Quinoa Tabouli

I love tabouli, but I can't usually afford the pre-made packaged stuff -- even more so because I could eat two of those things in one sitting. Since I've been taking lunches and snacks to work, I've been loving this recipe for quinoa tabouli. The protein-rich and nutrient-rich quinoa and green green parsley and mint make me feel brilliantly healthy as I guzzle tubs of this throughout my day. 

This recipe is adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health. It takes about half an hour to make (less, with a food processor or lots of practice). One batch of this usually only lasts me two, maybe three days, but if serving as a side salad, could probably serve 4. 

QUINOA TABOULI 

1 cup raw quinoa

2 cups water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried mint or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

4 scallions

5 garlic cloves

2 or 3 bunches fresh parsley 

3 or 4 tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and ground black pepper

Rinse and drain the quinoa in a fine-meshed strainer to remove any residue of the grain’s bitter coating. In a covered saucepan on high heat, bring the quinoa, water, salt, and mint (if using dried) to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the water has been absorbed and the quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and place in a serving bowl.

While the quinoa cooks, mince the scallions and garlic, and finely chop the parsley and mint (if using fresh). Add them to the serving bowl with the cooked quinoa. Pour on the lemon juice and olive oil and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve chilled or at room temperature. 

They Draw and Cook favorite illustations

They Draw and Cook is a fun blog posting illustrated recipes by artists and illustrators from all over the world. I originally learned about it via notcot. My own recipe is up on their blog now, as well as on my art blog. These are some of my favorites. 

Above, Marmalade Flapjacks by Matt Dawson. (See the original post for a full-size, legible version!) I love how all the arms end up showing all of the steps at once. (Also, the helper bees!) 

Vegetable Stock by Nate Padavick. Beautiful colors and specimen-like arrangement. 

Meatballs by Kevin Valente. I had lots of favorites, and tried to pick only vegan or vegan-izable ones, but the combination of watercolor and graphite and the perspective of the road and the text and the speech bubbles were all just too wonderful for me to exclude this one. (Just pretend that there aren't 3 kinds of meat, including veal, in this recipe, and look at the pretty picture.) 

Fly off the Plate Pancakes by Erin Watson. Another fun and dynamic composition. This is one of the few pieces in this project that really challenges the space, by creating its own frame and then bursting out of it. (They're all the same size because those were the submission rules -- some of them will be part of a book.) 

A Well-Salted Salad with a Little Vinegar and Good Olive Oil by Bozena Wojtaszek. This one is all textile and thread! How awesome is that. I would love to have a whole soft book of lovely recipes (especially for salad!).

The Original Spaghetti, Garlic, Oil and Chili Pepper by Sara Lecca. A fun combination of textures and images. The illustration of the guy eating spaghetti is so animated, and so like eating spaghetti.

Spring Garden Soup by Meta Wraber. I just adore this expressive, evocative style of watercolor. And we all know I'm a sucker for interesting handwriting. The brushstrokes and lines and colors are all fantastic.

moving! road trip snacks, and boxes, lots of boxes

I'm finally taking care of that moving-across-the-country business, by driving across the country with a truck full of my stuff. Which means: snacks! I made pumpkin molasses bars, banana barley bars (from 500 Vegan Recipes) and magical coconut bars (from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar). I changed the coconut bars the teeniest bit by using slivered almonds where the recipe called for chopped walnuts. They're definitely magical! Full of graham-crackery goodness and coconut milk and flakes. The banana barley bars are fantastic as a portable breakfast -- the barley is barley cereal (I used Grape Nuts) and it ends up being like a sweet, chocolatey bowl of cereal in bar form.

I also recently bought a new lens, mostly on the recommendation of Vegan YumYum's amazing food photography for bloggers. All of these pictures are from me playing around with my new lens.

All the bars!

Magical coconut bars: yum.

Boxes piled in my studio. There were about 80 boxes total, of wildly varying sizes: everything from rolls of paper, to shoeboxes, to a huge, professionally-packed box containing my printer/scanner (which can scan up to 11"x17" pages).

My lunch the other day, an arugula salad with walnuts, sunflower seeds, chives, and sorrel.

road trip pasta salad

I made this huge batch of pasta salad for a short road trip we went on recently. I didn't want a sandwich that would just get mushy, not that I'm a huge fan of sandwiches to begin with. This pasta salad was filling, hearty, and a whole meal in one dish. Everyone has their own ideas about what goes in pasta salad, so I won't really post a recipe, just the ingredients I used and roughly how I put it together.

