Last week, as I mentioned, we experimented with a salad using Trader Joe's Harvest Mix of seeds and beans and orzo. Today, having purchased some quinoa from the same store, I decided to try another salad: this time, a quinoa, roasted corn and tomato salad, with a cumin coriander lemon dressing.
I roasted (or rather broiled) a couple of ears of corn, and three tomatoes: seasoned first with olive oil and salt and pepper to help them roast. I cooked a cup of quinoa in chicken stock, as per the package directions. After mixing them together (this was the original inspiration) I searched my taste buds for what to season it with.
I had a couple of small warm peppers -- a serrano and a not-too-hot thai chilli, and I chopped those up (sans membranes and seeds -- I wasn't going for heat) and tossed them in the mix. I chopped up a fresh tomato that LOML had grown as well, threw it in, and thought about the dressing.
The flavour was clearly in need of an oil/acid combination, but I wanted some spices too: and LOML and I decided that middle-eastern was the way to go, so I used lemon juice and olive oil for the liquids, and threw in salt, pepper and some cumin and coriander: enough to taste, but not enough to overpower: about a teaspoon of cumin, and half that of coriander.
Quite delicious -- though it could do with a couple of things: it needs more green (perhaps italian flat leaf celery) and more crunchy texture (I'm considering yellow bell peppers, diced, or perhaps cucumber). But overall, I'm very pleased with my culinary imagination over the past week or two, especially since I've been using it to make somewhat healthier food!
Yours, patting myself on my back,
N.
I roasted (or rather broiled) a couple of ears of corn, and three tomatoes: seasoned first with olive oil and salt and pepper to help them roast. I cooked a cup of quinoa in chicken stock, as per the package directions. After mixing them together (this was the original inspiration) I searched my taste buds for what to season it with.
I had a couple of small warm peppers -- a serrano and a not-too-hot thai chilli, and I chopped those up (sans membranes and seeds -- I wasn't going for heat) and tossed them in the mix. I chopped up a fresh tomato that LOML had grown as well, threw it in, and thought about the dressing.
The flavour was clearly in need of an oil/acid combination, but I wanted some spices too: and LOML and I decided that middle-eastern was the way to go, so I used lemon juice and olive oil for the liquids, and threw in salt, pepper and some cumin and coriander: enough to taste, but not enough to overpower: about a teaspoon of cumin, and half that of coriander.
Quite delicious -- though it could do with a couple of things: it needs more green (perhaps italian flat leaf celery) and more crunchy texture (I'm considering yellow bell peppers, diced, or perhaps cucumber). But overall, I'm very pleased with my culinary imagination over the past week or two, especially since I've been using it to make somewhat healthier food!
Yours, patting myself on my back,
N.
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