I had some leftover saffron quinoa that I didn’t want to throw away but I didn’t want to eat either. Obviously the choices were limited…so I used the quinoa to make galettes. I figured it would be a nice balanced meal with a butternut squash purée with it.

The quinoa was originally cooked using as a risotto ingredients, with shallots, saffron, broth and white wine minus the parmesan. I did not add cheese, I think it would add some heaviness that it did not need. If you want a more pungent galettes, you can of course add parmesan or feta for the matter.

I steamed the quinoa with all the ingredients instead of slowly adding broth while cooking.

Ingredients

for the quinoa galettes

• 1.5 cups cooked quinoa (risotto-style)
• 1 carrot, grated
• 2 tbs amaranth flour
• 2 tbs corn starch
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbs mixed herbs (chervil, chives, basil, parley, etc…), chopped
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbs olive oil

For the butternut squash purée

• 1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed in 1.5 inches cubes
• 1/2 cup of vegetable broth
• 1 tbs coconut cream
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the galettes

Place quinoa in a mixing container. Add flour, corn starch and baking powder and mix well, coating the quinoa with the flours. Add carrots and herbs and mix again. Add beaten eggs and adjust with salt and pepper. If the mixture is too liquid add a little more flour.

Using your hands, form a galette of about 2 inches diameter and 3/4 inch think.

Heat olive oil in a pan and cook galettes at medium heat until golden brown on both sides. Keep warm.

For the butternut squash

Cook squash in a deep pan with vegetable broth at low temperature with lid on. Add salt and pepper. When the squash is tender and cooked all the way through and liquid absorbed, remove from heat and mash with a potato masher until smooth. Add coconut cream and stir well.

I had a lot of fun this weekend, playing in my kitchen. I love to spend time trying out new recipes and exploring new ideas. Unfortunately it does not happen as often as I’d like due to lack of time, and trying to accommodate everyone in the house.

Here is one way to prepare quinoa as a dessert, a little change from the savory preparations. You could eat this for breakfast as well, or anytime, you have a little sweet craving, but do not want to add up the calories. It’s a light dessert with lots of flavors, and the combination of the coconut and rum gives it an exotic flair, it brings me back to the island vacations, with the sun and the beach.

You don’t need to use a lot of quinoa in each mold, since it expands and absorbs liquid, a few tbs are enough. I found in my kitchen cabinet a baking emulsion I had bought a while ago at Chef Warehouse. It’s basically some strong coconut extract bakers use in their pastries, I thought to add some additional coconut flavor, and it enhanced the flavor to 60%, so if you can find this type of emulsion, it’s worth buying it, you could use it in any sweet preparation you use coconut.

Ingredients for 4 flans

For the flans

• 110 g cooked quinoa
• 3 eggs
• coconut sugar to your taste
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp coconut emulsion

For the mango salad

• 1 mango not too ripe, diced finely
• 1 tbs brown rum
• 1 tbs mint
• coconut sugar or stevia (or any sugar of your choice) to taste

Preparation

For the flans

Beat eggs and coconut sugar with an egg beater, beat for 5-10 minutes until obtained a smooth texture. Add the rest of the ingredients, and keep beating.

Pre heat oven at 365F. Divide quinoa in the four molds and pour coconut-egg mixture. Sprinkle with shredded coconut and bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes. When the flans are cooked, remove from molds and let them cool. You can eat them lukewarm or cold. Serve with mango salad on the side.

For the mango salad

Mix all ingredients together and serve with flans

This will be my favorite dish for some time. The inspiration came from a dish I ate in a restaurant in Healdsburg where grilled mushrooms were served with fried quinoa, poached egg and miso sauce. I changed things around a bit and added lentils instead of egg to make it vegan. Since I had eggs yesterday, I wanted to skip them today and it came out quite delicious this way.

Of course, you can skip the lentils, or the quinoa, add a poached, egg, etc… you can play around with it, the only thing you cannot skip is the miso sauce.

I love giant mushrooms because you can slice them and use them as meat. These ones have a lovely texture and are quite filling.

I am not a big user of miso. In my mind, it’s a Japanese ingredient that should not be mixed with French or Italian flavors. In this particular dish, its delicate flavor brings harmony and character to the different items combined in this dish. I will play with miso more often from now on.

