Rich Quinoa Salad---Mexican-Inspired

I have been very much into quinoa recently. I buy it by pounds at Whole Foods, most often red or multicolored variety and serve it at least once in two weeks. It has a very neutral taste and I was able to convince my kids to eat it sometimes instead of rice.

Last couple of days in DC have been again very hot. On days like these, salad is all I often serve for dinner. For quite some time I have been thinking of making a salad with quinoa, similar to the Mediterranean salads with bulgar wheat or cous cous, but dressing it differently.

Quinoa is an ancient grain coming from South America, so I thought that its very delicate taste could be enhanced by adding some Mexican ingredients. I used still slightly warm quinoa and tossed in all the ingredients. I have started with tomatoes. First time I used roasted tomatoes but recently I made it also with fresh tomatoes. I also added pablano peppers, which I roasted and peeled off. Than I added avocado cut into chunks and red onion. I seasoned everything with lime, sprinkled with cilantro and, at the end, with roasted unsalted peppitas--pumpkin seeds. Finally, salt and pepper and my salad was ready. It is a particularly good idea to make it when you have some quinoa leftovers.

I did not add any oil to this salad but at the very end I put a dollop of Mexican cream. Maybe it added some calories but tasted really good.

Rich Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:
1 cup multicolored or red quinoa, uncooked,
3 pablano peppers,
3 Roma tomatoes,
1/2 medium onion,
1 avocado,
juice from one lime or lemon,
1/3 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves,
2 tbsp roasted pumpkin seeds,
2 tbsp crema fresco (Mexican crème fraîche) to finish (optional),
salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Cook quinoa (one cup of quinoa in 2 cups of water) until water evaporates. late it cool to room temperature.Transfer to a medium bowl.
2. Roast the pablano peppers under a broil, let them cool and peel them off. When cold, cut them into strips and add to the quinoa.
3. Cut tomatoes into small cubes. Toss them into the salad. Cut an onion in half, cut in thin slices, and add to the salad.
4. Peel off avocado, remove the stone. Cut each half in two and then cut into thick slices. Add to the salad.
5. Squeeze juice from one lime. Pour over the salad. Add chopped coriander, pumpkin seeds, salt and pepper. Gently mix all the ingredients.

Decorate with crema fresco and serve.

Cold Cannelloni Stuffed with Goat Cheese

Some time ago, I saw in one of the French magazines a recipe for cold cheese-stuffed cannelloni. They were to be served more as a starter rather than a main dish. The whole thing looked very interesting and I always wanted to try this recipe one day.

This past Saturday I was invited for a lunch at our neighbors' place, later my son had a party for his basketball team, and just right after that we were having friends over for dinner. A very busy day and not much time for cooking, so I decided to prepare at least one dish that could be made ahead and served without any last-minute preparation. These cannelloni seemed a perfect idea, as something easy, yet original.

To make them, I used fresh lasagna sheets that my Giant recently started to carry. That was the most challenging part as the sheets should be soft but still keep their shape. For that reason you need to use a large pot to cook the pasta sheets in a large amount of water. If fresh lasagna pastry is not available in your shopping area, I believe that it can be made from the Barilla pasta sheets. Cooked sheets are cooled and stuffed with goat cheese, drizzled with walnut oil and balsamic vinegar, and served with baby lettuce leaves.

It was my kind of dish. I loved it! Simple but well defined thanks to the goat cheese, walnuts, and vinegar. Because of its true simplicity to make this dish right it is important to use best quality ingredients--aged balsamic glaze (or vinegar) of Modena and roasted walnut oil.

I think that no one, especially those who like me love all kind of pasta and Italian cuisine, would resist these cold cannelloni.

Cold Goat Cheese-Stuffed Cannelloni
(Serves six)

Ingredients:
12 lasagna sheets, about 2 inches by 4 inches in size,
6 oz goat cheese at room temperature,
1 shallot, very finely chopped,
1/4 cup roasted walnuts, crushed,
12 tsp aged balsamic vinegar of Modena (about one tsp per serving) or if you have available the glaze made with the vinegar of Modena,
12 tsp roasted walnut oil,
freshly coarsely ground black pepper,
3 cups of baby lettuce

Preparation:
1. In a large pot boil water with one tbsp of salt. Put in pasta sheets and cook them making sure that they do not stick to one another. That will take probably about 5 minutes--pasta should be soft but in perfect shape. Drain the cooked pasta sheets and rinse them with cold water. Spread each piece on a large plate to dry.
2. In a medium bowl place the soft goat cheese. Add chopped shallots and using a fork mix it together to create a soft spread.
3. Divide the cheese equally among the cooked sheets, spread it thinly on them and roll them up.

4. On individual plates put a handful of baby lettuce leaves and two cannelloni. Drizzle each portion with balsamic vinegar and walnut oil. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts and finish with ground pepper.

Cannelloni taste best in room temperature, so if you prepared them earlier, take them out of the refrigerator two hours prior to serving and add the lettuce at the last moment.

Strawberry Gratin--In Five Minutes

A friend asked me recently if, since I cook so much, I also throw away food. Unfortunately and shamefully I admitted that I do sometimes, although never meat. Most often it happens to the delicate coriander that I love and have to have always in my refrigerator but I am not always able to use. Sometimes it also happens to the bananas that I have to have because my older son cannot live without his daily banana dipped in Nutella. And finally strawberries are a victim of my compulsive shopping. I buy them often but sometimes in the situation "buy one get one free" two pounds are just too much, especially if they are not too sweet. I like strawberries at room temperature and here, they are rather destined for a refrigerator or turn bad very soon. So today I again was left with a box of strawberries just about to turn bad, because no one wanted them anymore that day.

I thought about making a strawberry mousse cake, which I like very much and never shared the recipe for it, but my day was too busy to play with gelatin, which requires a lot of fine tuning. Also, the weather was not too summery anymore and that cake tastes great on a hot day. Then I decided to make strawberry gratin--an easy and nice dessert that I make sometimes with different fruits, but never tried with strawberries. In no time I made custard, and in no more than five minutes a lovely dessert was ready. I think it was a great experiment--we all loved it, still a bit warm.

Strawberry Gratin
(Makes 4-6 servings)

Ingredients:
1 lb of nice strawberries, stems cut off,
3 egg yolks,
4 tbsp icing sugar,
1/2 tsp vanilla extract,
1 tsp corn starch,
250 ml table cream,
2 tbsp slivered almonds,

Preparation:
1. Cut strawberries in slices or quarters, if smaller. Arrange them on individual, small and shallow ramekins.
2. In a medium pot, using a hand whisker, mix egg yolks with icing sugar until pale. Add corn starch and vanilla extract. Incorporate into the egg mixture. Add cream and mix.
3. Put the pot on a medium heat and bring it to boil, stirring very often. Let it boil and take off from the heat. Divide the custard between ramekins. Spread almonds on top.

4. Preheat the broiling spiral in the oven for a few minutes. Put ramekins in the oven and let the custard broil until slightly brown. Remove them from the oven, let the custard cool a bit and serve.