Special Leftover Lunch

The Farm is brimming with tomatoes. After harvest this morning, I brought home a few bruisers for immediate consumption. This quickly evolved into frying thick juicy slices in butter. Out came the leftover chickpeas which had been previously served with lemon, parsley, garlic and red pepper flakes. 

Let this group sear in the cast iron skillet while the quinoa cooks*. Everything was then heaped ("staged") in a bowl. For a final flourish, some crumbled goat cheese brought this to a melt in your mouth finale!

*I've taken plenty of advice from how-to videos lately and thought, "Let's find one about cooking quinoa." Well, there are too many varieties! It's not worth it. Cooking the quinoa today included, boiling for 5 minutes, drain, then steaming it over boiling water for 10 minutes. Fluffy quinoa results. Several videos mentioned removing the bitter flavor by toasting or rinsing. I've never tried either of these techniques. 

Warm Quinoa Cauliflower Salad

This was delicious!

1/2 Head Cauliflower roughly chopped into bite size pieces.
Juice from 2 lemons
Oregano
Pepper
Salt
1 cup Quinoa
Olive oil

Toss the cauliflower, oregano, pepper, salt and lemon juice in enough olive oil to coat.
Roast these veggies in a 400 oven for 10-15 minutes (let it brown a little).
The smaller you cut the pieces, it will cook faster.

Bring 2 cups water to a boil, add the quinoa. Cook for 10 minutes. Remove the quinoa from heat and strain. Put the quinoa in a colander lined with a towel or cheese cloth. Steam the quinoa for 10 more minutes or until they are fluffy. Grains should have soft centers. Toss the cauliflower and quinoa together--Enjoy.

Possible variations, add raisins, kale strips, red pepper and chick peas. . . etc.