I'm so excited and I just can't hide it!

I'm about to lose control and I think I like it! I'm so excited! Sing it with me, all you Pointer-Sister-big-hair-wearing foodies! :) I'm posting my very own creation this week here on Madame Munchies, but I am also pinning my recipe to Pinterest - Red Quinoa and Roasted Vegetable Salad. What I love about this salad is how versatile it is! If you don't care for certain vegetables or are related to picky eaters, you can easily chuck it out for something you love or that appeals to your family's preferences. Even if you adore the vegetables I suggest, the farmer's markets will inspire you to change it up with vegetables at their peak.

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-WAH) is increasing in popularity among foodies and health nuts. Not only is it recognized as a grain that is a high in protein, but I recently found out it's a complete protein too. This ancient grain (the Incas ate it!) is related to spinach and swiss chard. Enough facts, go out and buy some quinoa!


Red Quinoa & Roasted Vegetable Salad (serves 6-8 as a side dish)

1 c. quinoa, uncooked 
2 c. water 
2 zucchini, chopped
1 small eggplant, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 c. small tomatoes, halved
1 yellow, red or orange bell pepper, chopped
2 c. arugula, washed and dried


Herb and Shallot Vinaigrette

1 shallot, finely chopped 
1 lemon, juiced 
White wine vinegar, splash 
2 tablespoons fresh herbs, chopped (I used thyme and oregano)
Salt and Pepper
Scant ¼ c. of good quality extra virgin olive oil


Making the Quinoa: 
Besides, being a powerhouse grain, quinoa is an easy grain to cook successfully. Mark Bittman’s, How to Cook Everything, includes a user-friendly recipe for cooking quinoa. In a small saucepan, add 1 c. quinoa and 2 c. water. Do yourself a favor, add a good pinch of sea salt to the mix and bring to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn down the heat to a low simmer and cover the pot slightly. It should take about 15 minutes for the water to absorb and then the quinoa is ready.

Roasting the Vegetables: 
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Spread your zucchini, onions, eggplant, bell peppers and tomatoes onto sheet pans in a single layer. Drizzle olive oil over the vegetables and toss together with your hands. Sprinkle sea salt and freshly ground black pepper over the vegetables. Roasting time may depend on what vegetables you choose for this salad, but mine took about 30 minutes or so.


Making the Dressing: 
In a small bowl, add the shallots. Sprinkle sea salt and freshly ground black pepper over the shallots, add the lemon juice and a splash of white wine vinegar. I allow the shallots to swim in the lemon juice for a while to mellow out. Then add the herbs and the olive oil. Whisk together, taste for seasoning and adjust to your liking.

When you are ready to serve the salad, choose a pretty big bowl, add the quinoa, cooked vegetables and arugula. Drizzle the dressing over the salad, toss together and serve.

Spicy Cucumber Salad.

Lately I think I've failed as a blogger, it's been slim pickins' around here and I'm not quite sure why. I need to fill up my blogging tank I suppose. Anyhow, I've been wanting to share this gem of a blog I found and one recipe that I have been making consistently since I stumbled upon this fine blog.

One of my new favorite foodie blogs is Bap Story – devoted to Korean cuisine, two L.A. dwellers demystify Korean food in their own kitchen. Simply laid out, they shoot beautiful photos of ingredients and dishes in various stages. For obvious reasons, you are intrigued and less intimidated by said recipes as a result. I've loved trying Korean food, but often am not familiar with names of dishes and all of the components.

The recipe I want to plug is the spicy cucumber salad, also known in Korean as Oee Muchim. Persian cucumbers play the leading role in this refreshing salad. The perfect side dish for a hot summer evening. It's the perfect no fuss side dish to accompany grilled fish or a bowl of white rice and it will take you all of less than 10 minutes to throw it together. Who can argue with that? And it's better the next day. If you're staying away from that big white box in your kitchen due to heat or humidity, this recipe is sure to become your new best friend. Give it a go, you'll be going back for more, again and again.

