Maple Quinoa with Butternut Squash and Shitake Mushrooms

I threw this dish together on a whim, so feel free to play with other flavor combinations that you think could work or that you might have on hand. I used this maple vinaigrette from a recent salad experiment and it complimented the flavors really well.  This hearty dish is perfect on a cold night. Serve with a fresh citrus and avocado salad or a shaved raw Brussels sprouts salad for a complete meal.

Maple Quinoa with Butternut Squash and Shitake Mushrooms

Serves 3-4 as a main dish

Ingredients

1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced into bite-sized pieces

1 cup quinoa

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 onion, cut into small dice

1/2 cup shitake mushrooms, sliced

handful of pine nuts, toasted 

handful of dried cranberries

4 Tbsp pure maple syrup

5 Tbsp olive oil

3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

freshly chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Spread the butternut squash pieces out on a baking sheet and drizzle with 2 Tbsp of the maple syrup. Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place in the oven and roast for about 20-25 minutes until the squash is tender (a fork should easily be able to slide in and out).

Meanwhile, cook the quinoa by dry toasting in a saucepan for a minute or so. Add 2 cups water and and pinch of sea salt and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer, cover and cook for about 10-15 minutes until all of the water is absorbed. Fluff with a fork and set aside.

To make the dressing, combine 3 Tbsp vinegar and 2 Tbsp maple syrup in a bowl. Whisk in 4 Tbsp olive oil until combined. Add sea salt and black pepper, to taste. Set aside.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a medium saute pan. Add the garlic and onions and saute until just fragrant and the onions become translucent. Add in the mushrooms and saute for a few minutes. Then add the butternut squash, cranberries, and 1 cup of the quinoa. Stir to combine. Drizzle with the dressing and top with the pine nuts and freshly chopped parsley. Serve immediately.

Spinach + Quinoa Salad with Pears, Chickpeas and Pecans

 'Tis the Season with warm, wintry flavors. I made this salad over the Thanksgiving weekend but it's festive enough to remain on your menu throughout the holidays. The bright cranberries adds a wonderful color, flavor and texture that compliments the nuttiness from the walnuts and protein punch from the quinoa and chickpeas. Drizzle with a maple vinaigrette for a seasonal touch.  You could use pears or apples in this recipe- either one will work.

Spinach + Quinoa Salad with Pears, Chickpeas and Pecans
Serves 6 as a side dish

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa 

2  handfuls of organic baby spinach leaves, washed, drained
1 large ripe pear, washed, stemmed and cored, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup chickpeas, rinsed, drained
1/4 cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped

1/4 cup dried cranberries

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

Freshly chopped parsley
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Dry toast the quinoa in a saucepan for a few minutes. Add 2 cups fresh water and a pinch of sea salt to the pot. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer, cover and cook until all the water is evaporated and the quinoa is tender, about 10-15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and set aside.
 

To make the dressing, combine the balsamic vinegar and pure maple syrup in a bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until combined. Season to taste with sea salt and black pepper.

Combine the spinach, pear, chickpeas, parsley cranberries and 1/2 of the quinoa in a bowl.  Fluff to combine. Pour on the vinaigrette and toss gently to coat, adding more quinoa if needed. Season to taste with sea salt and ground pepper. Just before serving, add the toasted pecans and lightly combine.

Roasted Squash + Ginger Apple Quinoa

 

Another night cooking with ingredients from the Hamptons I decided to stay on the apple track and add one of my all-time favorite Fall produce, the acorn squash. LifeThyme market has the best roasted vegetables in their hot bar these days, loaded with all types of squash, carrots, onions...picking up dinner from there has become quite a habit but I thought I'd put my own spin on things tonight and do things my own way.  This recipe was pretty much a test so the measurements are not exact. Feel free to play with your own flavors and let me know what you come up with!

Roasted Squash + Ginger Apple Quinoa

(Serves 2-3 as a main)

1 acorn squash, quartered and seeded

pure maple syrup

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup cooked quinoa

almond slivers, toasted

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tsp fresh ginger, minced

1/2 onion, chopped

fresh parsley, chopped

2 tsp dijon mustard

1/2 cup crimini mushrooms, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1/2 apple, cored and cut into bite-sized pieces

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the squash cut-side up on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, pure maple syrup, sea salt and black pepper. Bake for about 30-35 minutes until you can easily poke with a fork.

Heat a splash of olive oil in a medium skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute for a few minutes, until soft and translucent. Stir in the mushrooms and the apple and saute a few more minutes. Stir in the garlic and ginger and saute for another minute or so and then add the dijon mustard and toss until all of the flavors start to combine.

Add the cooked quinoa, some of the almonds and the parsley to the skillet and sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper. Drizzle with a bit more pure maple syrup and toss to your liking.

Serve over the acorn squash and top with more almond slivers for a nice crunch.

Local and [farmer's market] Fresh

Ahhh...another night cooking in the Hamptons. It's hard not to be completely inspired to cook good food out here. Driving around you pass farmers markets left and right with local produce and fresh fish markets with their catches of the day. We went to Round Swamp Farm yesterday to get inspired. This is one of my favorite places here. They have it all, local from land to sea and they also carry specialty products that are hard to find. They had extra large JUMBO prawns that immediately caught my eye. I was like a kid in a candy store (really, sort of embarrassed looking back by my reaction). We grabbed a few of these and made a round through their market picking up local corn, heirloom tomatoes and other fresh ingredients to prep for dinner.

