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Quinoa and Poached Egg Salad

One of things that I make sure that I keep well stocked in my pantry is quinoa: red and white to be precise. On lazy weekend mornings, I often fail to plan to have a good loaf of bread available. So, with a well-stocked pantry, I can come up with something else good and hearty; best of all, it’s healthier!

With a few steps into the garden, I created this always perfect, cozy breakfast. Oh, I’m so in awe of these little arugula and spinach leaves that have been doing so much on our plates everyday. Now that they are about to end their season, this dish became a great homage to these little but powerful garden gems. I also used baby beets that had to be thinned. Can’t wait for summer vegetables to come!

If you thought from the photos that we were having a gorgeous sunny morning, ha, I managed to trick you with the artificial light. It was actually so extremely dark and crazily pouring rain outside that I had to turn the fireplace on, LOL!

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Quinoa and Poached Egg Salad

I used what’s growing in my garden, but any salad leaves should work. Feel free to experiment with it. As for the cheese, I had only the goat variety, but would’ve loved to use something stronger, like good quality cheddar. For best results, make sure you toast the sunflower seeds. Don’t skimp on this step because it completes this dish nicely. If you don’t know how to poach eggs, I found a dedicated article here.

Serves 3 to 4

1 cup quinoa (red, white or a mixture of both, like I did in this recipe)

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoons butter

Lots of mushrooms, sliced

2 scallions, roughly chopped

Salt and freshly ground pepper

3 cup mixture of baby spinach, beets and arugula leaves, rinsed and drained well

2/3 cup goat cheese, crumbled

2/3 cup or more sunflower seeds, lightly toasted

Poached eggs; use desired amount

Rinse the quinoa under running water while rubbing it together in a sieve.

Place the quinoa in a small saucepan or pot with the stock and salt, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover the pan and simmer until the stock is no longer visible, for about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes.

In the meantime, sauté the mushrooms and scallions with the butter in a small pan over medium high heat until softened. Adjust with salt and pepper.

Combine the quinoa and the mushroom mixture in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Poach eggs and set aside. When eggs are ready, add the salad leaves, goat cheese and sunflower seeds to the quinoa mixture and stir to combine. In this way, baby greens will wilt nicely but not overly.

Serve the quinoa in individual bowls and top with the poached eggs. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper.

MEAT & BREAD

Since there is not much excitement in my garden right now (besides that which I get from snipping arugula and spinach leaves and admiring flowers on potato plants…), I thought I would share my first experience at MEAT & BREAD in Gastown, Vancouver.

As I’ve always seen long lines plus a huge crowd of people inside and out in front of the restaurant, I was worried that we might not get seats when we arrived around lunch time. Thankfully, it turned out that just before 2 pm was no so bad.

The place was so photogenic that I couldn’t stop myself from quickly snapping a few shots. The photographs shown here are only the tip of the iceberg, and I cannot wait to go back with a faster roll of film, especially to capture interesting props in the backside of the space and of course, to try their other sandwich varieties!

My porchetta sandwich, and what seemed a bowl of wheat bulgur (correct me if I’m wrong) salad, were absolutely delightful. The salad reminded me of the dish I used to make with couscous in the heat of summer days. So here I did my best to simulate the delectable salad I enjoyed at this restaurant. Hope you can visit this cool place on your next trip to Vancouver!

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Oat Groats and Radish Salad

I substituted wheat bulgur (I think) for oat groats, since this was the only close thing that I could find from my local organic store. In return, the salad got a chewier texture that I really enjoyed! Make sure you have extra, because it is so tasty the next day.

Serves 4 to 5

1 cup oat groats

3 cups chicken or vegetable stock, or water

¼ teaspoon sea salt

½ red onion, thinly sliced

1 cup cucumber, cut into ½ inch cubes

2 tomatoes cut into ½ inch cubes

1 bunch radishes, leaves removed and sliced

A few leaves of parsley, finely chopped

Lemon juice from ½ lemon or to taste

A few swirls of extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Rinse the groats. Bring the groats, stock and salt to a boil. Cover, turn the heat down and simmer for 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

Rinse the groats under cold water and drain well. Place in a large mixing bowl along with onion, cucumber, tomatoes, radish, and parsley.