Lime Cilantro Dressing.

A couple weeks ago I wrote about my slight obsession with a tahini dressing that Jessica Hilton turned me onto and now I want to "twalk" more dressing. This time it's a recipe from Rick Bayless - his lime cilantro dressing. It's one of those dressings that needs no introduction, and is the star of the show. Just tossed with romaine lettuce is a perfect side dish to any Latin inspired entree. Mr. Bayless even recommends tossing over steamed veggies (which I'm going to give a try this week).

In the salad pictured above, I added julienned peppadew peppers, sliced scallions, diced tomato and cucumber, topped with crispy tortilla strips.

Lime Cilantro Dressing (adapted from Rick Bayless' recipe)2 1/2 tbs. fresh lime juice
zest of one to 2 limes
2 small cloves of garlic
1/2 hot green chile (jalapeno or serrano)
1 1/2 tbs. chopped fresh cilantro
2/3 c. canola oil
3 tbs. feta cheese
salt, about 1/2 tsp depending on saltiness of feta (I bought my feta from Trader Joe's and I use 1/4 tsp. salt)

O is for Osteria and M is for Mozza.

Brace yourself friends, after reading this post, you may find yourself salivating, drooling at the corners of your mouth and/or hungry. You may also wish to sue me for taunting and teasing, but let's hope that's not the case. And being that I am a legal professional, I'm confident that taunting and teasing is not a felony or misdemeanor, but you take that up with California statutes.

If you follow Madame Munchies you are aware of the "list". This isn't just any list, it's my restaurant list, which I started well over a year ago. It's where I keep track of restaurants I want to try out and last night I crossed Osteria Mozza off that list. I hate to admit that it's been sitting on that list, dusty, like an old pair of shoes, but it wasn't for not. This joint is so popular, getting a reservation is like going to war.

The benefits of going to OM with a party of seven is getting to taste a variety of dishes and we definitely ordered a larger variety of dishes, some of which will be pictured but I may not write about. I will focus on the dishes I ordered for time management's sake.

To start, I ordered the red endive, fennel and parmigiano reggiano salad with an anchovy-date dressing. It's the stacked salad pictured above. A beautiful presentation, the crunchy endive was layered with paper thin slices of sweet fennel and rectangles of a nutty parmigiano.

Prior to visiting OM, I had spent a considerable amount of time studying the menu and scheming exactly what I would like to order and when I scrolled to the pasta section, I knew I wanted to try the gnocchi with duck ragu. The last place I had gnocchi was at Angeli Caffe and I had a hard time believing that OM's gnocchi would surpass my expectations. The gnocchi were miniature and were lovingly dressed with a rich, comforting duck ragu. The gnocchi weren't necessarily better, they were just different. The best way to describe them is ultra-potato-ey. They were hearty, but not heavy.

The sauteed broccolini with vinegar and chiles were addictive. Tart, bright flavors with a splash of heat, easily devoured by all sitting at the table. For dessert, I had to go with the bombolini with a huckleberry marmalade and vanilla gelato on top of a lemon mascarpone cream. The bombolini are fried donuts tossed with sugar. The warm fritters of dough with the tangy huckleberries and lemon mascarpone were amazing.

It was definitely a night to remember, I'm looking forward to trying out the pizzeria next.

Gaga for Tahini.

How many bottles of dressing are sitting your fridge? Come one, fess up. Dare I ask how old some of those bottles are??? If you were to open mine, you'd find one bottled dressing - ranch ( I can't help it, I need it for pizza). Aside from the ranch, I've dedicated my dressing/vinaigrette ways to making them myself, it's easy peasy. You rarely need to purchase exuberant ingredients for such an item and it makes all the difference in the world. It takes a salad from standard to life changing. Okay, maybe, that was slightly melodramatic, but it's the truth.

