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.

Thai Noodle Soup and Rice Cake

THAI NOODLE SOUP

Ingredients:
2 tsp sunflower or other vegetable oil
1 small garlic clove, chopped
2 lemongrass stalks
2 kaffir lime leaves - or strip of pared lime rind (I couldn't find the leaves, so I used rind.)
1.2 litres/2 pint veggie stock
75g/3oz dried medium egg noodles
1 lime, juice only (about 2 tsp)
½ medium-hot red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
2.5ml/½ tsp sugar
50g/2oz fresh spinach or pak choi, cut into 2.5cm/1in wide strips
a handful fresh coriander/cilantro leaves

Method:
1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan.
2. Add the garlic and fry gently over a medium heat for 1 minute.
3. Meanwhile, lightly crush the lemon grass stalks with a rolling pin or the blade of a large knife.
4. To make the soup add the lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves and stock to the pan, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. To refine the soup, strain the stock through a fine sieve into a bowl, return to the pan and add lime juice, red chilli and sugar. Simmer for 3 minutes. (I just picked out the lemongrass and lime rind, because I am lazy.)
6. Meanwhile , drop the noodles into a pan of boiling water, remove from the heat and leave to soak for 4 minutes, before draining. (Or just toss the noodles in to the broth and cook them that way, which is what I did because I didn't feel like pulling out another pot and waiting for the water to boil.)
7. Add the egg noodles and spinach, or pak choi and simmer for a further 30 seconds.
8.Finally, ladle into bowls, dividing the noodles equally between them and scatter over the coriander leaves.


RICE CAKE

Ingredients:
150g/5¼oz cooked Thai fragrant rice (I used plain basmati, because I had no idea where to find this.)
1 free-range egg, beaten
2 spring onions, finely chopped
½ red pepper, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
drizzle soy sauce
1-2 tbsp olive oil

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
2. Place the cooked rice into a large bowl. Stir in the beaten egg along with the spring onions, pepper, salt and freshly ground black pepper and soy sauce.
3. Heat the oil in a small to medium non-stick frying pan. Spoon the rice mixture into the pan and press down. Fry for about two minutes. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for a further 10-12 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Turn the cake out and cut into wedges to serve.


NOTES
The soup could easily be made vegan by the substitution of regular noodles for egg noodles, and the rice cake if you felt like playing around with non-egg binders.

I believe the entire meal is gluten-free, although of course you'd want to double-check your broth and noodles.


VERDICT
The soup was fine. Not the most delicious thing I've ever tasted in my life, but it was good and had a nice balance of spice/savory/sour as Thai food should. I might make it again, although I think it would be better as an appetizer than part of the main course.

The rice cake was a little odd, just because it was rice and egg all baked together. Certainly edible, but probably not something I'd cook for myself again.

Polenta and Asparagus

Recipes: polenta, asparagus



Polenta--

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 sprig rosemary
1/2 cup polenta corn meal
Salt
Oil for frying

Method:
1. Combine the milk, cream, garlic and rosemary in a heavy bottomed pot on medium heat, and bring to a simmer. Let simmer for a minute or two and then remove the rosemary and garlic from the milk. Slowly add the corn meal, a little at a time, stirring constantly, until it’s all in.
2. Reduce heat to low, and add a touch of salt. Keep stirring with a whisk or fork until the polenta thickens. Continue stirring for a bit longer. It will get really thick, and start to pull away from the pot.
3. Remove heat and spread the polenta out in a casserole dish, to between 1/2-inch or 1/4-inch thick. Cover and let cool. You can keep it refrigerated like this for up to two days.
4. Once chilled, use a cookie cutter to cut out rounds, or simply slice into triangles, and carefully separate.
5. Heat enough oil to just cover the bottom of a griddle or frying pan on medium-high heat. Just before the smoking point, add the polenta pieces. Fry on each side for about 1 minute to brown. Carefully remove, and drain on a paper towel. Repeat with the rest of the pieces.


Asparagus Gratin--

Ingredients:
1 bunch asparagus (1-2 pounds)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup coarsely grated Fontina
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup low-sodium broth (chicken or vegetable)

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F and put the rack in the middle position.
2. After rinsing the asparagus, snap off and discard the tough bottom ends of the asparagus spears. (They will naturally break at the right spot.) In a small bowl, toss together the bread crumbs, oil, Fontina and pepper. Set aside.
3. Arrange the asparagus in a casserole dish large enough to hold them in a single layer. Pour the heavy cream and chicken stock over the mixture. Cover with foil and bake until tender, 14-18 minutes. Remove the asparagus from the oven and preheat the broiler.
4. Uncover the asparagus spears and sprinkle the bread crumb and cheese mixture over them. Broil, watching closely, until the mixture is brown and bubbly, 3-5 minutes.



I would recommend that you make the polenta before hand, then fry it up as you throw the asparagus in the oven. I also needed to cook the asparagus for about 20 minutes to get it as soft as I would like.

Looking back, it was a heavy meal. I think next time, I would grill the asparagus with olive oil and black pepper, then broil with the breadcrumbs and cheese to get the crust. I would make a cream and broth sauce and pour it over in the end. That would be lighter and then the sauce could also be used over the polenta.

Because I wasn't sure about the gratin sauce, I sauteed shallots and butter and added a touch of cream to pour over the polenta. It was good, but the method I described above would tie the whole meal together more compeletly, I think.

But, onto the meal--it was delicious. In my head I don't like asparagus, but I do like it. Even better with cheese! The polenta was pretty amazing, though I would add a few chili pepper flakes in the beginning to give it a little more...substance? Body? A bit of a kick. That would also help offset the creaminess (which I love, but in moderation).

I drank a few shandy lagers with it and it was the perfect meal for a night of Lost and the Office. I think it would make a great outside dinner party meal and I really want to try it again with my new ideas.

This could be gluten free, if you found glueten-free bread crumbs, were careful about the corn meal you picked out, and watched your broth.

Also, I love polenta.