Ingredients for 3-4

• 5 large king oyster mushrooms, sliced 1 cm thick
• 1/2 cup green lentils
• 1/2 cup quinoa
• vegetable broth
• 2 scallions, chopped

For the miso sauce

• 1 tbs miso
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 garlic cloves, crushed
• red pepper flakes to taste
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp rice vinegar

 Preparation

Steam quinoa in a rice cooker with vegetable broth (it takes about 10 min to cook) and lentils in vegetable broth as well until cooked. Mix them, sprinkle with olive oil and keep warm.

For the miso sauce, mix ingredients together and cook for a few minutes at low temperature until it boil.

Grill mushrooms until both sides are golden.

Dress in a plate. Place lentil-quinoa mixture in the center of the plate, arrange mushroom slices around and pour 4-5 tbs miso sauce per plate. Sprinkle with scallions.

For those like me these days who want more quinoa, here is a nice little recipe. I love to cook grains like a risotto by liquid absorption, this way, the grain gets infused with the flavor of the broth and becomes a little creamier. Quinoa can be prepared and cooked like rice. Here is a proof. It has been cooked like a risotto in a broth infused with saffron.

I guess I entered one of those phases where for a few weeks, I will just use one ingredient and research more recipes using it. Right now, quinoa makes me feel good after I eat it, I feel light and happy, so two good reasons to keep eating it. You can use other vegetables as well and replace squash with asparagus and peas, mushrooms, etc…just think about it as you would for a risotto.

Ingredients for 2-3

•  200 g quinoa
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 shallot, finely sliced
• broth
• 1 dose saffron
• 2 cups butternut squash cut in one inch pieces
• 1 scallion, chopped
• 4 tbs parmesan cheese (freshly grated)
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Place squash in a tray, sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Place in the oven under the broiler until all sides are golden brown and tender in the middle (do not overcook, the squash will be mushy) about 20 min.

In a bowl, infuse saffron with broth for about 10 minutes. In a pan, soften shallots with olive oil, then add quinoa. Add broth gradually like you would for a risotto, until quinoa is cooked (adjust with salt and pepper if necessary). Add parmesan, then add squash. Add scallions at the end and mix well.

That is one is now one of my new favorite desserts. I have a few favorite desserts despite my non sweet tooth, and this one certainly is on the list.

I was skeptical before starting this recipe, I thought the quinoa flavor would be too strong and overwhelming and not starchy enough, that this would not work as well as rice. I was wrong. I used regular milk but any other non dairy milk such as almond milk would be an alternative if you want to make it dairy free. I like to serve it with a fresh fruit salad and it’s the perfect light dessert, I would call it the guilt free dessert.

This is a quick little dessert to make, it cooks in 20 minutes, then you need to let it cool and it’s ready.

The pineapple salsa is cut in small little cubes and marinated in mint and agave nectar, nothing extravagant but perfect match with the subtle rum flavor you get while biting in the raisins.

Ingredients for 3-4

For the quinoa

• 7 oz (or 200 g) quinoa
• 1.7 cups (or 40 cl) milk
• 1.4 oz (or 40 g) sugar
• vanilla bean cut in 2
• golden raisins 3 tbs
• rum (enough to soak the raisins in)

For the pineapple salsa

• 3 slices of fresh pineapple, cut in small even cubes (about 6mm)
• 1 tbs mint, finely chopped
• agave nectar (to your liking)

Preparation

Rinse quinoa under running water, then place in a pot with the milk and vanilla beans scraped and simmer. Add sugar and let cook until the milk had been absorbed. In the meantime, soak raisins in rum until they turn soft and plumpy for about 30 minutes. Add raisins when quinoa is cooked. Stir well and let it cool, refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

For the pineapple salsa, mix all the ingredients and refrigerate.

Serve cream of quinoa with pineapple salsa.

This is a recipe for those days you want to eat well and not spend a whole day in the kitchen. I can almost call this a fast food meal, and anything I classified in my “less than 30 minutes” category can be called “fast food”, now 30 minutes is fast to me, of course comparing to some frozen meal you throw in the microwave, might not be. Of course everything is subjective. But since we are comparing this to homemade meals, and nothing else, this is definitely fast food.

You can substitute tuna with any other white fish, and quinoa with rice, but quinoa being very nutritious, it’s always good to add it into a regular diet.

Lately, I have been using brussel sprouts mainly shredded mixed with other vegetables and I really like them this way. It’s one way among others to prepare them. If you serve them whole as a side dish, may people tend to be reluctant and un-excited to eat them. Shredding them, make their flavor more subtle and friendlier and less intimidating to certain people.

