David Lynch Cooking Quinoa

Want to know how David Lynch cooks his quinoa? The acclaimed writer/director filmed this to promote his movie Inland Empire. In this video he prepares his quinoa in real time and shares a little story while waiting for the quinoa to cook. Great light and sound effects, of course.





If you want to cook your quinoa along with the video, you will need quinoa, sea salt, fresh broccoli, vegetable bouillon, Braggs liquid aminos, and extra virgin olive oil.

My kitchen is calling me now and demanding I cook something like this tonight.

Thanks to Marika Emerson who brought this David Lynch quinoa video to my attention by posting it on her blog.

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Mushroom Quinoa Risotto

Are you ready for something new with quinoa?

I am nuts about mushrooms and quinoa, and I also like to experiment with combining quinoa colors, so this recipe was an easy sell for me.

Besides, I didn't have enough of either white or red quinoa to measure a half cup, so a mixture made sense to me. I had a package of aging portobellos that I had rescued from the produce markdown rack, so I seemed destined to cook this dish.

A Nuttier Quinoa

Prepared this way, the quinoa doesn't cook up to look like eggs and germs. Instead, the seeds remain intact much like the results you get from soaking quinoa, though much quicker. 

This recipe is based on the Red & White Quinoa Mushroom Risotta entry in the 2010 November Favourite Food Fight. If you are reading this post in November 2010, and this looks like a recipe you would cook, please visit the voting page and vote to give the author a chance at the Kitchen Aid prize package.

My photos skills continue to improve in baby steps. I got a good close up shot of the quinoa today (see below), but the lighting was yellow. The quinoa looks pretty big there, eh? Would you believe there are 210 "grains" in a 1/4 teaspoon?

Mushroom Quinoa Risotto

I halved the recipe so I started by rinsing about 1/4 cup of red and 1/4 cup of white quinoa.

I heated a cup of water just to boiling and added a beef bouillon cube to dissolve in the water. I also added some cayenne pepper, perhaps 1/8 of a teaspoon.  Everything can use a little cayenne.

Next, I melted a tablespoon of butter in my skillet and sauteed about 1/2 cup of onions and one pressed garlic clove until softened.

I added the quinoa to the saute and things really started to pop.

No, really, the seeds started popping all over the place so I quickly spooned in some of the broth I had made. When that water had been absorbed/evaporated, I stirred in some more broth and kept doing this until I had added all the broth.

When all the broth was gone, I stirred in 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and about 2 1/2 cups of chopped portobello mushrooms. I think I could have added about 4 cups of mushrooms to this amount of quinoa and that would have been fine.

The finished dish was delicious, albeit very chewy with the quinoa prepared this way. I know from prior experience that some of this quinoa will not be digested, I am not sure whether this is a terrible thing or not. :-0 I drank a couple of glasses of water while eating my risotto in case the quinoa soaks up more water on its way through me.

I would love to try this recipe with wine.

Omnivorous Confessions

I admit I took a vegetarian recipe and added beef bouillon instead of vegetable broth. I had the bouillon on hand and I thought it would work well here. (It did.) If I doubled the recipe though, I would still use only one cube.

You can easily prepare this vegetarian by using vegetable broth and vegan by replacing the Parmesan cheese with nutritional yeast.

So, what do you think? Is this a quinoa recipe you would cook?

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Quinoa Salad Contest on 20 Minute Supper Club Website

Are you looking for new quinoa salad ideas? How would you like to feast your eyes on 16 recipes at once? You're bound to find at least one that piques your interest.

Quinoa Salad Contest

Having squeezed out the last of my sour grapes, I finally popped over to the 20 Minute Supper Club website to check out the quinoa salads vying in the November 2010 Favourite Food Fight. Wow, the competition there is incredible.

Once again quinoa's versatility blows my mind. I have linked to the individual recipes below because the contest page will change at the end of the month, but if you are reading this in November 2010 be sure to visit the voting page where you can see all the photos on one page. Take a look at the recipes that interest you and vote for the ones you are most likely to make. 

Mexican Quinoa Salad

Queenie Bean Salad

Quinoa Salad with Tomato, Basil & Parmesan

Quinoa Patties with Mushroom and Goat Cheese

Sensational Quinoa Mediterranean Salad

Autumn Quinoa with Beets and Apricots

Summery Shrimp Quinoa Salad

Red & White Quinoa Mushroom Risotto

Katryna's Quinoa

Warm Quinoa Fela Salad

Mulled Apple Cider Quinoa

Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Quinoa Salad

Curried Vegetable Quinoa

Pecan Quinoa Salad

Autumn Quinoa Salad

Cranberry Mango Quinoa Salad

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Spinach and Cranberry Quinoa Salad

Look at that Spinach and Cranberry Quinoa Salad - isn't it gorgeous? I thought it would win a prize. I really did.

