Adventures with Quinoa: Quinoa, Black Bean & Zucchini Salad

I've heard a lot of great things recently about quinoa.  It is a high-protein grain that is highly recommended as an alternative to white rice.  I have to admit that I was always hesitant to try quinoa because of its resemblance to couscous and I absolutely cannot stand the texture of couscous.  But when I tried a delightful quinoa salad at the Clover Food Truck, all fears disappeared and I was immediately a fan.

On Saturday, after the Bloodypalooza event, Bret and I ran some errands in the Back Bay.  We stopped at Trader Joe's to stock up on a few of our staples when I saw a box of quinoa and decided to throw it in our shopping basket.  I was really excited to give quinoa a try so I decided to play around with it the very next day.

I read the instructions on the box and saw that there were three different methods of preparation - stove top, rice cooker and microwave.  I decided to go with the method that sounded easiest to me and threw in two cups of quinoa with four cups of water in my rice cooker.  While the quinoa was cooking, I put a pot of water to boil to cook some corn on the cob, which I planned to use in my quinoa salad.

While the quinoa was cooking and the water was boiling, I got to work on my other ingredients.  First, I drained and rinsed a can of black beans.

I then chopped up one jalapeno pepper.  I kept about half the seeds of the pepper because I wanted to add a nice heat to my salad.

I then diced up one small zucchini and also added that to the bowl.

When my two ears of corn were almost done cooking and were a perfect al dente, I gave it a quick cold rinse to cool it down and then stripped the corn from the cob.  My quinoa was done cooking in the rice cooker just a few minutes later and when I opened the lid of the cooker, I was shocked.  There was a LOT of quinoa.  I had definitely made way too much and only used about half of the quinoa in my salad.

I added some black pepper, salt, red pepper flakes and cayenne to the large bowl of quinoa salad and gave it a stir.  The salad had a lot of nice crunch from the zucchini and peppers, along with a good level of heat from the jalapeno, cayenne and red pepper flakes.  Although I could have eaten this salad on its own, I decided to use it as a filling in a whole-grain sandwich wrap.

I'd have to say that my cooking adventure with quinoa was definitely a success.  Quinoa is so easy to cook and you can't help but just love the nutty aroma it gives off when it is cooking.  I definitely made way too much quinoa and had a lot of salad leftover (which made for a great lunch).  As for the rest of the quinoa that I didn't use in my salad, I made a risotto-like dish last night by cooking it in chicken broth, butter, garlic and Parmesan cheese.  Yum!  Since it is so versatile, I'm definitely looking forward to using quinoa again in my kitchen.

Have you tried cooking with quinoa? If so, please share your quinoa recipe with me!

Potato Crusted Cod and Cheese Stuffed Jalapenos

On Sunday night, after a wonderful late lunch on the patio at Bouchee and wandering around the SOWA Open Market, B and I were completely wiped out.  We wanted to make something for dinner that was quick and easy but still tasty.  We looked through our freezer and decided to cook the frozen potato crusted cod that Sea Cuisine sent over for me to try out.

Since I had such a great experience with my previous Sea Cuisine frozen fish, I knew that the cod would be equally delicious.  The preparation for the fish was very simple and we put it on a cooking tray in the oven at 375 degrees for twenty-five minutes.

While the fish was cooking, we decided to make two simple sides to go with the fish.  The most obvious was a very basic salad with Olivia's Organics spring mix salad with a sliced vine-ripe tomato, sliced cucumbers, sliced avocado, and aged Cabot cheddar cheese.

While the salad was refreshing, we wanted to make something that didn't really go with the meal but we both really wanted to make.  We saw a recipe for cheese stuffed jalapeno peppers in the most recent issue of Everyday Food.  Our friend M makes something very similar as an appetizer for parties and we both really wanted to make it ourselves.  We went to Savenor's Market and picked up half a dozen jalapeno peppers.

After the peppers were washed, B sliced them in half and I de-seeded them.  We saved a few seeds aside to put in the cheese stuffing.  I shredded a generous quarter cup of the aged Cabot cheddar cheese.

I then added half a package of cream cheese and added the jalapeno seeds, fresh cracked black pepper and salt.  Using a small spoon, we delicately spooned the stuffing into the jalapenos.

B placed the jalapenos on the tray with the fish and broiled it for about ten minutes.  The end result was a very simple but surprisingly delicious dinner.  The cod was delightfully moist with a thick potato, cheddar and chive crust.  The crust was so flavorful that it didn't need any sauce.  While the salad was a light and refreshing side to the fish, the spicy jalapenos added a nice rich and cheesy goodness to the meal.

Better still, the meal made great leftovers the next day.  I added some canned tuna to the salad for lunch and we reheated the jalapenos for dinner, which added a delicious golden brown crust to the cheese.  Although the jalapenos were a strange addition to our meal, I know that I will definitely repeat it for an appetizer some time.

Have you ever seen a recipe that you had to try out right away? What was it?