Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

I'm always on the look out for quinoa recipes - healthy, good minerals, fibre etc. Often the recipes I find are just variations on those I already have.
I liked the look of this one because it had olives in it...I love olives.
I'm quite pleased with the result although it was a bit wet with dressing. I;d probably reduce the quantity next time.




Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Bring to a boil over low heat:

1 cup quinoa
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups water (I use 2 cups of water (or chicken stock)  to 1 cup of quinoa)

Cover and simmer slowly for 15 to 20 minutes until the grains are cooked but still a little firm to the bite.

Remove from heat and add:

2 diced tomatoes
1 cup diced bell peppers
1 cup diced cucumber
1 cup chopped kalamata olives
1/4 cup chopped green onion (spring onion - I used 2-3)

Toss everything together with the Lemon Oregano Dressing.

Lemon Oregano DressingWhisk together well:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp honey
juice and finely minced zest of one lemon
2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano (or 1 tbsp dried oregano)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Braised Chicken with Bacon, Chorizo and Olives - This one is for Patrick!

Patrick (17) has a few things that he really really likes to eat. I managed to find a recipe that contained three of those things...chicken, bacon and chorizo in the latest (July) Cuisine Magazine. It had a very distinctive smoked paprika influence and the olives were great - Yum!

This meal is one of those 'one pot' wonders that should mean minimal effort and dishes, but did have quite a few steps. It will be a make again one.

Braised chicken legs with tomato, chorizo & olives

Ingredients6 free-range whole chicken legs (with thighs), bone in (1.8kg)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika

½ onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, sliced

80g dried chorizo, sliced

5 rashers (60g) bacon, diced

2 large Agria potatoes (700g), peeled, cut into 1.5cm dice

400g can chopped peeled tomatoes

2 tablespoons tomato paste

12cm sprig fresh rosemarygood pinch of dried thyme

100ml red wine

100ml chicken or veal stock

60g Kalamata olives

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place the chicken legs in a deep oven dish. Add the oil and paprika and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Toss to coat then arrange the legs so they are skin side up and cook, uncovered, in the oven for 20 minutes.

Add the onion, garlic, chorizo and bacon to the dish then return to the oven for a further 10 minutes.

Reduce the oven to 160°C. Mix the remaining ingredients together in a bowl then add to the chicken, making sure the chicken legs are evenly covered. Cover with foil then cook for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for a further 40 minutes, stirring once so the chicken skin doesn’t become too dark. Remove from the oven, taste and season. Serve with a green salad.

Focaccia Bread - My Recipe

When we are going somewhere for a meal or event and I ask "what I can bring?", the answer is usually the same...focaccia bread. I'm not sure I want to have this as my 'signature dish' but I have to admit it is a pretty easy request to fulfill and it always gets gobbled fast.

I make bread at least once a week, often more, and yes, I use a bread maker. The purist in me sometimes thinks I should be kneading it by hand but the realist in me knows I don't have time!

There are a couple of things I have learned through trial and error when making bread (and there have been some pretty major errors/disasters), is to make the dough in the bread maker and then let it rise in a slightly warm oven. The rising needs several hours...bread making needs around 6 hours from start to finish. A long time but minimal effort is needed in this time.

The secret to my focaccia bread is to put a frozen cube of home made pesto (this recipe will come next summer when my basil is growing again) into the bread mixture at the start. Again not authentic Italian Focaccia, but really yummy.

Focaccia Bread

1 1/2 cups of warm water

2 tablespoons of olive oil

4 1/4 cups of bread flour (high grade)

2 tsp of salt

2 tsp of sugar
2 tsp of yeast

1 cube of frozen pesto (or Italian Herb Mix)

Fresh rosemary, thyme and flaky sea salt

Optional: cherry tomatoes or olives

Put wet ingredients in first, followed by dry and pesto.

Set bread maker to 'dough setting'

Once dough is made, spread on oven tray lined with baking paper and sprinkled with flour in a large flat oval shape and leave to rise in a slightly warm oven for a few hours (or over night).

Once it has risen, rub gently with more olive oil, sprinkle with fresh rosemary and thyme and a lot of flaky sea salt. Press cherry tomatoes or olives gently into dough to decorate.

Bake for about 20 minutes at 200 degrees.

The smell in the house when this is cooking is amazing. The fresh herbs make a huge difference.

The biggest challenge is to keep it uneaten if we are taking it somewhere!