How to Cook Quinoa

For those of you wondering what my method for cooking quinoa is I found it on the Internet. I found that I had to cut back on the ratio of quinoa to water as 1 cup of uncooked quinoa yields 3 cups cooked and as a single person I do not need that much cooked quinoa. So I cut the amounts in half and used 1/2 cup quinoa and 1 cup of chicken stock. Always use chicken stock instead of water for savory quinoa dishes as it results in much tastier dishes. I also add a bay leaf as I find this adds a nice savory flavor and I love bay. If you don't you could substitute with any fresh or dried herbs.

How To Cook Quinoa
Found on The Kitchn Website

Ingredients
1/2 cup Quinoa (any variety — white or golden, red, or black)
Olive oil
1 cup Chicken Stock (I use 1 cup of boiling water with an OXO chicken bouillon package)
1 Bay Leaf

Instructions
1. Measure out 1/2 cup quinoa and 1 cup chicken stock.
2. Place the quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer and rinse thoroughly with cool water. Rub and swish the quinoa with your hand while rinsing, and rinse for at least 2 minutes under the running water. Drain. If your strainer is a little to big and the dry quinoa tends to fall through, soak the quinoa for a few minutes to plump it up and then it should be fine to rinse in the strainer. Or if you do not have a fine mesh strainer you can use a cheesecloth lined colander.
3. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in the saucepan over medium-high heat and add the drained quinoa. Cook, stirring, for about 1 minute, letting the water evaporate.
4. Add in the chicken stock and bay leaf and bring to a rolling boil.
5. Lower heat  to the lowest setting and cook covered for 15 minutes.
6. After 15 minutes turn off the heat and remove the pot from the burner. Let stand for 5 minutes covered.
7. After 5 minutes remove the lid, remove the bay leaf, fluff the quinoa gently with a fork, and serve. (You should see tiny spirals (the germ) separating from and curling around the quinoa seeds.)

Tonight's Dinner: Part Two - Quinoa Cakes

What to do with the leftover overcooked quinoa?

I came home from work and needed dinner fast. All I had in the fridge was the overcooked quinoa from the dinner earlier. You know, the one that looked like mashed potatoes. I decided to try something that my mother used to do when we were kids and turn the quinoa into cakes. My mom used to make potato cakes with leftover mashed potatoes that I looked forward to as a kid as they were an excuse for ketchup. Since the overcooked quinoa was like mashed potatoes I wondered if it would work the same as cakes.

These were so wonderful that since then I have actually made fresh quinoa to make these for dinner several times. If you use fresh quinoa instead of leftovers cool the quinoa before you mix in the eggs and cheese so you don't end up with cooked eggs and melted cheese before you get these crispy.

1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa

(I cook my quinoa in chicken stock instead of water for extra flavor in the quinoa)

1 lg egg

1/4 - 1/3 cup gluten free cornflake crumbs

Grated extra old cheddar cheese (to taste) or other favor cheese

2 Tbsp chopped chives (or green onions if you want more onion taste)

Freshly ground pepper

Breading mix:

1/3 - 1/2 cup gluten free cornflake crumbs

2 heaping TBSP of parmesan cheese

Pinch of italian herbs

Freshly ground pepper

Mix all ingredients for the cakes together adding more crumbs if the mix is too sticky and not firm enough to hold its shape. If mix is too dry and crumbly mash the quinoa and pat more firmly into cake shape. Divide the mix into 4 quarters and shape each quarter into a cake. Mix breading mixture together and place cake in crumbs coating all sides, including edges, and pressing into cake shape. Heat frying pan on med high with 1/4 inch of vegetable oil in bottom of pan until oil is hot. Depending on the size of your frying pan cook in batches of 2, frying until golden brown on both sides approximately 3-4 minutes per side. These can stick to the pan so do not try and flip them until they have developed their crust and your flipper can slide under them easily. Serve immediately.

Ketchup is a nice condiment, but if you like spicy try cocktail sauce (you know the one that shrimp is dipped in). It gives a nice spicy taste to the cakes.

I made them again today to go with my meat and I used goat cheese instead of the cheddar. I used a 2" slice off the fresh goat cheese log and crumbled it with my fingers into the quinoa mixture. It added a nice tangy cheese taste and melts into soft cheese bites in the cake. I used the cocktail sauce as my condiment and it went wonderfully with the goat cheese.

For my Paleo friends quinoa is not a grain but is actually a seed and is most closely related to beets and spinach so is totally safe for both gluten free and Paleo diets. You could substitute ground almonds for the crumbs inside the cakes and use finely chopped pecans for the outside crust.

Tonight's Dinner

One of the things you will find in a gluten free lifestyle is you have to be creative. Not everything you cook or bake will turn out perfect, some will be inedible. But sometimes you can turn what could be a disaster into something delicious. Tonight was one of these times.

My plan for dinner was steak and something. Thanks to my sister-in-law re introducing me to quinoa, I have actually started to like quinoa. So when thinking about dinner and my options to go with steak I pulled the quinoa out of the cupboard. Last week I found a very simple recipe for cooking fluffy quinoa that was very tasty with a pork chop. When I tried the same recipe today, it did not work the same. The quinoa ended up overcooked and mushy. Once the steak was resting and I looked at the quinoa in the pot it reminded me of mashed potatoes. So being creative I thought I would turn them into a mashed potato substitute. I added a Tbsp of butter and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese and stirred it in, kind of mashing the quinoa as I did.

They ended up tasting wonderful. Lighter than potatoes, but had the same satisfying texture and mouth feel. Went wonderfully with the perfectly rare steak.

Some times when cooking you have to be creative and turn a mistake into something better. Under cooked brownies can be cut up and frozen for ice cream sundaes, overcooked bread can be made into croutons. Just look at the possibilities and make lemonade out of lemons.