I didn’t really give much credit to the social media posts I was seeing when the coronavirus first hit Melbourne.
Then I went shopping.
In the week of the first reported cases in my state, I walked in for my usual weekly shopping trip, got my fresh fruit and vegetables, hit the dairy aisle and then moved on to everything else.
Only to find whole sections cleared out.
I kind of understood the hand sanitisers and hand wash section being empty.
We’ve all seen the pictures from supermarkets around the world by now – pasta, rice, flour. Gone. A week later, pasta sauces, eggs, canned vegetables and tuna. Gone.
And let’s not talk about the craziness that happened over toilet paper.
At one point I remember just bursting out into giggles in the middle of the store, confused how one of the most laid-back nations of the world turned into the land of hoarders.
But I remember in that first week, an elderly lady looking around at what minimal stock remained, gingerly picking up a bag of quinoa and muttering out loud as she looked at the instructions. I’m not one to strike up a conversation with random strangers in a store, but she looked so confused and I felt so bad for her. When I approached her, she looked so grateful, asking if she could cook ‘whatever this is’ like rice, and I was glad I could help her out, showing her the ratios of quinoa to water, letting her know to rinse it before cooking it.
I took it for granted that not everyone would be familiar with quinoa, no matter how popular the seed has become. But then I never thought we’d be in a position where someone who wanted to buy rice would have to settle for something different and unknown.
So, if you’re unfamiliar with or are unsure how to prepare quinoa, check out my video for some quick pointers. Or if you have a bag of quinoa sitting in your pantry and want some inspiration of how to use it up, have a look at my fruit and vegetable quinoa salad below.
Stay safe, look out for each other, don’t hoard and keep cooking, peoples!
Love salads? Try these recipes too:
- Burrata Salad with tomatoes and peach, or blood oranges and beetroot
Fruit and Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
For the Quinoa
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ½ tablespoon vegetable stock powder, or a bouillon cube
- 1 ¾ cups water*
For the Salad
- 2 corn cobs
- 1 zucchini
- 1 capsicum
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt, to taste
- 250 g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 avocado, thinly sliced or cubed
- 12 strawberries, quartered
- 20 blueberries
- 120 g goat’s cheese
- 30 g pistachios, roughly chopped
For the Dressing
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ½ lemon, juice and zest
- 1 to 2 tablespoons honey, to taste
- 1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Pour the quinoa into a fine-meshed strainer and rinse thoroughly with cold water to remove the outer bitter coating. Drain well.1 cup quinoa
- Over a medium heat, melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Add the rinsed quinoa and the vegetable stock powder and stir to coat and toast the seeds for a minute or so until the water has evaporated and the seeds have heated up.1 tablespoon butter, ½ tablespoon vegetable stock powder, 1 ¾ cups water*
- Add the water, stir once more, then put the lid on and let the quinoa cook via the absorption method for 15 to 20 minutes, until the water is completely absorbed and you can see the quinoa’s exterior germ, or tails. Set aside to cool.
- Whilst the quinoa is cooking, set the oven to 200°C. Trim the corn cobs of any exposed silk strands and roast in them in their husks for 10 minutes.2 corn cobs
- In the meantime, chop the zucchini and capsicum, toss them in the olive oil and salt, and add them to the roasting tray. Cook all the vegetables together for a further 15 to 20 minutes until they just start to caramelise. Set aside to cool a little.1 zucchini, 1 capsicum, 1 tablespoon olive oil, Salt
- When cool enough to handle, strip the husks from the corn, and using a sharp knife, slice the kernels off the cob.
- To make the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together, and then dress the warm quinoa with three quarters of the honey-lemon dressing.¼ cup olive oil, ½ lemon, 1 to 2 tablespoons honey, 1 tablespoon parsley, Salt and pepper
- To pull the salad together, put the dressed quinoa in a large bowl, add the roasted vegetables, the cherry tomatoes, avocado, strawberries and blueberries and mix gently to combine. Crumble the goat’s cheese on top, add the pistachios and drizzle the remaining dressing all over.250 g cherry tomatoes, 1 avocado, 12 strawberries, 20 blueberries, 30 g pistachios, 120 g goat’s cheese
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
2 Comments
I have just started to eat quinoa and this sounds like a lovely recipe to make. Thanks for sharing at Fiesta Friday party!
It’s a great recipe that can be easily customised. Just don’t forget to rinse the quinoa!