Zucchini and Tomato Frittata
August 1, 2014
Margaux says…
I love making frittatas for dinner in the summer. It’s a great way to use up random produce sitting in the fridge, it’s quick and easy, and it is best served at room temperature, which is great in summer. I got the idea for this one from Skinnytaste.com, except this isn’t the skinny version.
We don’t have tons of tomatoes and zucchinis like some people, because we unfortunately don’t have a garden. But I know that when you do grow those things, they are plentiful, so this is a great way to use it up. And the Asiago adds so much delicious flavor to this dish!
Zucchini and Tomato Frittata
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 large onion, diced
2 medium zucchinis, cut into matchsticks
8 large eggs
3/4 cup shredded Asiago cheese
1/4 cup chopped basil
salt and pepper
2 small garden tomatoes, sliced thinly
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Whisk together eggs with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper and Asiago cheese. Set aside.
Heat olive oil in a 10″ non-stick pan or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add onion, and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add zucchini and turn up heat to medium-high. Saute until zucchini is soft, about 2 more minutes. Add egg mixture and let sit for a minute, then tilt the pan and loosen the edges with a spatula, letting uncooked egg slide underneath. Cook until the underside is golden but the top is still liquid, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes to the top of the frittata, sprinkle a little salt on them, and transfer to a center rack of the preheated oven. Bake until the top is set, about 5 minutes. If the top doesn’t set in that amount of time, turn the broiler on high, move the rack to the top position, and broil until the top sets, about 1-2 minutes. Don’t overcook! Remove pan from oven and let cool to warm. Remove frittata from pan onto a large serving plate, or cut right in the pan and serve. I like to serve it at room temperature, but it’s also good warm.
Cherry-Cream Cheese Hand Pies
July 25, 2014
Margaux says…
I was at the farmer’s market yesterday and saw that sour cherries are still available around here. I was surprised, because I know that sour cherries are only available for a short while…and we picked ours a month ago! But of course I wasn’t thinking about the fact that there are a few different varieties of them, and the ones available now are a darker red shade, but still just as sour. So, I wasn’t going to post this recipe because I thought the season was over, but we’re in luck around here! Grab some this weekend and bake these…I promise you won’t be sorry. The crust is heavenly, and I love hand pies because the crust to filling ratio is perfect. And these are a perfect dessert to bring to your friend’s BBQ! No serving hassle at all…just put them on a plate and watch them disappear.
Sour Cherry-Cream Cheese Hand Pies
adapted from a Smitten Kitchen recipe for rhubarb cream cheese hand pies
The Crust:
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, very cold and cut into small cubes
3/4 to 1 cup buttermilk
Whisk together flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Using a pastry blender, two forks, or your fingertips, work the butter into the flour until the biggest pieces of butter are the size of tiny peas. Gently stir in 3/4 cup buttermilk with a rubber spatula, mixing it until a craggy mass forms. Using your hands, knead it just two or three times to form a ball. If it doesn’t come together, add remaining 1/4 cup buttermilk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it does, then gently knead again. Divide dough in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and flatten into a disc. Chill in fridge for at least an hour or up to two days or slip plastic-wrapped dough into a freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
The Cherry Filling:
1 lb. pitted sour cherries (about 4 cups)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp instant tapioca
Place cherries and sugar in a medium saucepan with sugar and tapioca and stir to combine. Cover and cook at medium-low heat for 15 minutes, no need to stir. Increase the heat to medium, remove the lid and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, until thick enough that if you run a spoon across the bottom of the pot, you can see a trench quickly form and disappear. Spread mixture on a large plate in the fridge or freezer to cool quickly, then scrape into a bowl. Keep cold until needed; it will be thicker and easier to “scoop” onto the pie bases.
The Cream Cheese Filling:
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 large egg yolk
Beat cream cheese, sugar, zest, juice and yolk together in a small bowl with an electric hand mixer until smooth. Keep cold until needed.
Assembly:
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
Coarse sugar
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line two to three baking sheets with parchment paper. Beat your remaining egg and 1 tablespoon water and keep aside with a pastry brush.