I was also more or less following this guide to perfect pasta salad. These are sort of my favorite pasta-related ingredients, but I was also aiming for a combination that would be both colorful and briny. 

ROAD TRIP PASTA SALAD

1 pound rotini, cooked to package instructions, drained but not rinsed

1 pound mushrooms, sliced 

1 basket yellow grape tomatoes, diced

1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed 

a few handfuls baby spinach, ripped or roughly chopped into bite-sized pieces

1-2 cans artichoke hearts, quartered

a couple red bell peppers, sliced

1 can black olives, sliced

1/4 - 1/2 cup capers

extra-virgin olive oil 

white vinegar 

lemon juice 

red pepper flakes 

black pepper 

salt

various herbs, like dried basil, oregano, tarragon

So, I don't like raw tomatoes, and I don't really like raw mushrooms either. This is what I did: while the pasta was cooking, the tomatoes and mushrooms were the first things I sliced. Then I marinated them in what would pretty much be the same dressing the whole salad would be in: oil, a little bit of vinegar, a ton of lemon juice, red pepper flakes, black pepper, a pinch of salt, dried basil, and tarragon. Then, an hour or two later, after everything else was already mixed together, I tossed the mushrooms and tomatoes into a pan and cooked them a bit. (Actually, as you can see in the pictures, I overcooked them a bit! But generally, I try to just barely cook them so they're tender and awesome.) Once they cooled, I added them to the rest of the salad. 

The rest of the salad is pretty standard. Once the pasta cooled, I mixed in the raw ingredients. I added oil, vinegar, and seasonings gradually, until they tasted about how I wanted them. I used a TON of lemon juice, more than I did vinegar. Also, I try to avoid using balsamic vinegar; even though I love vinaigrettes, balsamic vinegar will make the whole thing brown and kind of sad-looking. I stopped a little before it was as flavorful as I wanted it, since everything would be marinating in each other's juices for a couple days in the fridge. 

white bean pesto and heirloom tomato salad stacks

These things, which I'm calling salad stacks, are really, really delicious. You can't really go wrong with fresh, homemade pesto, heirloom tomatoes, and arugula. Yum! This recipe is based on, and almost exactly the same as, the recipe for Heirloom Tomato and White Bean Pesto Torte from the Millennium Cookbook. I renamed it mostly because I think it's weird that this is called a torte, especially since it obscures the fact that it is, despite its excessive prep time and excessiveness in general, a salad. There's even salad dressing involved. Why hide? Salads are awesome!

The main difference is in the preparation of the garlic. The Millennium Cookbook seems keen on avoiding oil, and their version of preparing the garlic in an oven, with broth and herbs to avoid the oil, took over an hour or something. I'm much more interested in cutting down on oven time (and prep time, for that matter) than I am on oil. So I looked up a way to prepare garlic in a similar way, but faster. I ended up basically doing this, though my specific instructions for this recipe follow. This braised garlic was SO AMAZING, it would be fantastic just spread on toast or pasta. 

One more thing: I made these several weeks ago, and have been putting off posting them. This is a pretty complicated recipe, almost overly complicated in my opinion (that's The Millennium Cookbook for you), and while worth it, seemed like it would be complicated to type out as well! Those of you subscribing to this feed via rss aggregates might have gotten an empty version of this post last week, with just the pictures, and for that I apologize. Plus, the last picture kind of sucks. I almost left it out, but I figured y'all needed some indication of what the final product looked like, however poorly lit. For all my complaining about photographing beige things, I didn't do so hot with this beautiful and colorful dish, mostly because after an hour of roasting the tomatoes, almost 20 minutes of braising garlic, and all the other prep time, by the time I had this assembled, there was no more natural light! You can see how lovely the natural light was in the photographs of the produce.

 WHITE BEAN PESTO & HEIRLOOM TOMATO SALAD STACKS

Oven-dried Tomatoes: 

6 large heirloom tomatoes, cut into 1/3-inch slices

1/4 tsp sea salt 

Stovetop-Braised garlic:

1-2 heads garlic 

1 tsp minced fresh rosemary 

1 tsp minced fresh thyme

olive oil

White Bean Pesto: 

1 cup cooked white beans

stovetop-braised garlic, above

2 tsp minced garlic (separate from the braised above) 

1 1/2 cups fresh basil, or as much as possible! 

