a nice golden color that I rather liked!

This week Weekend Herb Blogging is back home with Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen.  Please stop by her blog on Monday to see what wonderful herbs, plants and flowers are being cooked around the world!

Bon Weekend!

Comments

[Kalyn]

Hooray. I am officially on spring break for the next nine days! So naturally I'm feeling very happy. I've only cooked with quinoa once but I did like it. It sounds like the lentil stew would taste great with it. I love lentils. Haven't found a lentil recipe yet that I didn't love.

[Tanna]

I used to cook with quinoa very frequently and haven't for a long time. Need to get some in the pantry soon. The lentils...I love em. I was so excited when several varieties started showing up in the stores!!! The stew looks excellent.

[Lydia]

I've just started exploring the joys of quinoa, in part because I'm determined not to default to couscous all the time when I'm in a hurry to get a meal on the table. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

[Ulrike]

An interesting combination.

[Helene]

Thanks for another variety to use my beloved quinoa. The pictures are thrilling!! :)

[Katie]

It's all new to me. I'm thinking it will be great, cold in salads this summer....I'll let you know! I think I like it better than couscous - although I like typing couscous...

[sher]

I love, love quinoa!!!! It's almost the perfect food. And it tastes wonderful. Thanks for that recipe. Looks delicious!

[burcu]

Quinoa and lentils: sounds good to me. I must try this!

[Pookah]

my friends from Peru say to use quinoa in any recipe that calls for cous cous. your recipe looks great and healthy!