Breakfast Quinoa With Fruit and Almonds

{ny times}

Breakfast Quinoa With Fruit and Almonds

Quinoa cooks so quickly that you can make it for breakfast without getting up especially early to do so. But you can save a precious 20 minutes if you cook the quinoa ahead of time.

The trick here is to cook the plums just long enough so that they bleed a little bit, which makes the porridge very pretty, but not so long that they completely break down.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 to 3 plums, pitted and diced
• 1/4 cup dried fruit, such as cranberries, cherries or diced apricots
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (more to taste)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons honey or agave nectar
• 24 almonds, halved or slivered
• 4 cups (loosely packed) cooked quinoa (1 cup uncooked)
• Milk or yogurt to taste

Directions:

1. Heat a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat, and add the butter. When the sizzling begins to subside, add the plums, dried fruit and cinnamon. Stir gently until the plums begin to break down slightly, one to two minutes, and add the honey or agave nectar and the almonds. Stir together for 30 seconds to a minute, and add the cooked quinoa. Toss the ingredients together gently and heat through. Add milk, if desired, and heat through, stirring. Or serve as is, topped with yogurt if you wish.

Yield: Serves four to six.

Advance preparation: Cooked quinoa will keep for about four days in the refrigerator. The entire dish can be made a day ahead, and reheated in the pan or in a microwave.

Croatian Octopus

Croatian Octopus “pod Pekom”

Ingredients

• 1000 g octopus
• 200 g tomatoes (two tomatoes)
• 100 g onions (one onion)
• 400 g potatoes (sliced almost like chips)
• 4 garlic cloves
• 4 black olives
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• oregano
• rosemary (one fresh branch about 15 cm long)

Directions

1. Use the whole octopus, cut in pieces about 3-5 cm. The best is to use frozen octopus, even if you get fresh one, freeze it – it will be mush softer.
2. Take one large pan for baking in oven. Put some olive oil on bottom and than put potato cut thin almost like chips all around the bottom.
3. Than put octopus, tomato cut in ¼, onion cut in ¼ , olives, crushed garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, and on the tom rosemary. Pour the wine and olive oil. Cover with aluminium cover for households preventing steam to get out: very firmly.
4. Put in the oven on 200°C for 30-40 minutes.
5. It is also very good with large white fish, or you can add shrimps to taste, or whatever sea food you like.

Soy-Sesame Soba Noodles with Vegetables & Egg

{not eating out in new york}

Comforting Lentils

(ganymede kids}

Ingredients

2 (19oz/540ml) cans of lentils

1 (280z/796ml) can of diced tomatoes

2 large cloves of garlic
A piece of fresh ginger roughly equal to the amount of garlic
1 lime
Black pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Directions
1. Heat olive oil on medium heat
2. Add garlic and ginger and sauté for approximately 30 seconds
3. Add lentils and diced tomatoes
4. Squeeze lime juice over the lentils
5. Add black pepper to taste
6. Stir occasionally and serve when hot!

Roasted Delicata Squash Salad Recipe

Interesting combination of lemon and miso.  Not sure where I'll get the harissa paste.

{101cookbooks}

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound / 8 oz / 230 g small fingerling potatoes, washed and dried

• 3/4 pound / 12 oz / 340 g delicata squash
• 1/4 cup / 60 ml extra virgin olive oil
• scant 1/4 cup / 50 ml white miso
• scant 1 tablespoon harissa paste
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 1 1/2 ounce / 45 g kale, de-stemmed and finely chopped

• 4 radishes, very thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 ounces / 45g Marcona almonds, toasted pepitas, or other toasted nuts

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

{design*sponge and kiss my spatula}

Greek Potato and Almond Dip

 From Epicurious

Potato and almond...never thought to put those ingredients together in a mash potato texture/consistency.  Must try this soon!  It seems like a good idea for the holiday parties.

yield: Makes about 2 1/4 cups
active time: 15 min
total time: 25 min

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound russet (baking) potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup coarse fresh white bread crumbs
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 to 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, divided
• 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, warmed

Accompaniment: crackers

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
2. Cover potatoes with water in a small pot and season well with salt, then simmer until tender, about 15 minutes.
3. While potatoes cook, toast almonds and bread crumbs separately in oven until pale golden, 8 to 10 minutes, then cool.
4. With motor running, drop garlic into a food processor and chop. Add nuts and bread crumbs and finely grind. Pulse in water, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice.
5. Drain potatoes and coarsely mash with fork, then add to processor with oil and pulse to combine. Add lemon juice to taste and thin with a little water if desired.

Almost Aunt Sandy’s Sweet and Sour Salmon

Published: September 4, 2009

Time: 30 minutes, plus chilling if desired

Related

A Good Appetite: Reinventing a Childhood Memory (September 9, 2009)

6 cups fish broth
3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1 bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 bunch thyme
8 center-cut skin-on wild salmon fillets, 3 ounces each
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 small lemon, thinly sliced
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
Challah, for serving.
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot, simmer fish broth with garlic, bay leaf and salt for 15 minutes.
2. In a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, scatter red onion and half of the thyme. Place salmon on top, skin side down, and season with salt and pepper. Scatter remaining thyme, raisins and lemon on top.
4. Stir vinegar and sugar into broth and let simmer for 1 minute to dissolve sugar. Remove garlic and bay leaf from broth; carefully pour broth over fish. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until fish is just cooked through to taste. Serve hot, warm or cold, with challah for dipping into broth.
Yield: 8 appetizer servings.

White Bean Chili With Jalapeno Bulgur (Recipe)

From Real Simple

Christopher Baker

Serves 4 Hands-On Time: 20m Total Time: 30m

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup bulgur wheat
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 2 15-ounce cans cannellini beans, rinsed

Directions

1. Bring 1 cup water to a boil. Add the bulgur and simmer, covered, until all the water is absorbed and the bulgur is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice, scallions, jalapeño, 1 tablespoon of the oil, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper.
2. Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook until tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, chili powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper and cook until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Add the tomatoes and their liquid and 1½ cups water to the onion mixture; bring to a boil. Add the beans and simmer until slightly thickened, 8 to 10 minutes. Divide the chili among bowls and top with the bulgur.
   
   To freeze: Omit the bulgur. Make the chili as directed. Cool to room temperature and divide among freezer containers or bags. Freeze for up to 3 months.
   
   To cook: Thaw the chili in a bowl of cold water or overnight in the refrigerator. Transfer to a pot and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until heated through, 10 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the bulgur. Top the chili as directed.

By Kate Merker, September 2009