Ingredients for 4

For the tuna

• 4 tuna steaks
• 1 small green bell pepper
• 1 small red bell pepper
• 1/4 red onion, finely chopped
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1tsp chives, chopped
• 3 tbs olive oil
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp tabasco sauce
• one pinch of cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper

For the quinoa

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1/2 onion finely sliced
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 3/4 lb brussel sprouts, shredded
• about 12 cherry tomatoes, cut in half lenghtwise
• smoked paprika
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the relish

Broil peppers under broiler on all sides until the skin darkens. Remove from oven, let them cool, then remove seeds and peel. Cut in small cubes. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

For the quinoa

Steam quinoa in a medium size pot with vegetable broth for about 20 minutes. Heat olive oil in a pan, brown onions. Add tomatoes and garlic and stir for a few minutes. Then add shredded brussel sprouts. Mix well to combine all ingredients, then add paprika, salt and pepper.  Cover with a lid and let it cook for about 10 minutes, until sprouts are tender but still green and with a tiny crunch. When quinoa is cooked, add to the pan. Mix well for a few minutes to combine all ingredients.

Grill tuna steak on a skillet, Add salt and pepper and serve with two tbs relish on top and quinoa on the side.

Yes, this is definitely a dish for one of those lazy days, not lazy “like sitting on the sofa”, but lazy “like not feeling to cook” but with a desire to eat something good.

After waiting for a while after for people all day, first to come check out some windows for replacement (and not showing up), for phone calls unreturned, you get into a strange mood and wondering what is wrong. Is it the muggy weather? Is there something up in the air that makes people unreliable? I have no idea. I guess some days are just like that. Well so for one of those days, this is the perfect little thing to do, that will not leave your kitchen messy.

Verrines have been quite popular in France, you just fill them with whatever you like for a fun presentation. Basically, the glass is filled with layers of quinoa, pesto, goat cheese. It can be served lukewarm or cold as a salad or appetizer.

Ingredients for 4

• 250 g quinoa
• vegetable broth
• 6 tbs chick peas (soaked in water or canned)
• 3 zucchini, sliced crosswise
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 4 tbs goat cheese

For the pesto

• 70 g peeled almonds
• 1 garlic clove
• 40 g parmigiano Reggiano, grated
• 50 g basil
• zest of 1 lemon
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Steam quinoa in vegetable broth by adding enough broth to cover the quinoa by 1/2 inch. Bring broth to a boil, then cover with a lid and reduce heat to the minimum. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the quinoa has absorbed all the liquid. The other and quicker alternative is to cook quinoa in a rice cooker. When quinoa is cooked remove pot from the heat and let it cool a little.

Add chick peas to the quinoa and mix well. Grill zucchini in a grill pan and add to the quinoa-chick pea mixture. Add lemon juice, drizzle with olive oil and adjust with salt and pepper.

For the pesto, combine all ingredients together in a mixer to obtain a semi fine paste.

In a glass, add one layer of quinoa, add a layer of pesto, then a layer of goat cheese. Start over with a layer of quinoa. Top it off with some goat cheese, a slice of grilled zucchini and a basil leaf.

Feeling like quinoa? after quinoa salads, I wanted something cakey but savory…My baby parrotlet Lilou ate all of the quinoa I made last Saturday, he loves quinoa and barley so now we share the same meals. There is always an extra portion for Lilou – Seems like quinoa is a bird seed along with millet but I do love bird seeds.

This particular parrotlet loves when I cook, he is so curious and intrigued to the point that when I chop vegetables, he gets so excited, he flies from his cage into the kitchen and starts chirping; just adorable.

I had a quinoa galette a few years ago in Paris at “La Maison du Danemark” on the Champs Elysées, a quite famous fish and seafood restaurant serving a Danish contemporary cuisine with an elegant touch and once in a while when preparing quinoa, I think about that galette.

With years going by, I really don’t remember what was in the galette, it seemed plain, I just felt like turning those cute seeds into something solid to bite on. After all, galettes are delicious, you don’t need to add too many ingredients into the mixture, you just enhance them with a coulis or a cream of vegetables like this one.

Dans le même esprit (in the same style), I made millet galettes a while ago, that are a derivative of those, so you can just play around with the ingredients and have fun. I used almond flour to thicken the batter and it added a pleasant nutty flavor. I like to steam quinoa, like I would do for steam rice, and usually I use 2 doses of water for one dose of quinoa.

Ingredients for 3-4 galettes

For the quinoa galettes

• 2 cups cooked quinoa (or 1 cup uncooked)
• 1/2 orange bell pepper, finely diced
• 4 cremini mushrooms, chopped
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbs almond flour
• 1 tbs mint, chopped
• salt and pepper

For the cream of leeks

• 1 large leek, chopped
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tbs crème fraîche or heavy cream
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cook quinoa in a pot covered with twice its quantity of water. Cover with a lid and cook slowly until the water has been absorbed.

