The Goblet of Knowledge

One of the things that struck me about Western when first arrived was the bars on campus. IU had a strict "dry campus" policy (in quotation marks for a reason), but Western has The Spoke, that's known for having an undergrad crowd, and the Grad Club, which, as its name implies, is for graduate students. The Grad club allows undergrads or whoever to eat and drink there, but grads get a discount on food, and they have a sign that tells undergrads to behave themselves and not pester their TAs while inside.

When you graduate, the Grad Club gives you a free beer (can a Westerner confirm this for me?) in what they call the Goblet of Knowledge, a fancy goblet that they keep on display behind the bar. This week, my friend Emilie defended for her master's degree in music theory, so after our students' final on Thursday, we went to the Grad Club for her drink from The Goblet.























Congrats, Emilie! She's moving on to a degree for the more socially adjusted and going to law school at the University of Toronto.


This week in food, I only have a couple of things to show you. One night this week we repeated the delicious fish tacos from a couple months ago. The other two dishes we made were both real winners.


First, Enormous Salad with curried cashews, pears, and grapes with a dijon dressing.


















Here's the recipe. We were both really happy with it, but we'll probably be moving on to a new salad-of-the-week for next week. The ripe pear was a really interesting flavor with the curried cashews, and the nuts were also prepared with butter and brown sugar. I don't really know how that could have turned out badly. The original recipe also calls for a couple strips of bacon, fried and crumbled. I felt like it would have been a nice addition, but the salad works fine without it.




Next up: Black Beans and Quinoa with Chipotle Raspberry Sauce, from the Post Punk Kitchen.


















Oh. mah. gawd, this is good. I've never had anything quite like it. The adobo from the chipotles and the raspberries go incredibly well together, and I would never have thought to combine them. The almonds add a little crunch, and the broccoli makes it a really complete meal, nutritionally. I will definitely make this again!


This weekend we have some potluck plans for Easter, so I'll have pictures of that to come. Have a great weekend!

Curried Quinoa Salad

John and I have been searching the internet for lunch ideas that don't involve lunch meat sandwiches. Salad is great, but it's easier over the summer and takes a few minutes to toss together. Roasted veggie sandwiches were a hit around here for a little while, but they take too long to prepare for the average school day. Hummus is another great lunch, but you know, I'd like to have a few ideas on hand.

The kitchn.com did a week of special posts on lunch a while back, so I'll share a few links that have been helpful:

Five lunches under 400 calories.

14 Great ideas for weekday lunches.

10 Vegan Lunch Ideas (I'm definitely making the "chickpea of the sea" recipe listed there).

After searching through those posts I finally just googled "curry quinoa salad" and this recipe came up. It's easy and delicious. If you make it with veggie stock then it's totally vegan.





















Quinoa takes about 15 minutes to cook, so it's something I could potentially do in the morning before going to school. Realistically, I'll probably make a double batch of this on a Sunday evening and John and I can portion it out during the week. It can be served hot or cold, so it'll be easy to transport to school.



















My only comment is to hold off on salting it until after tasting it. I'll probably halve the bullion cube next time (the cubes from Bulk Barn are rather large), since this batch was pretty salty.

Curried Quinoa Salad
adapted from Vegetarian.about.com

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  
• 1 vegetable or chicken bullion cube
  
• 2 cups water
  
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup cashew pieces
• dash salt (to taste)

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Add bullion cube and stir until dissolved, without reducing the heat. Stir in quinoa and spices. Stir and cover, reduce heat to medium low; let simmer for 12-15 minutes. When quinoa is fluffy and water is absorbed, add raisins and cashews. Stir for 2-3 minutes over medium low heat, until raisins and cashews are heated through. Add salt to taste. Garnish with cilantro (optional).

Lemon Cumin Quinoa with Avocado and Raisins

A few weeks ago John and I decided to search for a quinoa recipe. It was still a little cool outside for this recipe, but it would be perfect for a summer potluck, or as the side to a summery meal.






















The little pieces of avocado stayed green for a long time, since there's so much lemon juice in this salad. Somehow they tasted like butter to me in this mixture of flavors. I'm not the biggest fan of anything lemon flavored, but it was really delicious. I'm sure we'll make it again when the weather gets hot and humid.