Back in October I saw the 20 Minute Supper Club website requesting submissions for quinoa salad recipes. The recipes would be up through November for site visitors to vote on, and the winner would win a fabulous Kitchen Aid prize package.

So I went in the kitchen and I created this Spinach and Cranberry Quinoa Salad to take to a dinner party. It was delicious. I created the salad two weeks before the contest deadline so I would be able to tweak it if necessary, but I was very satisfied with my first taste test. I brought the salad to a party and it was such a hit they didn't send the leftovers home with me.

The photos came out pretty kickass for me, I must say. I was sure this proved that I was destined to win.

Unfortunately, I didn't read the rules and regulations for the contest ahead of time, and when I went to submit my entry I found I wasn't qualified to enter. I had my suspicions when I saw the word "favourite" and then I came to the "residents of Canada" part.

Wahhh. I am an American and darn it, I wish I had read the rules at first so I wouldn't feel so let down.

Now that I have gotten that off my chest and have had a few weeks to completely kick myself for my mistake, I have decided it is time to share my creation with all of you.

Spinach and Cranberry Quinoa Salad

1 tbsp red quinoa
1 cup white quinoa
2 cups water
1 cup frozen corn

1/4 cup grated carrots
2 green onions, sliced diagonally
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1/2 cup fresh cranberries, halved
3 cups baby spinach 
3 tbsp toasted, salted squash seeds

Dressing

juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 pkts of sugar substitute

Rinse the quinoa. Bring the quinoa to a boil and then simmer for fifteen minutes to absorb all the water.

When water is absorbed, stir in 1 cup frozen corn and place in refrigerator for an hour to cool (or overnight if desired). If you are not a fan of raw onions and garlic you could stir them in with the corn so the warm quinoa can cook them until it cools.

Add carrots, onions, garlic, cranberries and spinach to the cooled quinoa and corn mixture. Whisk together the dressing and drizzle over the salad. Toss to coat evenly. Top with toasted squash seeds.

Easy substitutions

I used fresh cranberries because I had them on hand, and then I ended up adding sugar substitute because the salad was too tart and I was preparing this for my mom who is diabetic. You could use 1/4 cup of dried cranberries instead of fresh cranberries and omit the sweetener because dried cranberries are presweetened. Or you could use any sugar/sweetener you prefer with the fresh cranberries.

This being squash season, I have plenty of seeds each week to toast and add to salads and casseroles. If you don't have any seeds to use, I am sure sliced almonds would work as well.

I hope you are having fun with quinoa and learning new ways to integrate fresh ingredients into your lifestyle. This Spinach and Cranberry Quinoa Salad is a colorful and tasty way to introduce friends and family to quinoa.

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Pink Quinoa Tweet

Another entry in my celebrity quinoa category.

The pop star known as Pink introduced quinoa to many of her 2.4 million twitter followers when she tweeted this week to ask whether it was safe to eat quinoa after storing it in the refrigerator.

Within minutes the activity around the keyword "quinoa" on Twitter became a flurry of fans trying to get up to speed with what quinoa is while others congratulated Pink on her choice and reassured her that quinoa is safe for 3-5 days in the fridge.

I was not familiar with the concern about leftover rice. I was always inclined to freeze leftover rice myself, but I don't use rice at all right now.

I am kinda keen on quinoa, you know?

BTW, @pink also wants you to know that it is not okay to ring her doorbell to ask for an autograph. So don't do it, no matter how tempted you feel. Go home and eat some quinoa and bond with Pink that way. 

I'm eating Ruby Quinoa right now myself - more magenta than pink perhaps. I will have to think of a recipe for pink quinoa.

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Ruby Quinoa

Okay, first things first, credit for this recipe goes to The Olive Press for their Lemon-Infused Ruby Quinoa. I am struggling to take close up photos that get the details of the quinoa. Their photo is much better, so go check it out if you want to see how beautiful Ruby Quinoa looks.

Grating Beets for Ruby Quinoa

While a cup of quinoa was cooking in two cups of water, I grated beets on an old school grater. I have a food processor, but it isn't a very good one and hardly worth the effort to clean. I cut the beets on a glass cutting board so I wouldn't stain my plastic one.

What If I Grate Too Many Beets?

Turns out my 4 beets grated up into more than a cup total. No worries, I threw all the beets in with the quinoa.

I have to admit that at this time, I was skeptical. I tasted the beets and quinoa together with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and it seemed dull and earthy. I went along with the recipe but I wasn't expecting to like the final product.

Lotsa Lemon

After the beets and quinoa had 10 minutes to make their marriage permanent, I cut a slice from the center of a large lemon to use for garnish and then I squeezed all of the juice of the rest of the lemon into the quinoa.

I didn't have any parsley, but I did have 1/4 cup of mint with no planned destination that I recruited for the recipe. I chopped up the mint and stirred it in.

Unfortunately, my zester is the same tool I used to grate the beets. I think I need to buy something smaller and more suited to the task because most of the zest remained on the grater. It's anyone's guess whether there was a teaspoon of zest in the final dish.

