My quinoa won’t win any awards for being photogenic (you’ll notice I don’t have a picture for this post, although that has something to do with the Mini Foodie monopolizing my time and my photographic skills at the moment), and sometimes it doesn’t come out the ideal al dente texture. But I can have a healthy and satisfying one-pot meal ready in 45 minutes start to finish with only 10 minutes of my attention needed, less if I make plain quinoa with veggie stock in the rice cooker and top it with things as I eat each serving. (I’ve been doing this since our Mini Foodie came so I don’t have to be worried about needing to tend the pot when the timer goes off.)

With it’s complete protein so rare in the plant world, quinoa is the perfect side dish upgrade for vegetarians, vegans or anyone who would like to pack a little more protein in where they’d normally use rice or even couscous. It has a nice and nutty but not overpowering flavor and a pleasant texture, which makes it easy to tailor to whatever cuisine you’re craving. I’ve made butternut squash quinoa, Indian curry quinoa, Mexican quinoa, Italian quinoa, even a Thai curry quinoa that was surprisingly delicious, all from things I had in my pantry.

These are some of my favorite combinations:

• Butternut squash soup, raisins and curry powder, served with diced crisp, raw apple on top.
• Roasted red pepper soup, canned black beans, frozen corn (especially the fire roasted stuff from Trader Joe’s), cumin, salsa.
• Roasted red pepper soup, canned garbanzo beans, whatever fresh or frozen veggies I have lying around, thyme or basil.
• Vegetable stock and soy sauce, topped with anything remotely stir fry-esque.
• Cooked with vegetable stock and topped with pico de gallo, roasted red pepper strips and avocado slices, or simply a mild but flavorful hot sauce from Chris’ collection.
• Cooled, with an olive oil vinaigrette, diced celery and peas.
• Whatever I see when I open my cupboard doors. This is a great way to try out the flavors of a recipe you’ve read about but don’t have the ingredients, time or inclination to go to the trouble of making.

Ingredients:

1-2 tablespoons of butter or olive oil (optional if you aren’t cooking any fresh vegetables, including the onion)
1/2 large onion, roughly chopped (optional)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (optional)
2 cups quinoa
4 cups liquid (one tetra pack carton of soup or stock)
Add-ins of your choice (optional): fresh, frozen or canned vegetables, canned beans, olives, diced peppers, curry paste, fresh or dried herbs, spices, ground pepper, hot sauce, prepared simmer sauces, etc.
Salt to taste

Method

1. Add the olive oil or butter (if using) to a large sauce pan over medium heat. Add the onion (if you’re using it) and saute until translucent. Add the garlic (again, if using) when the onion is nearly, but not quite, cooked.
2. Toast the quinoa in the pot at this point, or in a dry pot if you’re not using the oil/butter and onion/garlic, until you can smell a light toasty, nutty aroma.
3. Add your cooking liquid and bring to a boil. Add anything else you want to put in at this point, except the salt, which I generally add at the end of cooking if I’m using a prepared stock or soup to avoid over-seasoning.
4. Stir and cover. Turn the heat down to low and cook for 25 minutes.
5. Remove the lid and stir the quinoa. When the grains are fully cooked, they will turn translucent, with the curling tail of the germ visible. If the quinoa is not translucent or the mixture still looks wet (it most likely will if you’ve added beans or vegetables to the pot), cover and cook for 10 more minutes (20 if it’s really wet). Repeat until you’re happy with the result.
6. Fluff the quinoa, salt to taste, and serve.

Ingredients
Wet
3 bananas, mashed
2 oz. (4 tablespoons) butter, melted
2 eggs, well beaten

Dry
1 3/4 cups flour (I used King Arthur Flour’s White Whole Wheat, but all purpose would work as well.)
3/4 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup sugar

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Cinnamon and sugar for dusting the top

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray loaf pan with oil.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Add the dry ingredients and stir to combine again. Add the cheddar cheese and stir one more time.
3. Scrape the batter into a loaf pan. Smother with a good dusting of sugar and cinnamon, and put the pan in the oven.
4. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove from the pan and allow to cool until sturdy enough to cut or cool enough to wrap up and store.

Notes

• Next time I make this, I plan to try adding a cup and a half of cheese in search of the perfect cheese-to-banana balance.
• I only had two bananas this time, so I added a third of a cup of applesauce so that the batter was loose enough to stir.

To experience this oatmeal in its full glory (and to see more detailed, illustrated instructions and extra tips and tricks), check out The Tiger’s Oatmeal, which is served with cardamom yogurt, toasted coconut flakes and tropical fruit.

Ingredients

1 cup steel-cut oats
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
3 oz crystallized ginger, finely chopped
3 cups water
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons rum (very optional)

Directions

1. Put the oats, spices and crystallized ginger in a container with a tight lid. Seal and shake until evenly combined.
2. Bring the water to a boil.
3. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Once it starts to bubble, add the oats and stir to coat evenly with the butter. Continue to stir until the oats are nice and toasted and you can smell the spices, about two minutes.
4. Pour in the boiling water. Stir the oats well, then lower the heat and leave to gently simmer for 25 minutes, undisturbed.
5. Add the buttermilk and stir to combine. Let the oats simmer for another 10 minutes. At this point, you can stir them occasionally if you want, but they’ll be fine unattended.
6. Stir once more. (This is the time to add the rum and the salt.) Serve and enjoy.