Lemon Cumin Quinoa with Avocado and Raisins
from Erin's Food Files

Ingredients:

3 Tbs. raisins (preferably a mix of dark and golden), or currants
2 Tbs. dried apricots, thinly sliced
1 cup red or white quinoa, rinsed well
Kosher salt
1 large lemon
3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. ground coriander
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. sweet paprika
1 medium firm-ripe avocado (6 to 7 oz.), pitted, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
2 medium scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced (I omitted)
2 to 3 Tbs. coarsely chopped toasted almonds (I used sliced almonds)
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

In a medium bowl, soak the raisins and apricots in hot water for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a 2-quart saucepan, bring 2 cups water, the quinoa, and 1/2 tsp. salt to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is translucent and tender, 10 to 15 minutes. (The outer germ rings of the grain will remain chewy and white. Some germ rings may separate from the grain and will look like white squiggles.) Immediately fluff the quinoa with a fork and turn it out onto a baking sheet to cool to room temperature.

Finely grate the zest from the lemon and then squeeze 1 Tbs. juice. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon zest and juice with the olive oil, coriander, cumin, paprika, and 1/4 tsp. salt. In a large bowl, toss the vinaigrette with the quinoa, raisins, apricots, avocado, scallions, and almonds. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Quinoa Vegetable Soup

For all the simple ingredients in this soup I expected it to taste kind of bland. But it's really delicious and flavorful.





















John and I have been trying out new recipes that involve quinoa, since we have some in the pantry. I've also got a great quinoa salad to show you at point soon. Quinoa is so funny to me - it starts out sort of like a mustard seed and then sort of...pops.

























This soup is really hearty and the recipe makes a huge batch. We froze two tupperware containers of them for finals week (though, here we are and they're still frozen).
John didn't like the parsley in this soup, and in general I'd recommend putting it on top serving by serving, since it's kind of a strong flavor compared to the others. We made this with tofu instead of chicken. Sometimes I worry about that not turning out well, but here it was really good. Again, I recommend pressing the tofu for at least an hour before cooking - it makes all the difference!

Quinoa Vegetable Soup
adapted from The Sisters Cafe

2 T extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

5 stalks celery, chopped

4 large carrots, peeled and sliced

2 Cups sweet pepper, chopped

1 large zucchini, quartered and sliced

64 oz chicken broth*

15 oz can diced tomatoes

5 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and cubed into 1" pieces (get the Yukon potatoes, it's worth the extra few dollars)

3 cups cooked quinoa

4 medium boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked, shredded and lightly seasoned with salt and pepper* (We used a package of extra-firm tofu)

2 T Dijon Mustard

1 T Hot Sauce

Kosher Salt, fresh cracked black pepper, Garlic Salt (Lawry's is good), and Parsley to taste

1 1/2 cups fresh parsley chopped

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Saute onion, celery, carrots, peppers, and zucchini until softened. This takes about 5 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, tomatoes, and potatoes. Increase heat to high just until broth starts to boil Reduce to medium high and cook potatoes for 10 minutes or until fork tender. Reduce heat to low and stir in quinoa, chicken, dijon mustard, hot sauce. Season to taste with kosher salt, pepper, garlic salt. Stir in fresh parsley and simmer until ready to serve.

*These are both ingredients that can easily be subbed for tofu and veggie broth to make this recipe vegan.

Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

I came across an article on thekitchen.com recently about how to get out of the cooking blahs that sometimes accompany all the other blahs at this time of year.





















While reading it I realized that John and I are kind of doing one of the things it suggests by trying more vegetarian and vegan recipes. It's prompting us to try ingredients we don't normally use and combinations that I normally wouldn't think of (like tofu and pecans, for example).
































Last week we made some squash, stuffed with quinoa, dates, onions, pistachios, and lemon zest. The recipe called for sweet dumpling squash, which we couldn't find, but acorn squash seemed to work fine. This was the first time we've used quinoa, and it was really easy and delicious. This same dish would be delicious with sausage, but it was flavorful and filling this way, too.


Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

from thekitchn.com

3 acorn squashes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped
8 dates, coarsely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup cooked quinoa
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds. (The seeds can be roasted like pumpkin seeds.)

Place squash face-down in an oiled baking dish. Bake until tender when pierced with a knife, about 30 minutes. Remove squash from oven but keep oven on.

Prepare the stuffing while the squash is baking. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until onion is translucent. Add pistachios, dates, lemon zest, and cinnamon and sauté for another minute. Stir in the cooked quinoa and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Turn the squash upright in the baking dish and stuff with the quinoa mixture.

Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for another 20 minutes.

Serve warm, garnished with extra pistachios or lemon zest, if desired. The peel of sweet dumpling squash is generally tender enough to be eaten.