Quinoa (Updated)

It is a healthy vegetable protein that I introduced to my family early this year, and they love it.  It does not take time to cook and can be served so many ways, as a salad, or as a main meal, garnished with cheeses or meat or fish.

Susy Quinoa Salad

2 cups cooked quinoa

Mixed  chopped roasted onion, capsicum and carrots, about a cup

Fresh herbs, mints and thyme

Dressing: 2 tablespoon olive oil, teaspoon salt and 1 lime juice

Salad green, endive, lettuce (anything you like)

Mix all together, add with 2 tablespoon cottage cheese for garnish, and extra greens.

Put sliced lime for extra fresh flavour.

Steamed quinoa served with salmon that I cooked was a perfect dish for the end of the week meal.  I followed the recipe of the packet, but at the end cooking process, I added a dash of salt and olive oil, for a cup of quinoa it took about 12 minutes and the pan fry salmon took 6 minutes cooking for almost well done.

Steamed Quinoa with Pan Fry Salmon

 Other dishes would be delightful to prepare are steamed quinoa served with mushrooms or sauteed vegetable with tofu.  Quinoa rolls with filling, sliced to serve as finger food.

Indeed we like quinoa, we may have it regularly from now on.

A lot more vegetables we like, as we have them daily, we take any vegetables in season.

One of the vegetables that I love is zucchini.  Here is the dish that suitable for Summer and Autumn cooking.  The recipe is for you.  Please hold on to it, you may like to try it when the season is here.

Cooking with Zucchini
Boiled, steamed, pan-fried, deep-fried and roasted zucchini is delicious. It's amazingly a humble vegetable, but we can do so much.  This year I don't have zucchini plants in my vegetable patch, but for you who have, and able to harvest, I have some recipes to share.  I did a lot last year as my harvest were plenty.

Here it is one of the recipes of my Zucchini Dishes.

Ricotta Cheese Loaf Wrapped in Zucchini

Recipe

A Small loaf tin

Baking paper

1 tablespoon oil to oil the tin.

Heat oven to 175 degrees C

Ingredients;

A large size zucchini, sliced thinly

Sprinkle with some salt, and let it rest for 45 minutes to sweat

Wipe the sweat with a tissue or a clean cloth to dry, keep aside

The cheese filling

150 g ricotta cheese

2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons chopped mixed herbs, chives, dills and oregano

3 eggs

1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil

white pepper and salt to taste

(mix all ingredients together until all combined)

To assemble:

Oiled the tin and line with baking paper

Place the sliced zucchini vertically and overlapping on the tin until cover the whole tin

spoon the filling on it

cover the filling mixture by enclosing the zucchini on top

Place extra slice zucchini to cover the filling totally and drizzle with more oil

Cover the tin with baking paper

Bake in a hot preheated oven at 175 degrees C for 40 minutes

Take it out, rest for 16 minutes or more

Turn it over on a plate

Serve: Hot or cold, cut into slices.



An excellent Summer dish, it is good to serve with a salad and herb bread. 

You could cook this dish in winter as well, but the fresh zucchini won't be readily available at the market, and also it is costly.

Happy Cooking!
Susy