Dust your counter or pastry mat with a lot of flour, unwrap the first half of your dough and start rolling your dough by pressing down lightly with the floured pin and moving it from the center out. Be patient about rolling, don’t press too hard, and it won’t crack as easily. Roll until 1/8″ thick. I cut mine into circles using a 3″ biscuit cutter, but you can also cut into 3″ squares using a pizza wheel or pastry cutter. You won’t have as much dough scraps left if you cut into squares, but I really wanted rounds. If doing rounds, you’ll have quite a bit of scraps, which you can form back into a ball, refrigerate for 30 minutes, and then re-roll and cut some more. It will make for slightly tougher crust on those, but I didn’t think it made that big of a difference. If your dough becomes soft, slide onto baking sheets and freeze for 15 minutes. It will make it easier to assemble.
Brush half the squares very, very lightly with the egg wash; these will be your bases. Cut a small vent in the other half of the squares; these will be your lids. In the center of each egg washed square, put a small dollop (a measured teaspoon) of cream cheese, then cherry filling on top. Don’t overfill! Top each filled base with a vented square. Press outer edge of top and bottom all around to seal with your fingertips or a fork. Transfer pie to a baking sheet, spacing 1-inch apart. Brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle generously with coarse sugar. Repeat with remaining dough, including second half from fridge, and fillings (you will probably have some fillings left over…you can do what I did and re-roll the remaining scraps a third time and make a tiny little pie for someone who won’t mind tough pie crust, like my son. 🙂 )
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until puffed and golden, and even more brown at edges. Transfer to cooling racks and cool to room temperature before serving.
Penne with Herbs, Tomatoes, Olives and Pecorino
July 21, 2014
Aunt Suzy update May 2020 . . .
I was looking on Pinterest yesterday, desperate for some fresh ideas for dinner! I thought this looked good and when I clicked, I saw it was on OUR BLOG!! Margaux says this is a family favorite and I see why! We added non-marinated artichoke hearts and we think that should be part of the recipe, so I’ve added it to the ingredients as an option. Delicious!
Margaux says…
This pasta salad caught my eye on “Food and Wine” because of the olives and tomatoes…I really love that combo of flavors in a pasta salad. But what made this excellent is the mixed herb pesto that you toss it with, and the shaved pecorino that you toss in after it’s completely cooled, so that it doesn’t melt. This dish has a ton of flavor and will be in regular rotation on our “pasta Wednesdays” in the summer!
Penne with Herbs, Tomatoes, Olives and Pecorino
adapted from Food and Wine
1 pound penne or other small pasta shapes
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup basil leaves
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 garlic cloves, halved
2 teaspoons coarsely chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons coarsely chopped fresh marjoram or oregano
Salt
1 1/2 pounds cherry tomatoes—halved
1 can artichoke hearts, cut in quarters or eighths (optional)
1/2-1 cup Calamata olives (to taste), pitted and coarsely chopped
1 cup coarsely grated Tuscan Pecorino Romano cheese (3 ounces)
Freshly ground pepper
Cook the penne or other pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain and toss with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large serving bowl. Let sit to get to room temperature.
Meanwhile, in a blender, puree the basil, parsley, garlic, thyme, marjoram and garlic with 1/3 cup of olive oil. (You can also use a stick blender to puree the herbs in a bowl.) Add more olive oil if you think it’s necessary…the original recipe called for 1/2 cup, but I felt that was a little much. Scrape into the bowl with the pasta and season with salt, then toss together.
Then toss in the tomatoes, optional artichoke hearts and olives and let stand at room temperature for at least 10 minutes to develop flavor. Just before serving, add the Pecorino, season with salt and pepper and toss well.
Aunt Suzy’s cooks notes: We used a different type of small pasta and it worked well. The artichoke hearts added a nice tang to the dish. We also used oil cured olives with thyme – I can see a number of different olives working well in this dish. Both Margaux and I agree that Parmigiano Reggiano works as well as Pecorino Romano, although I like the funky salty goodness of the sheep’s milk cheese.