I wish I could claim this recipe as mine all mine, but I give credit to where credit is due. Back in January I took a healthy cooking class from the "one and only" Jessica Hilton (personal self and holistic nutritionist) and one of the recipe gems that I learned was a tahini dressing. The dressing was featured in a Mediterranean salad but also was suggested that we toss with steamed kale (which I have done and is amazing). Since that fateful day, I've made this dressing religiously and I think you should join this tahini-loving cult too. You will thank me.

Tahini Dressing

1 garlic clove, smashed and chopped
1/4 c. tahini (sesame paste)
zest of lemon
scant 1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
2 tbs. olive oil
2 tbs. hot water
scant 1/2 tsp. fine grain sea salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional - I added this to the dressing and it gave it a nice kick)

I blended all together with my immersion blender, but you could use a regular blender.

A Salad to Remember.

Springtime has made her "shout out loud" appearance here in Indiana and on Saturday, salad was on the brain. I already completed my bi-weekly grocery shopping excursion, but a deep seeded craving for "light and healthy" eating manifested itself and we succumbed to its calling. A trip to Fresh Market beckoned us, and together we created an interesting salad of mixed baby green lettuces, sliced red onion, diced avocado, diced mango ( a variety known as "champagne mangoes"), and toasted coconut. I dressed with a lemon viniagrette and all was well with the world.

The champagne mangoes were sweet and tart, a mild acidic flavor which danced on your tongue. They married well with the creaminess of the avocado and the sharpness of the red onion. We vacillated with the idea of topping it off with some shredded coconut, but after toasting it, I just could not resist. Knock yourself, make a salad, you won't be sorry.

Scary recipes out there!

Are there recipes out there that scare the bee-jeezers out of you? There are a few phantom recipes that I have the desire to make but for some reason they intimidate me. It's silly really, but the fear of the unknown awaits. Crab cakes is one of those recipes that I' ve put off making because of this "fear". Well, last night I finally conquered it! I bought the crab claw meat at Fresh Market (typically a recipe asks for lump crabmeat, but I got a good deal on the claw meat and there wasn't a significant difference in the quailty). I used Mark Bittman's recipe from How to Cook Everything and they turned out real tasty. I even made my own mayonnaise for the recipe, those who know me well know I'm not a fan of mayonnaise unless it's homemade. Go for it, call me a food snob, I dare you. I also made a mixed greens salad with slivered carrots, sauteed mushrooms, and red onion. The salad dressing was made with my secret stash of green lemon olive oil and prima balsamic vinegar from O&Co. Yeah I spent a fortune on the olive oil and vinegar on a trip back to LA almost a year ago, but it was worth every penny! Drank a nice glass of Chardonnay by Mirrassou. It paired nicely with the crab cakes - it had notes of apricots, green apple, vanilla and honey. A special treat indeed, but I'm worth it and I'm not scared of making crab cakes.....

La Salade

I went to Fresh Market on Friday evening (for those West Coasters reading my blog, it's a small equivalent to Whole Foods here in Fort wayne) to pick up a few items. Of course, I couldn't resist a few additional items which I admit were not on my shopping list. Those two items were goat cheese, pecans and a Meyer lemon. I planned on making steak and baked potatoes for dinner on Sunday, but wanted to make a delectable salad to go along with it. I'm trying to venture out into the land of creative salads these days. It's so easy to stick to the boring "house salad", so to speak. I had some dried cranberries at home and as soon as I saw that goat cheese I knew it had to be incorporated into my salad. Threw in some chopped pecans as they compliment both the cranberries and goat cheese and for a treat, I made a Meyer lemon viniagrette. For those of you oblivious to the wonders that are Meyer lemons, it's a lemon with the skin the color of a pale, pale orange. It's flesh is a wee bit sweet tasting too. They are divine. My viniagrette consisted on minced shallots, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, juice of 1/2 a Meyer lemon, and grapeseed oil. Voila - la salade!