1/3 cup water 

1 tsp ground pepper 

1 tsp sea salt 

Bean Salad: 

1 cup cooked white beans

1/2 cup chopped fresh tomato 

1 scallion, sliced thin 

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley 

1 tsp minced lemon zest 

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 

1/2 tsp sea salt 

1/2 tsp ground pepper 

1 bunch arugula, stemmed 

1/3 cup vinaigrette dressing, store-bought or homemade

To prepare the tomatoes: Preheat the oven to 250F. Place the tomato slices on a rack set over a parchment-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with the salt. Bake for 30 minutes, then gently turn the tomatoes over and bake for another 20-30 minutes. The tomatoes should be pretty dry, though mine didn't seem very dry and turned out fine. Let cool to room temperature. 

To prepare the garlic: Trim the root and top ends of the garlic head. Separate the cloves, but don't remove the peels. Heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a frying pan (cast iron works best) to almost smoking point, then turn down heat as low as possible. Add the garlic, skin and all, to the pan. Roll the cloves in the olive oil and cover the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes. Then check the garlic, it should be light brown and smell absolutely amazing. Shake the pan to turn the cloves. Cover the pan and cook for another 5 minutes. After this, add the rosemary and time, then leave the lid off as you carefully stir the garlic for another 5 minutes. The skins should be falling off as you stir, and be incredibly fragrant. 

To make the pesto: In a blender or food processor, combine the beans, the braised garlic, minced garlic, basil, water, pepper, and salt and blend until smooth. Set aside. 

To assemble the salad stacks: In a medium bowl, toss the beans, tomato, scallion, parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper together. In a medium bowl, toss the arugula with the vinaigrette, then divide the arugula among 6 serving plates. Place a dried tomato slice over each mound of arugula, then top the tomato with 1 tablespoon of the pesto, followed by a tablespoon of the bean salad. Repeat the procedure 2 more times until you have 3 layers of filling between 4 tomato slices. Serve immediately after assembling. 

simple & quick meal: rice noodles with tofu, scallions, and sesame seeds

This dish fed me through finals when I'd gone 3 days in a row living on nothing but pasta and cereal. It's fast, satisfying, and fun to vary depending on what's on hand. And it's not pasta or cereal, so it has that going for it. 

For example, with the scallions, tofu, and sesame seeds, this is actually a complete meal (which is why I tried to eat it when I got in a finals-and-pasta rut), but if you're in a hurry, just the noodles and the sauce are delicious on their own. Or, if you add sugar, the whole thing makes an amazing cold salad -- in the past I've made variations on this salad to carry around on weekend and road trips. The sauce also works great as a tofu marinade, for more salads or to bake for a dish with less oil. 

This recipe is approximate, based on proportions. The quantities are based on what I would make to serve 2 people (I think noodles plus 1 pound of tofu serves 2 people if this is pretty much all they're eating.) 

RICE NOODLES WITH TOFU, SCALLIONS, AND SESAME SEEDS (or whatever)

Basic Sauce: 

2 tbsp soy sauce 

2 tbsp sesame oil 

2 tbsp rice vinegar

(1 tsp sugar, if serving cold) 

Sauce with variations: 

2 tbsp soy sauce 

2 tbsp sesame oil 

2 tbsp rice vinegar

(1 tsp sugar, if serving cold)

1 tbsp black bean paste 

1 tbsp fresh grated ginger, or 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp white pepper 

Everything else: 

rice noodles to serve 2 

1 lb firm tofu, drained and pressed 

2 tsp red pepper flakes 

peanut oil for frying the tofu 

sesame seeds for garnish 

2 or 3 thinly sliced scallions for garnish 

Drain and press the tofu as far ahead as possible. Cook the rice noodles to packet instructions. Whisk the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. 

Cube the tofu. Begin heating the peanut oil in a heavy skillet or wok. Fry the red pepper flakes until they sizzle, then add the tofu. Wait for a crust to form on the bottom face, then stir. Repeat until every face of the tofu cubes has some texture and are coated with the pepper flakes. 

