Greek Style Quinoa Salad

PERFECT for summertime when the tomatoes are ripe off the vine.

Makes 4-6 main dish servings.

1 cup quinoa
1 3/4 cup water
a little salt, like 1/2 teaspoon

1 pound tomatoes, diced
1 pound cucumbers, preferably pickling cukes, peeled and diced
1/2 medium Vidalia (sweet) onion, about 1/2 cup diced
4 ounces feta cheese, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup black olives, sliced
1 cup minced parsley

2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
juice and zest from 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Boil up water in a medium saucepan and add a little salt once boiling. Add quinoa, turn heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes until the kernels are just translucent. Remove from heat, fluff, and cover until ready to use.

While quinoa is cooling, prepare the veggies and make a dressing from the olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic.

Toss everything together in a big bowl.

Summer Pesto

Every time I have a basil overload, I make tons and tons of pesto. My pesto usually contains: masses of basil, a little garlic, lots of olive oil, toasted walnuts, and a bit of salt. I leave out the parmesan (it's expensive and I can always add it to the pasta later), and forgo expensive pine nuts. This recipe is one way I use the boxes of frozen pesto from my freezer while incorporating tons of veggies.

Serves a good 6-8 people quite easily given the large volume

1 pound whole wheat fusilli (I used Trader Joes, which is excellent)
8 ounces pesto
3 medium summer squash, diced
1 medium onion, diced
4 green peppers, diced
1 bunch of rainbow chard, sliced thinly
about 1-2 inches of nice salami, sliced thinly into strips
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large saute pan. Add onions and saute until softened over medium-high heat. Add salami strips and cook for a few seconds until they begin to sizzle. Then add green peppers, summer squash, and chard one at a time, sauteeing for a few minutes in between each addition. When everything is just cooked to your liking, remove from heat and empty out into a large bowl. Season to taste with a little salt and pepper.

Prepare pasta according to box directions, but remember to leave the pasta pretty al dente so it doesn't get overcooked. Save a little of the pasta water in case you need to thin out the pesto. Drain pasta and dump into the large bowl with the summer veggies. Toss everything with the pesto, adding pasta water and olive oil as needed until the pasta is nicely coated.

Paella!

This one will be in Norwegian, so for a translation, just cut and paste into Google Translator.

til 4-6 folk

0.5 liters jasminris
500 g reker, uten skaller
140 g bacon, i biter
1 purre, i biter
1 paprika, i biter
125 g sopp, i biter
1 løk, i biter
4 fedd finhakkede hvitløk
1 boks (400 g) hakkede tomater med juice
3 spiseskjeer oliven olje
1 teskje gurkemeier
2 teskjeer salt
0.5 teskje malt sort pepper
0.5 teskje rød pepper flakes
250 ml tørr hvitvin (jeg brukt chardonnay)
circa 250 ml kylling kraft eller vann
50 g sørt oliven
litt fersk persille, finhakkede
(blåskjell ville vært fint også)

Bruke en stor og tung stekepanne med lokk (jeg brukte circa 25-30 cm). Forberede alle ingrediensene at de er klar til å kaste inn i pannen.

Warm opp en spiseskje olivenolje, og stek bacon til det begynner å bli gylden brun. Legg i løken og stek litt til. Diretter legge til sopp, hvitløk, purre, og paprika en av gangen, steking i et minutt eller to i mellom hver. Legge til risen og resten av olivenolje plus gurkemeier, salt, sort og rød pepper. Rør godt, belegg på ris med olje og krydder. Legge til tomater med juice, hvitvin, og halveparten av kyllingkraft og skru ned warmen til risen er bare bobler. Dekk med lokk og la risen til damp i ca 20 minutter til den er akkurat møre. Sjekk på ris hvert 5-10 minutter for å sørge for at bunnen ikker er brenning og legg til litt kyllingkraft hvis det blir for tørt.

Når risen er ferdig, forsiktig ordner reker (og blåskjell hvis du har) og oliven på toppen, dekk med lokk og damp i ytterligere 6 minutter til reker er bare kokt.

Dryss persille over toppen og server med en fin frisk grønn salat.