Artichoke Heart and Quinoa Salad + Spicy Carrot and Potato Soup

(Catching up on some unposted meals. Sorry about the laziness!)

ARTICHOKE HEART AND QUINOA SALAD

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked quinoa*
2 1/2 cups water
2 heads Belgian endive leaves, separated and rinsed (I couldn't find endive, so I just served on a bed of Romaine.)
2 cups artichoke hearts, chopped roughly
2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes
2 shallots, thinly sliced
dressing of choice (I used olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper.)

Method:
Combine quinoa with water in large saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue cooking grains, stirring occasionally, until tender, for 15 to 20 minutes. Drain well and set aside.

Meanwhile, layer dinner plates with endive leaves. In separate mixing bowl, combine artichoke hearts, cherry tomatoes and sliced shallots. When quinoa is cool, stir grain and vegetables together, and dress as desired, tossing to combine. Arrange mixture on endive leaves and serve.

SPICY CARROT AND POTATO SOUP

Ingredients:
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
150g/5oz potato, chopped
400ml/14fl oz vegetable stock
½ tsp chilli flakes
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 vine tomato, de-seeded and chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:
1. Place the carrot, potato, stock and chilli flakes in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and leave to simmer for 7-8 minutes, then drain the vegetables, reserving the stock.
2. Heat the olive oil in the saucepan and fry the vegetables, along with the chopped garlic, for 3-4 minutes, or until tender.
3. Pour the stock back into the pan with the vegetables, stir in the tomatoes and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Using a hand blender, process the soup until smooth.

NOTES:
If you've never tried quinoa, you really ought to. Like cous cous, which has a similar but distinctly different texture and flavor, you can prepare it almost any way you like--Carrie frequently makes it with broccoli and cheese, and I've played around with vegetables and Bragg's soy sauce. Plus, unlike cous cous, it's gluten-free.

*I STRONGLY recommend Ancient Harvest brand quinoa, as it's already rinsed. Unless you enjoy spending a full ten minutes sifting through tiny grains.

VERDICT:
We both loved the quinoa salad, and actually prepared it again a week later when we had guests over. It makes a fantastic appetizer, side-dish, or light meal.

I enjoyed the soup, although it was very literally 'carrot' and 'potato' and I'd forgotten that Carrie really doesn't like the flavor of cooked carrots. Oops. If you enjoy both of those flavors, though, it would be a really great cool-weather soup.

Beef and Celery with Rice

I found this idea in the Austin American when they were talking about Chinese culture. I couldn't find the recipe there, in the two minutes I looked for it, but this one came out nicely.

Recipe: beef and celery

Beef and Celery--

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 onions, peeled and chopped
• 2 cups thinly sliced celery
• 8 oz MorningStar Farms Meal starters, beef strips
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 cup water
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

Method:

1. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Slowly cook and stir onions and celery until golden brown; remove from heat and set aside.
2. In the same skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Place beef slices in the skillet and heat until well browned. Stir in salt, pepper, soy sauce and water.
3. Add the celery and onion mix. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, combine the water and cornstarch. Pour the mixture into skillet. Stirring constantly, heat until thickened. Takes about 5 minutes.
   

Verdict:
This is how I should have done it. I didn't do the beef tips serperately, and they were too mushy. I think that doing it the way I was supposed to do it would give a nice crisp to the strips and give it a better texture.

I would make this again. It was easy, good, and a nice change to beef and broccoli.