Sour Cherry Pie
July 20, 2014
Margaux says…
My family farm has a couple of cherry trees, and this year we just happened to be in town (its 2.5 hours south of Chicago) when they were ready to pick! We picked as many as we could in 20 minutes, and got just enough for a pie and some hand pies I made a week later. Last year we got lucky with cherries, too, and I made this slab pie, which is also fantastic. It’s always hard to decide what kind of dessert to make when you only get cherries once a year. Next year, I vow to spend more than 20 minutes picking cherries (someone will have to entertain the children!), so that we have enough to freeze for later. Then I can make a pie, a slab pie, this sour cherry crumble pie that Aunt Suzy posted about years ago, and this cake that looks really good.
I found this recipe while reading a Smitten Kitchen blog about a strawberry rhubarb pie recipe that I used recently. The idea is that you bake the crust before baking the pie, so that the bottom crust isn’t soggy. I like that idea. It’s what I do with my single crust baked pies, like peach and custard pies, so why wouldn’t I do it with cherry? The results were just as I wanted…no soggy bottom crust. Instead it was nice and crisp, buttery and delicious. Instead of a traditional lattice top, I used a round cookie cutter to make a decorated top. I could have layered them and added more, because I didn’t think about the fact that they would shrink during baking. So I recommend putting more on than you think are needed.
Twice-Baked Sour Cherry Pie
adapted from Melissa Clark’s recipe in The New York Times
1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, more for rolling out dough
3/8 teaspoon kosher salt
15 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1 cup sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons instant tapioca
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 pounds sour cherries (about 6 cups), rinsed and pitted
1 tablespoon kirsch or brandy
3 tablespoons heavy cream, or 1 egg yolk lightly whisked with 1 tbsp water
Demerara sugar, for sprinkling.
1. To make dough: in bowl of a food processor pulse together flour and salt just to combine. Add butter and pulse until chickpea-size pieces form. Add 3 to 6 tablespoons ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until mixture just comes together. Separate dough into 2 disks, one using 2/3 dough, the other using the remaining. Wrap disks in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour (and up to 3 days) before rolling out and baking.
2. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place larger dough disk on a lightly floured surface and roll into a 12-inch circle, about 3/8-inch thick. Transfer to a 9-inch pie plate. Line dough with foil and weigh it down with pie weights. Bake until crust is light golden brown, about 30 minutes.
3. While pie crust is baking, prepare filling. In bowl of a food processor, combine sugar, tapioca and cinnamon (use more tapioca if you prefer a thicker, more solid filling, and less if you like a looser, juicier filling). Run the motor until tapioca is finely ground. Place cherries in a bowl and add sugar and tapioca mixture. Drizzle in kirsch or brandy and toss gently to combine.
4. When pie crust is ready, transfer it to a wire rack to cool slightly and reduce heat to 375 degrees. Remove foil and weights. Scrape cherry filling into pie crust.
5. Place smaller disk of dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it 3/8-inch thick. Use a round cookie cutter (or several round cookie cutters of different sizes) to cut out circles of dough. Arrange circles on top of cherry filling in a pattern of your choice.
6. Brush top crust with cream or egg wash and sprinkle generously with Demerara sugar (as you can see in photos, I forgot my sugar. Oops.) Bake until crust is dark golden brown and filling begins to bubble, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Transfer pie to a wire rack to cool for at least 2 hours, allowing filling to set before serving.
Sour Cherry Slab Pie
July 22, 2013
Margaux says…
My family has a farm that dates back to the mid-1800’s. We call it “the Big House.” It is pretty big, and one of my aunts lives in it now. It is one of my favorite places on earth. There are two Montmorency cherry trees there that were planted in 1967 for my Aunt Gigi’s birthday, and this year we just happened to be down in central Illinois when the cherries were ready to be picked!
We got just enough cherries before the kids started going bonkers (Stella seriously needed a nap). I always make pie with the cherries, and this year I really wanted something different. While browsing Smitten Kitchen (I really used a lot of her recipes this week!), I came across this one. OMG I will be making this again!!! You really should try it before this very short cherry season is over! (It might already be…it’s taken me way too long to get around to writing this).