Heat olive oil in a pan, brown onions, then add mushrooms and bel pepper. Adjust with salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and let it cook until the vegetables are tender but still firm. Remove from heat and add to the quinoa.

Add eggs and almond flour, mix well. Add mint and adjust with salt and pepper. At this point, the mixture will be thick but still smooth.

Place in silicon molds of about 10 cm diameter or greased ramequins. I love silicon molds because the food doesn’t stick and cooks quickly. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 20 minutes.

While the galettes are cooking, prepare the cream of leeks. In a pan, heat olive oil then add leeks. Stir for about 3 minutes, then add broth, salt and pepper. Cover and let it cook until the leeks are tender, about 20 minutes. Add cream and stir well, cook for another additional 5 minutes.

Blend in a mixer, and if the sauce is too thick add more broth.

Serve each galette with a few spoonful of leek cream around.

Today I said goodbye to my long time and faithful friend, my VW Golf I had for over 10 years, and that over the years turned into an old lady. I gave it to a charity and I have to admit that when the tow-truck came pick it up, I was somehow sad. I know it’s just a thing, and I should not get attached to material, but still, it was the first car I got in the US and I was somehow attached to it.  We went through some good and bad times together. I did not feel comfortable selling it, since the steering wheel was really hard to manoeuvre and I stopped driving it for a month, fearing it would break down in the middle of the street…and many other things were wrong with it, so I figured I would give it to charity.  C’est la vie, nothing lasts and things like people sooner or later quietly go. 

OK, let’s not dwell on this, it’s just a car after all! 

Let’s go back to the fun world of cooking, I love to play with quinoa, it’s delicious in soups, salads, taboule and any kind of side dishes. The great flavor comes from the herb salsa I made, which enhanced this whole salad.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup quinoa
• 1/2 cauliflower
• 2 carrots
• 1 cup  cooked cannelli beans
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 celeri stick
• 3 cloves

For the salsa

• 2 scallions
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 bunch parsley
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 1/3 bunch mint
• 5 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• a pinch chili powder
• salt and pepper

Preparation

If you are using dried cannelli beans, they need to be soaked overnight in water, if you didn’t have any and don’t have time, you can use canned beans, but they don’t taste as good as the dried ones.

Cook quinoa by steaming it, like you would make steamed rice. Add double its volume of water, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to a minimum and cover with lid. Cook for about 20 minutes.

If used, dried cannelli beans, cook them in water for about 30 minutes with 1/2 onion, 3 cloves, 1 celery stick, and 2 bay leaves. When cooked remove onion, cloves, celery, bay leaves, and drain beans.

Cut cauliflower in small florets, cut carrots in slices, then cut in half. Steam for about 10 minutes and set aside.

Mix the salsa ingredients in a mixer to make it into a smooth mixture.

When quinoa is cooked, place in a mixing bowl, add vegetables. Spoon salsa at the end and mix well.

A little quinoa bowl is enough for a light dinner with a salad. Especially that today I did not have any energy whatsoever. Muggy and awfully grey weather, friends moving out of the Bay Area, is not helping with the blues.

It felt like the sky was falling on my head. That is a feeling I am very familiar with, since I grew up in the Eastern part of France, where everything is sooo green (soooo green, is what people say), obviously it’s so green because of the rain.

Gray weather +  not wanting to spend to much time in the kitchen = quinoa

I mixed many vegetables to this quinoa so that one bowl would be nutritious enough as a meal. The spices gave it a nice kick, a little exotic flavor to it.

Ingredients for 4 as side dish

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1 bunch asparagus
• 1/3 cup peas
• 1 onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tbs mustard seeds
• 1 tbs cumin seeds
• 1 tbs coriander powder
• 4 cardamom pods
• 3 curry leaves
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Chop the onions and brown in olive oil, add garlic, stir for a few minutes at low heat. Add the spices, mix well for a few minutes, then the carrot and the peas. Stir the mixture. Add quinoa, and cook for a few minutes with the mixture. Add broth, curry leaves, salt and pepper.

Cut the asparagus in one inch chunk and cook them the in salted boiling water, for 5 minutes or more, until cooked but still firm.

Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to very low, and cook for about 20 minutes until the quinoa has absorbed the water.

When quinoa is cooked, add asparagus and mix well. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve hot.