I decided to start with a recipe that I came across on the blog, Green Lemonade. I love this blog! It is Noelle's journey to living a healthier and more natural life and it is completely inspiring. She recreated the Heirloom Tomato and Avocado Salad from East Hampton's Blue Parrot . Noelle made a macadamia nut pesto instead of the restaurant's cilantro pesto and since cilantro is probably the only ingredient that my husband will not eat, I decided to go the same route. This was just incredible. The textures of the ripe tomato with the creamy avocado and crunchy macadamia nuts with the fresh basil was a party in my mouth. You can find the full recipe here. Let me know what you think!
We followed with a Sweet Corn Quinoa and Simply Grilled Jumbo Prawns. I added diced cherry tomatoes, cucumber, green onions and pine nuts to the quinoa and dressed it with a sweet Dijon vinaigrette. The meal came together so beautifully, we already had the leftovers for lunch today!

Sweet Corn Quinoa

Serves about 4

1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 ears of sweet corn
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup cucumber, diced
2 stalks scallion, thinly sliced
pine nuts, toasted

Dressing
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 Tbsp pure maple syrup
1 Tbsp good Dijon mustard
1 tsp salt

Cook the quinoa according to directions and set aside. Grill the corn, set aside to cool and then once cooled, cut the kernels off of the cob. Set aside. In a large bowl, stir together the corn, tomatoes, cucumber, green onion and quinoa.

To make dressing, mix all ingredients in blender until smooth. Stir into the salad and top with toasted pine nuts.

Simply Grilled Jumbo Prawns

Serves about 3

6 large prawns, shells on
olive oil
freshly ground pepper, to taste
sea salt, to taste

Using kitchen shears, cut a slit along the top part of each shell and clean the prawn by quickly running under cold water. In a bowl toss with a little olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Put directly on a high heat grill and cook for about 3-5 minutes, turning once until it turns pink and is just cooked through.

Arrange the prawns on top of a bed of the sweet corn quinoa. Serve and enjoy.

Chickpea and Asparagus Quinoa

I adapted another one of Heidi Swanson's fab recipes from her blog 101 Cookbooks tonight. I am on a major vegan kick right now and she's got some incredibly tasty options in her archives! She uses brown rice in this recipe, but I wanted to substitute quinoa. She drizzles with a homemade tahini dressing that is to-die-for! I made a little extra and will definitely use throughout the week on other dishes, like sauteed kale or serve with hummus and veggies.

Ingredients
extra-virgin olive oil
1 14-ounce can of chickpeas, drained
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 bunch of asparagus, cut into 1-inch segments
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 cup almond slices, toasted
fine grain sea salt

Tahini Dressing
1 garlic clove, smashed and chopped
1/4 cup tahini
zest of one lemon
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp hot water
1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt

Make the dressing by whisking together the garlic, tahini, lemon zest and juice, and olive oil. Add the hot water to thin a bit and then the salt. Set aside.

Add olive oil to a big skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chickpeas and sprinkling of salt. Let the beans saute for a couple of minutes (Heidi recommends waiting for some crusty color on them). Add the garlic and onions. Stir for a minute. Stir in the asparagus with another pinch of salt, cover with a lid for a minute or two to steam- just until the asparagus brightens and softens up slightly. Uncover and stir in the quinoa and almond slices, reserving a few almonds for the garnish. Taste and add more salt if needed. Serve into bowls and drizzle with a little of the tahini dressing to your liking.

Serves about 4.

Berry Breakfast

Always inspired by Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks blog, I am finally diving in and giving a crack at her recipes. I wanted something healthy, satisfying and slightly sweet this morning. I scanned the shelves of my fridge for ideas: left-over quinoa (something that I have been making a lot of lately. A great replacement for brown rice or pasta- sauteed with different varieties of vegetables or served alongside a fillet salmon with fresh herbs). Fresh raspberries also caught my eye and I immediately thought of a recipe that I had come across just the other day- Warm and Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa. Heidi's take on a recipe from Dr. John La Puma's recent release - Chef MD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine, a book that she highly recommends written by a someone who is both a doctor and chef. I made it with similar ingredients that I had around the house and it was the perfect start to my Sunday morning. After this trial, I am sure to add this book to my collection.

Warm and Nutty Breakfast Quinoa

I used a red quinoa here and raspberries, instead of blackberries. My quinoa was already made with water, so I never incorporated the milk. Also, a few of Heidi's notes and tips from the book: blueberries may also replace the blackberries, dark honey may replace the agave nectar, and walnuts may replace the pecans. I also added a few hazelnuts to mine. I thought it was a wonderful addition.

Ingredients

1 cup organic 1% low-fat milk, or soy milk
1 cup water
1 cup organic quinoa
2 cups fresh blackberries
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted*
4 teaspoons organic agave nectar

Combine milk, water and quinoa in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer 15 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Turn off heat; let stand covered 5 minutes. Stir in berries and cinnamon; transfer to four bowls and top with pecans. Drizzle 1 teaspoon agave nectar over each serving. *While the quinoa cooks, toast the pecans in a small skillet on medium heat for about 3 minutes.

Serves 4.