Drain the noodles and toss with the sauce. Top with the fried tofu, sesame seeds, and sliced scallions. Serve hot or chilled. 

zucchini skillet pie with pine nuts & capers, topped with cherry tomato salad

I invented a recipe! As much as anyone invents a recipe, I think (feel free to correct me on this). I was originally trying to follow a recipe and it didn't work out. In Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Suppers, there's this gorgeous photograph of these zucchini skillet cakes. It calls for 2 beaten eggs, but says, in the recipe itself in several places, that you can substitute pureed tofu. I was skeptical, but I tried it. I used silken tofu, so my mixture had a texture probably similar to using eggs. Maybe it was also that I used wheat germ instead of bread crumbs. I can see how the starchiness of the breadcrumbs could help. But I really love wheat germ. 

So, after a couple attempts to fry my mixture into crisp, golden cakes, I gave up, dumped my mixture in a cast iron skillet, and stuck it in the oven. Once baked and broiled, it got gorgeously golden and even stayed together (mostly) in neat little wedges on serving. 

There's no crust of course, but it's still a pie. It's round and full of wheat germ and baked in the oven. 

First, the cherry tomato salad. 

CHERRY TOMATO SALAD

Ingredients: 

about 2 cups cherry tomatoes, sliced in half (I just used a whole package) 

2 tablespoons olive oil 

2 tablespoons vinegar (try not to drop the bottle on your computer) 

2 tsp dried basil 

2 tsp dried oregano 

pinch of salt and pepper

Mix everything together. Refrigerate at least 2 hours to marinate, but the longer the better. 

ZUCCHINI SKILLET PIE WITH PINE NUTS & CAPERS

Ingredients: 

about 2 pounds or 6 medium zucchini, grated 

sea salt and freshly ground pepper 

1 cup silken tofu 

1 tablespoon olive oil 

3 tablespoons snipped chives

2 garlic cloves, minced 

1/2 cup chopped parsley 

2 teaspoons dried marjoram 

grated zest of 1 lemon 

1 cup wheat germ (or bread crumbs) 

1/2 cup pine nuts 

1/4 cup capers, rinsed

Preheat the oven to 350F. 

Toss the grated zucchini with a teaspoon of salt and set it aside in a colander while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Then rinse the zucchini and squeeze out as much moisture as possible. 

Toss the zucchini with the tofu, olive oil, chives, garlic, parsley, marjoram, and lemon zest. Stir in the wheat germ along with the pine nuts, capers, and salt and pepper to taste. 

Press the mixture into a large cast-iron skillet. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for about 25 minutes, until it's firmed up and the edges are beginning to turn golden. Then broil for about 3 minutes, or until the surface is a lovely gold color. 

mushrooms on toast, other snacks

Another favorite recipe from Deborah Madison's the Savory Way, mushrooms on toast provencale style. Pictured above and below with an herb salad, mug of chai, and crispy kale. I had a large, late pancake breakfast and needed something green and filling to keep me from making a meal of and entire pacakge of corn chips and an entire jar of salsa. There are probably as many ways of making crispy kale as there are kale-lovers; mine is only slightly different from the crispy sesame kale recipe in the vegan yumyum cookbook (not on vegan yumyum's site, but the veggie gal has posted the recipe). My herb salad was a mix of store-bought and garden greens: baby arugula, parsley, sorrel, baby spinach, chives, celery, sunflower seeds, and walnuts.

MUSHROOMS ON TOAST PROVENCALE STYLE

Ingredients: (makes 2 generous servings)

1/2 pound firm white mushrooms 

1/4 cup mixed light and virgin olive oils

salt 

coarsely ground or crushed peppercorns 

1 garlic clove, chopped 

lemon juice

2 or 3 slices of bread 

2 tablespoons chopped parsley 

2 teaspoons chopped marjoram and 1/2 teaspoon chopped thyme, or several pinches of herbes de Provence

Cut the mushrooms into quarters. Toss them with the olive oil, a light sprinkling of salt, the pepper, garlic, a squeeze of lemon, and the dried herbs, if using. Set aside to marinate for at least 15 minutes. Just before you're ready to eat, toast the bread. Heat a saute pan, add the mushrooms, and saute them briskly, until they've begun to color. Taste and season with more salt and lemon juice. Add the parsley and marjoram, toss, and serve the mushrooms over the toast. 

A similar salad, with chimichurri on toast. Chimichurri is really a sauce for grilled meat, but I love just spreading it on toast, or serving it as an appetizer with crackers. It's also great on seitan, and probably on fake meat. But on toast! Yum.