(Yes his shorts are backwards…oops! Four-year-olds still sometimes have a little trouble getting dressed. 🙂 )
Sour Cherry Slab Pie
from Smitten Kitchen
1 1/2 recipes flaky butter pie dough, divided, patted into thick rectangles, wrapped in plastic and chilled for at least an hour in the fridge
6 cups sour cherries, pitted (fresh or frozen will work; if frozen, defrost and drain first)
3/4 to 1 1/4 cups of sugar (depending on how tart your cherries are. I used 1 cup.)
1/4 cup cornstarch
Juice of half a lemon
Pinch or two of salt
2 tablespoons heavy cream or one egg, beaten with a tablespoon of water
Glaze:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons milk or water or 1 tablespoon water plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl, combine cherries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt. Stir to combine; set aside.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the larger piece of dough into an 18-by-12-inch rectangle.
Transfer to a 15-by-10-by-1-inch rimmed baking sheet, (pastry will hang over sides of pan). Pour cherry mixture into lined baking sheet; set aside.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out remaining piece of dough into a 16-by-11-inch rectangle. Drape over filling. Bring bottom pastry up and over top pastry. Pinch edges to seal. Using a fork, prick top crust all over. Brush with heavy cream or egg wash.
Bake until crust is golden and filling is bubbling, 40 to 55 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack until just warm to the touch, about 45 minutes.
In a medium bowl, stir together confectioners’ sugar and milk, water or lemon juice (or combination thereof) until desired glaze consistency is achieved. Use a spoon to drizzle over top. Serve warm or room temperature.
Easy Strawberry Tart
June 26, 2013
Margaux says…
This was the weekend of getting stuff done. Actually, every weekend needs to be the weekend of getting stuff done, but somehow that doesn’t happen. If I haven’t mentioned it before, my husband and I (more my husband, less me) are remodeling our house. FOREVER remodeling our house. Right now we’re re-doing our upstairs bedrooms…all three of them. It’s going slowly, as usual. Since it’s summer, we’re also trying to make our outdoor spaces more livable so that we go out there more often. I always feel like we spend more time at Home Depot and Menard’s than we do actually doing any work…but that might just be because I really don’t like those places very much.
This weekend I got the front yard looking pretty great…mulched, weeded, re-planted a bunch of stuff. And meanwhile, in the backyard, Jason painted the wicker furniture that I found in the alley a while back. I love finds like that! Now all it needs are some cushions and we’re on our way to some outdoor living!
So complicated baking projects were out of the question…but I had two quarts of strawberries that I needed to do something with ASAP. I saw this recipe on Martha Stewart’s website last week, and thought it would be the perfect quick dessert to use up most of the strawberries with. I love tarts, but making the pastry cream can be so time consuming and tedious. This was a great alternative, and who doesn’t like a dessert with cream cheese?? It reminds me of a dessert my Aunt Gigi always made for summer gatherings, especially the Fourth of July, strawberry pizza. It’s the same idea, with a shortbread-type crust, cream cheese topping and fresh strawberries. This is even better I think, though, because it has about twice the amount of cream cheese filling…yum!
Easy Strawberry Tart
adapted from Everyday Food
1 bar (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for handling dough
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 to 2 pounds strawberries, hulled and halved
1/4 cup seedless red currant jelly or apple jelly
1/4 teaspoon salt
Make the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, blend flour, butter, 1/3 cup sugar, and salt until moist crumbs form (this may take up to 1 minute). Transfer dough to a 9-inch round tart pan with a removable bottom. With floured fingers, press dough evenly into pan and up sides. Dip a dry-measuring cup in flour, and use it to press dough firmly into bottom and against sides of pan. Freeze crust until firm, 10 to 15 minutes. Using a fork, prick crust all over. Bake until golden, 25 to 30 minutes, pressing down gently once or twice with a spoon during baking if crust puffs up. Cool completely in pan.