Add the lemon juice and oil, and adjust with salt and pepper. Mix well and let stand for 20 minutes in a refrigerator or until serving time.

Carrot 3 Ways

If you are like me you may tend to fall into a routine and continue for a long time without a clear purpose: in this case, I’m talking about the drinking coffee routine. When mindlessly following a routine, you may lose sight of the fact that what you’re doing isn’t at all healthy. Examples of this phenomena are shown in the movie “Food Matters,” which sends a strong message that what you eat is what you are. In the last few years since I started my garden, my partner and I have totally changed the way we live and eat, mostly for the better. However, if we are not paying attention, our best efforts to live more healthfully and consciously could be subverted.

For the longest time, I’ve woken up in the mornings and immediately begun looking forward to a cup of coffee. That is, until my friend suggested that I cut back on my morning intake to improve my health. For sure, I love coffee’s aroma and richly sweet taste, but mostly I love the idea of enjoying a cozy morning routine, which for so long has featured a cup of coffee.

After discussing “Food Matters” with yet another friend, we both decided to majorly cut back on coffee. We still haven’t finished watching the whole movie yet, but definitely got the message in the first 20 minutes. My routine shifted from a cup of coffee to a cup of matcha latte and then to freshly made raw juice, thanks to our friends’ influences. However, I still allow myself a cup of coffee now and then when I have the chance to visit BEAUCOUP BAKERY & CAFÉ, Le Marché St. George, or a few other neat places in Vancouver whose artistry and cozy atmospheres are just too hard to resist! So try this juice, slaw and if you need the coziness, I also baked for you a decadent cake made with another harvest from the spring cleanup.

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Carrot Juice

Serves 2

1cup carrot, washed, peeled and roughly chopped

1 small apple, peeled and cored

2 large oranges, peeled

¼ of whole pineapple, rind removed, cored and roughly chopped

2 ice cubes

Place all the ingredients in a blender (we adore our Vitamix for this), and blend until smooth. Add water to achieve your preferred consistency and serve.

Carrot Slaw

Serves 4

4 large carrots, peeled and julienned

2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 small knob ginger, chopped

A handful of chives, roughly chopped

¼ cup rice vinegar

½ teaspoon cane sugar

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

2 tablespoons white sesame seeds, roasted in a skillet

2 tablespoons tahini

Combine garlic, ginger, chives, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil and tahini in the bowl of a food processor and proceed to blend well. If you don’t have a food processor, don’t worry, but just chop everything fine, place in a jar and shake well to blend.

In a large bowl, mix the carrots and the dressing well and chill. You can serve in a couple of hours. If you have leftovers, the dish is indeed very tasty the next day. I would sneak this slaw into a sandwich made with leftover cold pork tenderloin sliced along with lots of cilantro leaves or whatever is on hand (or in the fridge) the next day.

Carrot Lemon Cake

Makes 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan

1 cup butter plus extra for greasing, room temperature

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature, beaten

1 cup grated carrot

2 tablespoons sour cream

Lemon zest from 1 lemon

1 tablespoon fresh orange juice

1 ½ cups cake flour plus extra for dusting

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Icing

2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice

¾ cup icing sugar

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, mix well and set aside. Grease the pan with extra butter, dust flour removing the excess and keep refrigerated until the batter is ready. Preheat the oven to 350F.

Cream the butter with an electric beater in a large bowl until fluffy. While continuously beating, add the sugar in a few installments and beat until well combined. Add eggs gradually and beat to blend. Switch to a whisk, add the carrot, sour cream, ½ lemon zest and orange juice, and stir to combine. Proceed rhythmically by beating the batter each time you add an ingredient.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture into the batter and incorporate. Switch to a spatula, add the rest of the flour mixture and gently combine until no flour is visible.

Bake until tested skewer comes out clean, for about 50 minutes. In the meantime, make icing. Place the sugar in a small bowl and add the lemon juice and the rest of the lemon zest a small amount at a time. Stir well, making a smooth consistency.

Let the cake stand for 10 minutes, and then remove from the pan to cool. Drizzle the icing over top. Slice and serve at room temperature.