Keen on Quinoa

Since discovering the goodness of couscous about a year ago, I've been curious to try other "ancient" grains that had been, until recently, written off as the favored fuel of the crunchy-granola types. These grains are experiencing a small surge of popularity as nutritionists, researchers and health-conscious folks realize their health benefits and recognize that such attributes as "white" and "bleached" do not equal healthful.

While trolling the buffet tables at the flagship Whole Paycheck in late June, the husband and I were looking for new flavors and food preparations to try in small, relatively inexpensive quantities. On the salads buffet was a quinoa concoction that combined the grain with chopped cranberries, chopped red onion, olive oil and, if memory serves, balsamic vinegar. All those things I know to be quite tasty, and the quinoa salad turned out to be damn tasty. Much like couscous and brown rice, I found quinoa to have a bit of a nutty flavor, and its texture made my mouth happy: I don't like mushy stuff, and quinoa, when prepared properly, isn't mushy slop.

After gobbling down the small portion of cranberry-quinoa salad, I vowed I'd make the stuff at home some time. Since we'd bought the stuff at Whole Paycheck, I went over to its Web site in hopes of finding the recipe. Sure enough, I came across one that seemed pretty similar, although I couldn't be sure since my memory of all the ingredients in the quinoa salad we'd bought.

Quinoa Pilaf With Cranberries and Almonds1 T olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped
1 C quinoa, rinsed
2 C chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 t salt
2/3 C chopped dried cranberries
2/3 C toasted, sliced almonds

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over high heat.
   
2. Add the onion and cook, stirring, 2 min.
   
3. Add the quinoa to pan and stir 1 min.
   
4. Stir in broth and salt.
   
5. Bring mixture to a boil, lower heat and simmer, covered, 10 min.
   
6. Sprinkle in the cranberries, then continue to cook, covered, until quinoa is tender, 8 to 9 min.
   
7. Toss with almonds and serve.

Yield: Six 5-oz. servings

Nutritional Info
Calories: 220
Fat: 9 g
Sat fat: 1 g
Protein: 6 g
Carbs: 32 g
Fiber: 4 g
Sodium: 420 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
As I mentioned before, Gentle Reader, some time passed between when I ate the Whole Paycheck quinoa salad and when I found the recipe, but much more time passed between when I ate the salad and when I made the recipe. For that reason, I couldn't remember with certainty that the salad had contained balsamic vinegar. The recipe didn't include it, but I had this feeling the salad I'd so enjoyed had gotten its hint of burgundy color and sweet-ish flavor with the help of balsamic vinegar.

So what's a Faudie with a crappy memory to do? When it was time to sprinkle in the cranberries, I added a dash of balsamic vinegar. How much I can't say, but it was probably no more than a quarter-cup. Yes, I know, I should have measured it, but I have a terrible time reconciling the quantity in a measuring device with its true amount. I mean, a quarter-cup of water in a measuring cup doesn't look like much to me, but if I were to add it to a dish for which keeping the water content in a certain balance with the rest of the ingredients, that quarter-cup of water can quickly spell disaster.

The addition of the balsamic vinegar wasn't my only futzing:

• I used maybe a teaspoon, maybe a teaspoon and a half of olive oil.
  
• The "small" red onion I had started looking too big as I was chopping half of it, so that's all I used. Again, I just have a hard time visually translating one quantity into another. (Ugh, that sentence made no sense.)
  
• I omitted the sliced, toasted almonds. I have whole, raw almonds--as always--for snacks for the boys and me, but I don't like adding them as garnish to dishes.
  
• I used about a quarter-teaspoon of kosher salt. It's right there on the counter by Lumpy in my pink salt pig, making it so much easier to toss in than digging into the spice/drug/storage container cabinet for the light salt.
  
• I used almost a cup of chicken broth, left over from another meal I'd made earlier in the week, and the rest was vegetable broth. Did that impact the flavor? Eh, doubtful. I've found when it comes to the low-sodium broths, chicken and vegetable broths pretty much taste the same.
  
• The recipe doesn't specify what type of dried cranberries to use, so I used the sweetened ones I have on hand. That probably upped the carb content and helped give the finished dish a sweeter flavor, but I'm not complaining!

We didn't eat the quinoa all by itself: I made ginger-lime mahimahi, so yet another hunk of that giant slab of mahimahi I bought before Easter is now out of the deep freezer. I thought the sweetness of the quinoa would be a nice counterpoint to the citrusy tang of the fish. Of course, I had to sell the side dish as "round rice" to the boy, who disavowed couscous before even trying it, and the presence of cranberries I also impressed upon him. "Did he eat it?" you ask, Gentle Reader? He did--under duress.

Ah well, the boy didn't know what he was missing! My finished quinoa pilaf didn't have quite the distinct burgundy color I recalled the Whole Paycheck salad having, but it seemed to capture the flavor that I remembered. The pain in the ass that was rinsing the quinoa (in a little tea strainer) paid off, for the grains were tender and nutty, not hard and teeth-breakingly crunchy or palate-turning mushy. The sweetened dried cranberries and the balsamic vinegar gave the dish a wonderful sweetness, and the red onions were a great counterpoint, saving the pilaf from being too sweet. This dish is nutritious and pleasing to the palate and so very contrary to the notion that healthful whole-grain foods have the taste, texture and appeal of boiled cardboard.