Notes

• You can easily customize this recipe to fit anything you have in your cupboard. Try adding different spices or dried fruits (I personally recommend keeping the ginger in any variation). I’ve even made a vegan version on the fly by nixing the butter (you could use canola oil instead) and replacing the buttermilk with orange juice and maple syrup.
• This recipe makes a great breakfast to serve to a large crowd, because you can double or triple it without increasing the cooking time. I’ve found that like rice, the ratio of water-to-oats decreases as you increase the amount of oats, so use 5 cups of water for a double batch and 7 for a triple.
• I always make a double batch, even if I’m only cooking for myself, because this oatmeal freezes very well. Simply freeze any leftovers in a large silicone muffin pan. To reheat, place an oatmeal “muffin” in a bowl and microwave for 3-4 minutes. Once you give it a good stir, you have a healthy, hearty weekend breakfast on a weekday morning, especially if you take those minutes and use them to chop up some fruit to go on top!
• If you want to hold a large batch of oatmeal over an extended period of time (up to three hours in my experience at the Inn), you can cook the oatmeal up through Step 5. Then, rather than adding the buttermilk and continuing their simmer, stir once, cover the pan, and turn off the heat. Then, as people filter in for breakfast, combine as much oatmeal as you need with a portion of the buttermilk in a smaller pan and stir over medium heat until the oatmeal bubbles. The other advantage to this method is that you can accommodate individual salt restrictions this way, leaving it out for those who can’t have it.

This yogurt is wonderful over fruit–mangoes, yes, but just about any other fruit as well–and particularly good over steel-cut oatmeal.

Ingredients
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground cardamom, to taste
2 to 4 tablespoons maple syrup, to taste

Procedure

1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.
2. Taste yogurt, and add cardamom and maple syrup until it’s sweetened and spiced to your taste.
3. Allow to rest overnight, if possible. The cardamom will release more flavor as it permeates the yogurt, so take this into account when judging how much cardamom is enough. If you will use the yogurt immediately, the amount of cardamom can increased to make up for the lack of resting time.

Notes

• I like to make my cardamom yogurt one full 32 oz. container at a time. The yogurt can be returned to its original tub once it’s mixed, and it’s there and ready to put on top of fruit, oatmeal, pancakes, whatever you can think of. I never fail to use mine before it goes bad, partially because yogurt has a good long shelf life and partially because it tastes good with so many things. Make sure you visibly label it as “Cardamom” to avoid flavor surprises and shopping list omissions!

Ingredients
1 36 oz. jar maraschino cherries
1 recipe Cherry Fondant (recipe follows)
reserved cherry syrup, as necessary
1/4 teaspoon invertase
2 – 3 pounds coverture chocolate

Procedure

1. Drain the cherries, reserving the syrup. Set the cherries in rows on a cooling rack lined with a double thickness of paper towels, discarding any stemless cherries. Let dry for at least one hour, preferably more.
2. In a bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat the fondant until it reaches 160° F, stirring as needing. Reduce the heat under the pot to low. If necessary, thin the fondant with some of the reserved syrup to a consistency that allows easy dipping. Add invertase to the fondant and stir to combine.
3. Keeping the fondant over the hot water, dip the cherries by their stems, dragging them back and forth and side to side. Cover each cherry completely, but in as few passes as possible to avoid building up too much fondant on the cherry. Raise the cherry over the bowl, touching it to the surface of the fondant in the bowl once or twice to encourage as much excess as possible to drip off. Place the cherries on a sheet pan covered in parchment paper or a Silpat. When the fondant has set, twist any fondant that has cooled around the cherries’ stems off.
4. Temper the chocolate. Pipe small, flat discs of chocolate on parchment or a Silpat, leaving ample room between them to accommodate the cherries once they’re covered in chocolate. Allow the discs to set. Dip the cherries in the chocolate in a similar way as they were dipped in the fondant, and set each one on a chocolate disc.
5. Store cherries at room temperature. They will be ready to eat in three to four days with the invertase, but they make take up to two weeks to liquefy without it.

Cherry Fondant

adapted from Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner by by Peter P. Greweling

Ingredients
500 g sugar
100 g reserved syrup from maraschino cherries
100 g glucose syrup

Procedure
Combine all ingredients and bring them to a boil while stirring constantly. Once the syrup is boiling, stop stirring and heat the syrup to 243° F. Pour the syrup on a Silpat-covered marble slab and sprinkle with cold water. Let cool to 120° F, then begin folding the edges into the warmer center by raising alternate edges of the Silpat. Once the fondant is cool enough to handle, start pulling it and working it until turns opaque and short-textured and generally looks crystallized, about 15 to 20 minutes. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, then let rest overnight if possible.

Procedure
Place the egg whites and sugar in a stainless steel bowl or in the top of a double boiler. Beat with a whisk (more near the end than at first) over hot water until the mixture is hot about 120°F. Transfer to the bowl of a mixer and whip at high speed until stiff peaks form. Turn down speed and continue whipping until cool.

Notes

• I learned to test the temperature this way from my chef at pastry school: dip your finger in, and if you have to pull your finger out immediately because your cuticles feel like they’re on fire, it’s ready. The warmer the egg and sugar mixture gets, the more stable the meringue will be.