Weekly Lunch: Quinoa with Roasted Fennel, Carrot and Kale

Do you ever see a recipe, or a photo of the finished dish, and immediately know that you just have to make it? It happens to me all the time. When I saw Shauna's post on Roasted Vegetable Salad I loved the look of the roasted fennel and carrot, and I liked the idea of cooking kale in the oven, just barely, so that it wilts but isn't crispy like kale chips.

I went to the farmer's market last weekend, and even though it's early in the season, there was an abundance of beautiful produce. I got a huge bunch of lacinato kale, and I bought a fennel bulb for the first time ever. I've enjoyed it in salads before, but had never tried roasting it. I'm so glad I branched out! When was the last time you tried a new vegetable? It's been way too long for me.

From left to right: collard greens, lacinato kale, green garlic, shallots, fennel, broccoli raab, and shiitake mushrooms.

The recipe is simple. Chop some veggies (I used the fennel and a few carrots) into large chunks, toss with oil, salt and pepper, and roast in a 375F oven for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, I chopped up the kale into small pieces. After the 20 minutes, I piled the kale on top of the carrots and fennel, and put it back in the oven for about 4-5 minutes. Afterward, it looked like this:

I also cooked a pot of quinoa, and made a simple dressing with lemon juice, a splash of white wine vinegar, dijon mustard, green garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. I used a small plastic container that I can easily keep in the office refrigerator and shake up each day at lunchtime.

Mix it all together and top with goat cheese and a hard boiled egg. I love how the fennel got so caramelized. The sweet roasted veggies, slightly bitter kale, tangy goat cheese and lemon juice dressing was a great combo.

Make It Homemade

Just a short post today to let you know about a couple of new features on Olalliberry. First, I finally added an About page. I am not one to share a lot of details of my life on the internet, but hey there ya go.


More exciting (for me) is Make It Homemade, my ongoing goal to learn to make different foods, from angelfood cake to hollandaise sauce to pickles. I'll be crossing items off the list and probably adding more and more as time goes on.

Also, we finally got some sunshine this weekend! I celebrated by taking a lovely waterfront walk with Sweetie.

Do you have cooking goals? Anything you've always wanted to make?

Weekly Lunch: Moroccan-ish Chickpea Soup

My quest for new lunch ideas continues! It's still too early for spring veggies, so I'm making do with sweet potatoes and cauliflower, but with a different flavor base. This week's soup is inspired by a Moroccan chickpea tagine, with a spicy tomato-based broth and hearty winter vegetables. Rather than serving over the traditional couscous, I added some millet to the pot. Millet is similar enough in size to couscous, and is a whole grain to boot.

I am impressed that the millet has stayed chewy, even after a few days (unlike pasta, which keeps absorbing broth and becomes soggy overnight). I'll definitely put millet in soup again!

Moroccan-ish Chickpea Stew
Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2-3 celery stalks, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 tablespoons harissa paste (I used a storebought one, but I would love to make it sometime!)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed
1 bay leaf
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped in 1/2" pieces

1 (15 oz.) can of diced tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted

4 cups vegetable stock
1/2 head cauliflower, chopped
1 1/2 cups cooked garbanzo beans (I used a 15 oz. can)
1/2 cup uncooked millet
1/4 cup raisins (or dried apricots or currants)
optional toppings: toasted slivered almonds and/or fresh cilantro

Directions:

In a large soup pot over medium heat, cook the onion, carrots and celery in the olive oil for 8-10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, then add the harissa paste, cumin and coriander and cook for another minute.

Add the sweet potato, bay leaf, tomatoes and vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Add the cauliflower, garbanzo beans and millet, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes until the veggies are tender and the millet is fully cooked. Adjust with salt and pepper to taste.

Chocolate Chip and Date Granola Bars

I've been eating a lot of dates lately. Between batches of date-cashew snack bites (á la Fat Free Vegan) and the discovery that we can make bacon-wrapped dates at home (omg!), it was only a matter of time before I thought to put them in granola bars.

My no-bake granola bars have three components - dry ingredients that get toasted in the oven (oats and nuts), dry ingredients that do not get toasted (flaxseed, wheat germ), and wet ingredients (butter, brown rice syrup, honey, almond butter). Usually I mix dried fruit with the other non-toasted dry ingredients, but because these dates were really fresh and soft, I decided to combine them with the butter and brown rice syrup, hoping that the heat would kind of "melt" the dates into the other ingredients.

I think the chocolate date granola bars might be here to stay for a while. Do you ever have chocolate for breakfast?

Chocolate Date Granola Bars
Makes a 9"x13" pan

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups oats
2 cups almonds
1/2 cup buckwheat groats
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup medjool dates, pitted and chopped
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips, divided

Directions:

Heat oven to 350F. Chop the almonds to get a mixture of large and small pieces. Spread the oats, buckwheat, and almonds on a large baking sheet (or two smaller baking sheets) and toast in the oven for 8-10 minutes, stirring every few minutes.