Make the filling: In a medium bowl, mix cream cheese and remaining 1/4 cup sugar until smooth; spread mixture evenly in bottom of baked crust (still in tart pan). Starting from outside edge, arrange strawberry halves, stemmed side down, in tight concentric circles on cream cheese. Microwave jelly in a small bowl until liquified, about 30 seconds (keep a close eye so it doesn’t boil). Gently brush strawberries with jelly; let set at least 20 minutes. Chill in pan at least 1 hour (and up to 6 hours); remove from pan just before serving.
Strawberry Shortcake
June 24, 2013
Margaux says…
We’re kind of into strawberries around here. And I’ve been buying them like crazy this year, as usual, even though they’re not that great (all the rain around here made them kind of tasteless). Usually at my house we just eat them fresh with yogurt, or just, well, fresh. But since they don’t have a lot of flavor this year, I’ve been making desserts out of them (add lots of sugar and voila, they taste better!), like strawberry pie, and this amazing strawberry shortcake.
The strawberry shortcake I grew up on was basically a buttermilk biscuit recipe with a little more sugar in it. My husband grew up on angel food cake as the cake part. Both good, but this is so, so much better. The shortcake is so delicious that I’ve been just eating the leftovers plain-ahem-for breakfast. And the recipe is super easy since it’s done in the food processor. I was stressed because I didn’t start making it until after dinner, but it was no problem!
If you don’t have a food processor, you can still make this recipe! But first….you should really invest in a food processor. It’s one of my most-used kitchen tools! Mine is a Cuisinart from the early 90’s that I got from my mom. (She hates to cook, but when I was a kid thought for a minute that she might like it and took a bunch of cooking classes and stocked our kitchen with fancy tools. Lucky for me, I have most of that stuff now.) Anyway, it’s a fantastic machine and if you can find a used one at a garage sale or something, it will most likely work great! But anyway, I’m guessing you’re not going to run out and buy a food processor for this recipe, so in the meantime…I’ll give you instructions below.
Aunt Suzy says . . .
A while back we posted another recipe for Strawberry Shortcake. We might call it the shortcut shortcake because the “cake” is Joy of Cooking cream scones, which have only 4 main ingredients with heavy cream filling in for the butter and eggs. From looking at Margaux’s recipe, these will be much richer and probably more classically “shortcake” as we Americans would think of it for this dessert. I’m going to have to try this once we get strawberries up here in Minnesota. Our winter lasted into mid-May so we are waaaaaaaay behind! Hey, Margaux, how about we make these for breakfast at Wimbledon?
Strawberry Shortcake
adapted from Everyday Food
the shortcake
1/2 cup sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons cold (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 large eggs
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a food processor, pulse flour, baking powder, sugar, and the salt until combined. Add butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal but with some pea-size bits of butter remaining, 10 to 12 times. In a medium bowl, whisk together cream and the eggs; pour over flour mixture, and pulse until some large clumps begin to form, 25 to 30 times.
If using a pastry cutter instead of a food processor: cut the butter into the dry ingredients in a large bowl using a pastry cutter until the mixture is a coarse meal, with some small chunks of butter. Whisk together the cream and eggs, pour into the butter and flour, and using a wooden spoon (or your hands, which is easier), mix together the mixture until large clumps form. Do not overmix.
Using a half-cup measuring cup, gently pack dough, invert, and then tap out onto a baking sheet. Repeat to form 8 biscuits. Bake until lightly golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool, about 15 minutes.
The strawberries:
Hull and quarter about 6 cups of strawberries. Mix them in a large bowl with about 1/2 cup of sugar. Let is sit for at least an hour, until they get nice and juicy.
The whipped cream:
Beat 1 1/2 cups whipping cream with 2 tbsp sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla until soft peaks form.
Assembly:
When shortcake has completely cooled, you can carefully cut them in half lengthwise with a serrated bread knife. Add strawberries and whipped cream and serve!
Kale Pesto
June 9, 2013
Margaux says…
I love pesto, but I’ve been wanting to try new things besides basil pesto. This kale pesto is really yummy, and can be used in a number of ways: on a sandwich, in an egg scramble, on chicken or fish, on pizza (which we did the night after we had it on pasta…yum!), or, of course, on pasta. This recipe is enough to cover a pound of pasta, plus extra for other things on later days. It really freezes well, too!
