Q is for Quinoa [A-Z Blog Challenge 2015]

Experiments From Auntie's Test Kitchen

Intro  A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Conclusion



                                                                                                                    

Q is for Quinoa

Quinoa, that mystery seed-grain dubbed a "super" food (whatever that means).  I'd not heard of quinoa until a couple of years ago.  Though I wanted to try it, its expensive price tag caused me to dismiss it as "highfalutin hippie food."

No offense to my hippie friends.

There is conflicting information as to whether quinoa is a better choice than other healthy grains.  I don't really care; my purpose in trying it is to expand my palate.  The quinoa-rice mix I consumed at a friend's house was good, but I didn't get the full experience of the grain on its own.

This summer, I attended a women's health expo in Arvada.  Part of the festivities included a cooking demonstration by the local hospital.  Along with nutritional information from a certified nutritionist, the hospital's chef constructed a dish containing quinoa, salmon, and vegetables.  The recipe is as follows:

Honestly, when samples of the dish were presented to us, it wasn't very pleasurable to consume.  First, the dish was cold. Ugh!  In addition, the dish had absolutely no flavor.  How in the world can you combine such wonderful ingredients and end up with such an unsavory experience?  Surely even I could do a better job at home.

Here's to hoping.

One of the benefits of the demonstration is the substitution list we were given along with the recipe:

First, I substituted tilapia filets for salmon.  Yes, I know that salmon is slightly more healthy than tilapia.  However, the price of salmon isn't slightly higher!  Second, I cooked the tilapia in a small amount of butter (about a teaspoon) with lemon pepper seasoning, so it tasted better than the wet-dishrag tasting fish filet from the sample. 

Next, the quinoa.  I didn't know there were different colors of quinoa.  Plus, it seems that price and color were interrelated.  The most budget-friendly choice was a Success brand boil-in-bag tri-color quinoa mix.  A note about the quinoa, in order for it to have any taste, it must be eaten with other foods or flavors.  By itself, the grain tastes like new-mowed hay...and I'm not a cow.

Making the dressing and putting the salad together was easy.  Depending on the season and what's available, substitutions within the vegetables can be implemented.  For example, I used spinach in place of romaine lettuce and I eliminated the cucumber.  Plus, I made the recipe for one and saved the remainder of the dressing in the refrigerator for future use.

With these tweaks, this tasted much better than the sample. This will definitely be added to my meal rotation.