I stirred this all together and then took the photos that don't do this dish justice.

Ruby Quinoa Is Much Better Than I Thought It Would Be.

Turns out not only is this dish simply gorgeous in color, but it also tastes pretty darn good. The hot quinoa must cook the grated beets or something - altogether it works well. Good comfort food on a cold and rainy November afternoon.

I will try this again with a little rice vinegar to see if I prefer it with a little more kick, but this Ruby Quinoa recipe has my approval just as it is.

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Pretzel Crisps Delivery

Adrian from Snack Factory Pretzel Crisps delivered a gift bag to me today. Isn't that car adorable?

Bless her heart, Adrian even tried to find Crazy Camel Dessert Hummus in stores for me to eat with the crisps, but it doesn't have wide distribution yet.

Fortunately, I had a jar of Nutella on hand. :-)

Look at all the loot the folks at Pretzel Crisps stuffed in that bag!

9 full size bags

• 2 Original
• 2 Classic
• 2 Supreme
• 1 Tuscan Three Cheese
• 1 Garlic Parmesan 
• 1 Everything

Plus 6 individual snack bags (all Original)

How did I get so lucky?

Yesterday I tweeted about trying dessert hummus at the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival and @PretzelCrisps tweeted back and offered to deliver Pretzel Crisps to my home or work. How cool is that?

What do I think of the crisps?

I ate a serving of Original flavor Pretzel Crisps with Nutella. I enjoyed them very much. The pretzels are pressed flat, like crackers, and are sturdy enough to use for dips, like tortilla chips. Light salt does not overpower the flavor. I will consider using these for entertaining during the holiday season. It's always to convenient to have something in the cupboard that works for either cheese slices or dip.

When I am shopping for Christmas week, I will compare the nutrition of the crisps to that of the graham crackers I usually serve with my tiramisu cheese ball. Maybe I will change things up this year on Christmas Eve.

What do I think of the social media marketing strategy?

I am impressed. Snack Factory is reaching out to people in their own world and bringing them samples on their terms. Snack Factory used something familiar to me, the dessert hummus, to create a conversational bridge to their Pretzel Crisps. As a consequence, I sampled their product in my home with my condiments. Very cool.

Thanks for the Pretzel Crisps delivery, Adrian and Snack Factory. I look forward to sharing your crisps with my friends and family.

Did you know if you aren’t subscribing to How Do You Cook Quinoa? at the new domain, you risk missing out on new posts and quinoa recipes? Not mention the upcoming quinoa contest. Subscribe today and learn tasty new ways to enjoy quinoa along with other exciting (and sometimes exotic) ingredients.

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2010 Boston Vegetarian Food Festival

Boston Vegetarian Society booth 10/31/10

I visited the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival on Sunday afternoon. I was very surprised that there was no quinoa booth. I walked the floor three times, tasted dessert hummus, and sipped on hemp milk, but I couldn't find anything with quinoa.

Oh well.

Dessert Hummus

The Crazy Camel Dessert Hummus booth had six different sweet hummus treats. I tasted the pumpkin pie flavored hummus...delicious.

I wondered how to eat dessert hummus when I got home and tried to describe it to my son. I mean, I suppose it is good enough to eat off a spoon, but somehow that seemed a little heavy. I bring a tiramisu cheese ball with graham crackers to my brother's house every Christmas Eve. My son said we can't mess with that tradition, so I suggested perhaps I could serve pumpkin pie hummus with graham crackers on Thanksgiving.
 
However, it turns out there may be a better idea. When I tweeted about my trip to the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival and dessert hummus, @PretzelCrisps tweeted back that Pretzel Crisps go well with dessert hummus and they would like to deliver treats to me. They will be here this afternoon. I am so excited.

Now I need to find dessert hummus to eat with the pretzel crisps delivery.

Boston 10/31/10

Mother Nut's Carob Peppermint Almond Butter Cookies

I tasted the most amazing cookies at the festival. These cookies are moist and chewy and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. I read over the ingredients today and found that quinoa is the second ingredient, so I guess I managed to find some quinoa at the festival after all.

The cookies were created by a mother with a son who needed to eat gluten free has digestive issues and are baked at Vision's Sown in Jamaica Plain, MA.  If I heard correctly, they will start selling these cookies at Fenway Park on November 16. *see Ancient Baker's comment below.

If you get a chance to nosh on these cookies, go for it.

Don't let the carob frighten you. In fact, I think the name of these cookies is misleading. Yes, there is carob, but the chocolate chips overwhelm the carob flavor. And the peppermint is muted, barely discernible. The overall flavor is deep and dark, reminiscent of molasses.


Boston, You're My Home

Eating those cookies reminds me it has been too long since I last had Durgin Park's Indian Pudding. 'Tis the season.

You can see in the photo above just how pretty the city was when we were driving home.

I love that dirty water...

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