Kale Pesto
1 bunch kale, stems removed
1/3 cup toasted walnuts or pine nuts
1 clove garlic
zest and juice from one lemon
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup or more olive oil
Bring a large pot of water to boil, add kale and boil for about 30 seconds. Immediately drain kale and run cold water over it to cool it off. Squeeze off excess water and put in food processor, along with nuts, garlic, lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper. Process for about 30 seconds, until its all ground to a fine meal. Scrape down the sides and pulse a few more times. With the processor running, add the olive oil in a steady stream. Scrape down the sides again, taste, and add more olive oil if needed (and salt and pepper), and pulse a few more times. The consistency isn’t as creamy as basil pesto, and I found that I needed more olive oil than with basil pesto. I think I used almost 1/3 cup.
If making pasta, cook your desired type of noodle to al dente and place it in a large bowl, reserving some of the pasta water. Add about half the pesto to the pasta, and combine thoroughly, adding up to 1/2 cup pasta water as needed. Serve immediately, topping with parmesan cheese, and maybe a little toasted walnuts for garnish. It’s also really good with some halved cherry tomatoes stirred in.
Black-Eyed Pea Salad
June 4, 2013
Margaux says…
I’m kind of a salad fanatic, and it’s one of the reasons I’m so excited about having warm weather finally! So far I’ve made this pasta salad, several quinoa salads, including this one and this (which is one of my favorites), and I can’t wait to make potato salads, especially this one. Platter salads are another favorite for us, and we’ve already had my favorite Cobb salad, even when it wasn’t that warm yet. I couldn’t wait.
This is a salad that has become kind of a summer standard here over the past few years. When my son was an infant and I was stuck to the couch for hours on end either nursing him or “napping” with him, I would watch endless amounts of TV, a lot of that being the Food Network. I’ve always liked cooking, but I think that’s when I really got my love of cooking, and I would try out tons of the recipes I saw on TV. This was one of them, on “The Neely’s” (a show I didn’t often watch, by the way, but I’m glad I caught this episode). I don’t really ever watch Food Network anymore, but I’m glad I did because a lot of my standard recipes came from that year of watching.
Black-Eyed Pea Salad
Ingredients
1 large tomato, diced
1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup unseasoned rice wine vinegar (I have also used white wine vinegar)
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 (15-ounce) cans black-eyed peas, drained (or 4 cups soaked dried beans…I think that’s about a cup and a half of dried)
Directions
Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl.
In a separate small bowl, whisk together the rice wine vinegar, canola oil, sugar, and salt and pepper.
Toss all together and let marinate for at up to 8 hours in the refrigerator before serving.
Greek Quinoa Salad
June 2, 2013
Margaux says…
In the warmer months, we eat a quinoa salad at least once a week. Everyone loves it…including my picky son, it’s super quick and easy, and nice and healthy. I should really call this one “clean out the fridge” salad, because I often make it when I really need to go shopping and I have to just use up whatever is left in the fridge. We always have most of these things on hand because they’re all favorites of my son. I find that you can add or subtract any ingredient, based on what you might have on hand. Some other things that would be good tossed into this are avocado, parsley, chopped fresh spinach, mint, celery, zucchini, green onion, radishes, pine nuts or white beans.
Greek Quinoa Salad
1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups water
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cucumber, chopped
1/4 red onion, fine chop
1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup kalamata olives, halved
1/2 cup feta, crumbled (leave out for vegan)
1 lemon
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
Rinse and drain quinoa. Add water and quinoa to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as it starts boiling, cover, run down heat to low, and simmer 15 minutes. Dump immediately into a large serving bowl and allow to cool to room temperature.
Meanwhile, chop your veggies. When the quinoa is cool, add all veggies and beans to it and mix.
Make dressing: Mix together lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, oregano, and salt and pepper in a small bowl. Pour over salad and mix well. Carefully stir in feta. Serve at room temperature with warmed pita and white wine as a main dish. Also great as a side at a BBQ, or with chicken.
Sweet & Savory Kitchens 