In a very large bowl, combine the wheatgerm and flaxseed. Add the toasted oats, almonds and buckwheat and stir to combine. Let cool for a few minutes, then stir in about half of the chocolate chips.

Line a 9"x13" pan with wax paper, and set aside a second piece of wax paper of the same size. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the dates and cook for 2-3 minutes, then pour in the brown rice syrup. Simmer for 3-4 minutes, then remove from the heat and stir in the almond butter and salt.

Pour the date mixture over the dry ingredients and mix very very well until thoroughly combined. Pour onto the prepared 9"x13" pan and use a spatula to spread the mixture. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips over the top. Put the second piece of wax paper on top of the bars, then use your hands and/or a rolling pin to flatten the bars as much as possible. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Weekly Lunch: Waldorf Quinoa Salad

I am totally digging my lunch this week! I wanted something a little different, and I thought, "fruit!" I hardly ever put fruit in my salads but I am starting to rethink this...

Here's a fun riff on a waldorf salad. No mayo, but instead a creamy, tangy yogurt-based dressing. I topped each serving with a hard boiled egg for a protein boost.


Waldorf Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups quinoa
2 cups water or vegetable stock

1 cup walnuts
5 stalks celery
2 large apples
4 oz. baby arugula
Hard boiled eggs (optional)

1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/4 cup olive oil
Pinch of salt, several grinds of black pepper


Directions:
Bring the water/stock to a boil in a medium saucepan. If using water, add a pinch of salt. Rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh strainer, then add to the boiling water. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes or until the water is absorbed. Remove from the heat and let sit, covered, for 5-10 minutes.

While the quinoa is cooking, toast the walnuts either in a 350 degree oven or on the stove over medium heat, for about 8-10 minutes. Chop the celery. For the apples, I chopped enough for 1-2 days at a time, then sprinkled a little lemon juice on top.

In a small jar or other sealable container, mix the yogurt, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper, and olive oil. Shake well before using.

Mix the quinoa with the celery, apples, walnuts, and arugula, then drizzle with the dressing just before serving. Top with a hard boiled egg if desired.

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Here are a couple of other things I am digging this week:

A new batch of granola bars with chocolate chips and dates, (and, surprisingly, no more sugar than my regular granola bars). The chocolate was requested by my sweetie. Who says women are the only ones who love chocolate?

And, finally...

YAY! It's about time!

Soft Pretzels

I took advantage of a rainy day and made something I've always wanted to make - soft pretzels. I'm a big Alton Brown fan, so I started by watching the pretzel episode of Good Eats, conveniently available on YouTube. It was really helpful to watch him go through the process, and his recipe seemed pretty simple.

 
Barley malt extract is definitely not required for soft pretzels, but it gives a certain flavor that makes them taste more like proper pretzels. (Barley malt extract is also used in bagels!)

The dough didn't take long to put together, and it rose quickly - it doubled in size in about an hour.

 

I recently got a kitchen scale recently and it really makes baking so much easier! I don't have to use as many dishes, either, which is always nice. The dough weighed about 36 oz., so I divided it into twelve 3 oz. balls.

Next, I rolled out each ball into a rope about 16" long. To form the pretzel, make a U-shape, then cross the ends over each other once or twice. Fold the ends over the base of the U, then pinch the overlapping parts together.

No pictures of this part (too quick!), but you bring some water and baking soda to a boil, dip the raw pretzels in for about 30 seconds each, and drain on a rack for a few minutes. Then brush on an egg wash, sprinkle with coarse salt, and bake for about 14 minutes.

 
Chewy, salty, exactly what I was craving! The baking soda bath gave the pretzels a great toothy crust. Now I just need some mustard...

Soft Pretzels

Adapted from Alton Brown

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
• 1 tablespoon sugar (I used 2 teaspoons barley malt extract + 1 teaspoon sugar)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups (I used about 16 ounces of high-gluten bread flour and 6 ounces white whole wheat flour)
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• Vegetable oil
• 10 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
• Coarse salt

Directions

Combine the water, sugar (and barley malt extract, if using) and salt in a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let sit for 5-10 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam.

Add the flour and melted butter and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes. Clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Put the dough back in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with  vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in a large pot. In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 16-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.


Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula and let dry on a rack for a couple of minutes. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Weekly Lunch: Beet and Wheatberry Salad

This salad is really nothing special. Beets were on sale, I have a bunch of wheatberries in the cupboard, you know the story.

Red-stained beet hands are always fun.

More exciting is the salad dressing I made this week. I sprinkled some thyme on the beets while they were roasting, so I put thyme in the dressing to enhance the flavor of the beets and tie together the other ingredients. In addition to the wheatberries and beets, this salad contains chickpeas, baby spinach and toasted walnuts (I put the beet greens to use elsewhere). Some fresh goat cheese would be a most excellent addition.

Garlic-Lemon-Thyme Vinaigrette

Juice of 1 lemon, about 3-4 tablespoons
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Sprinkle a little salt on the minced garlic and smash it with the side of your knife a few times, to make a paste. Mix the garlic-salt paste with the lemon juice, thyme, mustard, remaining salt and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil. Makes about 1/2 cup.