We caught him the other night. With peanut butter. The little stinker. We were lounging in the living room when we heard the snap. We jumped and I grinned largely despite my scratchy throat. Brad dropped him, all bug-eyed and still kickin’, out the back door to the cats. Poor guy. But I certainly won’t miss wipin’ turds and piddle off of my cutting board every time I go to use it.
I suppose it’s not fair to you to introduce this delicious salad with a yarn about an unfortunate mouse, seeing as how they have nothing in common. So excuse that little tragedy and instead, fill your head with visions of sugar plums and fairies. Or quinoa and spinach. I liked this salad a lot more than I thought I would. It’d be much prettier with red quinoa but all I had was white.
Adapted from The Nourishing Gourmet
3 cups cooked quinoa (does anyone have any good quinoa cooking tips?)
1 1/2 cups whole kernel corn, frozen and thawed
5 oz frozen spinach (next time, I’ll double this)
2 t butter
3 T freshly chopped parsley, or 1 T dried
1/4 cup light-tasting olive oil
2 T red wine vinegar
1 small clove garlic, finely minced
1/2 t salt
1/4 t cumin
Whisk together the oil, vinegar, garlic, salt, and cumin. This is your dressing.
If you are starting with raw quinoa, you better research how to cook it. Every time I do it, it turns to mush. Not that it matters all that much but it’d be more appetizing if it didn’t feel like oatmeal on my tongue. So I’m no good for quinoa cooking instructions.
In a frying pan, heat the butter. Throw in the spinach and corn. Heat through and add the quinoa. Mix together with the dressing. Serve warm or room temperature. Stays good for a day or two in the fridge, though I prefer it straight out of the skillet.
Yield: about 5 cups
All I do know about cooking quinoa is that it has to be rinsed and drained before cooking. To remove the bitter taste, I’m told.
The salad looks delicious. I believe I do have all the ingredients.
Mom
Yes, I rinse it. My trouble is with the timing. It’s crunchy and then all of the sudden goes mushy. I haven’t yet figured out the right time to take it off the heat.
Isn’t cooking quinoa sort of like cooking cous cous? It’s not really cooked. Or maybe I’m all wrong. But I’d like to know how to do it as I have a bag of it in my cupboard and I want to use it. Just never took the leap.
-Amber
No, I’m pretty sure it has to be cooked. I find cooking times anywhere from 15 to 35 minutes, all with a 5 minute resting time off the heat after it’s done. And liquid/quinoa ratios anywhere from 1.25:1 to 2:1. So I don’t know what to believe! I’ll just have to do some more experimenting.