Tuna Salad with a Twist

I've always had a love-hate relationship with canned tuna. Growing up Catholic, it was a big part of my diet, what with all the Lenten Fridays in my past. Tuna salad or tuna casserole were weekly occurrences, with occasional break for frozen fish sticks. Mom always bought the solid albacore in spring water, which I thought was too dry. But chunk light was too mushy and not as tasty. Once I got out of Catholic school and started feeding myself, I stopped eating tuna entirely. That is, until I discovered sushi.

Mr Minx likes canned tuna, though, especially the solid albacore, so I started eating tuna salad again. I never even thought of using canned tuna in any way other than salad or casserole, but then I got a couple cans of tuna from Tonnino, a company known for their fancy jarred tuna (like tuna belly, the yummiest, fattiest, part of the fish). They've just started offering tuna in cans, two varieties of solid 100% yellowfin--packed in spring water and packed in olive oil--and they sent us both to sample. I didn't want to smother this high quality fish in mayonnaise, so I had to come up with a different way of serving it. I thought the oil-packed stuff would be great in a salad Nicoise, but I didn't have any of the other components on hand. What I did have, however, were cans of cannellini beans, and I recalled that tuna and bean salad was a thing. I also had lemons and celery and cherry tomatoes, so they were going to play a part. I wanted to make it a little more substantial but not heavy, so I added quinoa, too.

What a great combination of textures and flavors! Crunchy veg and quinoa, tender beans, meaty tuna, lots of lemon. So good! And so much tastier than tuna with mayo.

I really liked the mild flavor of the Tonnino tuna in spring water. It wasn't fishy, and it didn't seem dry. And I like that they have finally given the nod to canned fish, because while the jarred tuna is pretty, cans stack better in the pantry!

Tuna and Cannellini Bean Salad with Quinoa
I used celery two ways in this dish, but you can use it all raw or all cooked, if you prefer.

1/2 onion, diced
1/4 red (yellow or orange) bell pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced (divided use)
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
Few sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 cup quinoa
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
Pepper
1 4.94-ounce can Tonnino Yellowfin solid pack tuna in spring water, drained
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (quartered if large)
2 radishes, diced
Chopped parsley

In a medium saucepan, cook the onion, pepper, and half the celery in a tablespoon or so of olive oil and a big pinch of kosher salt over medium heat, stirring regularly, until vegetables have softened. Remove veg to a large bowl and add the beans and the leaves from the thyme sprigs. Cover and refrigerate.

Put the quinoa and 1 cup of water in the same saucepan that you used to cook the veggies. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low and cover the pot. Cook 10-12 minutes, then turn off the heat and allow the quinoa to sit for an additional 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and add to bowl with beans and veg, stirring to combine. Cover and refrigerate until cool, at least 1 hour.

Make a dressing with the lemon juice, mustard, honey, and a some olive oil (I like equal parts acid and oil, but YMMV), beating with a fork to emulsify. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

When the quinoa and beans are chilled, pour over the dressing and toss. Add the tuna, tomatoes, radishes, and remaining celery and toss again. Taste for seasoning and add more salt or lemon juice, as needed. Garnish with parsley.

Serves 4.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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Quinoa, Brussels Sprouts, Meyer Lemon

It sometimes takes me a while to read all of my food magazines. In 2015, I received four per month, which was kinda ridiculous. I'm still working on them, but I did manage to get through the December 2015 issue of Martha Stewart Living. In it was a recipe, in a section titled "Eat Clean," for a salad made with brussels sprouts, Meyer lemon, and quinoa. It sounded tasty enough, and we had all three of those things on hand. We didn't have two of the supporting players, scallions and walnuts, but I figured I could make do with sweet onions and pecans.

I never realized that "clean" was synonymous for "flavorless." Quinoa is bland and raw brussels sprouts are pretty mild. Meyer lemon has a lot of flavor, but not quite enough to tackle the plainness of the grain. And lemon + salt + red pepper is just kinda meh, even when combined with some fancy extra virgin Greek olive oil. I felt the salad needed some sweetness, for balance. I added a chopped apple, and then, because I have a sweet tooth, a little maple syrup to echo that maple-y quality that pecans have. It was better, but as we were eating it, I thought it could use some creaminess, in the form of diced avocado. And maybe some chopped parsley and even more lemon zest.

Clean, shmean. I'm all about flavor.

Shaved Brussels Sprout, Meyer Lemon, and Quinoa Salad (adapted from Martha Stewart Living)

1 cup red quinoa
Salt
8 ounces brussels sprouts
1/3 cup finely chopped scallions or sweet onion
1 apple
1 Meyer lemon
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1-2 teaspoons maple syrup, to taste (optional)
1/4 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
1/4 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

Place quinoa in a pot with 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook, covered, until water has been absorbed, 15 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Trim the stem end of the brussels sprouts and pull off the outermost leaves. Cut sprouts in half, then make a v-shaped cut in the core end to remove as much of the core as possible. Slice the sprout halves thinly (the magazine suggests using a mandoline, but nobody wants human blood and skin in a vegan dish, not even a carnivore) and place in a large bowl. Peel and core the apple. Chop the fruit fairly finely and toss with the apple.

Zest the lemon; add zest to sprouts and apple. Juice the lemon to produce 2 tablespoons. Whisk in the olive oil, maple syrup if using, and pepper.

Add the cooled quinoa to the bowl of sprouts. Season with 3/4 teaspoon of salt and drizzle on the dressing. Toss well to combine. Stir in pecans before serving. Eat immediately, or refrigerate up to three days.



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Curried Quinoa with Blueberries

I'm so glad I never follow a recipe to the letter; so often it's not to my taste. For example, the curried quinoa with blueberries I found in the July-Aug issue of Vegetarian Times. I didn't need to make 2 cups of quinoa...that's far too much for two people, and I didn't want to be taking it for lunch for the whole rest of the week. So I reduced the amounts by half. This meant one cup of quinoa and 4.5 teaspoons of curry powder. Yes, the original recipe called for 3 tablespoons of curry powder. Three tablespoons = 9 teaspoons, half of which is 4.5 teaspoons. Still a ton. I stopped at 3 teaspoons (1 tablespoon), and it was still too much. Maybe the recipe expected readers to use some cheap-ass curry powder that had little flavor, but I used some nice sweet curry powder from Penzey's (the same curry I used in my White Chocolate Saffron Cupcakes). In any case, I now had 1 cup of cooked quinoa flavored with 1 whole tablespoon of curry powder. It was a tad on the bitter side, so I added about 1/4 teaspoon of sugar and a few squeezes of lemon juice for balance. Your mileage may vary, of course, depending on the brand of curry powder you use. I say err on the side of too little; you can always add more later.

I also served the salad cold. I like my sugar snaps raw and crunchy. Otherwise, the salad was quite nice. Good texture, and lots of fruits and veggies.

Curried Quinoa with Blueberries (adapted from Vegetarian Times)

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon coconut oil, divided
1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
2-3 teaspoons curry powder
Large pinch salt (especially if your curry is salt-free)
2 medium shallots, finely chopped
1 ½ cups fresh snap peas, sliced lengthwise into thirds
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/4 cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
Few springs fresh mint, chopped
Handful of chopped unsalted cashews or roasted peanuts

Melt 1 tablespoon of the coconut oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add quinoa and curry powder and saute until lightly toasted, about 2 minutes. Add 2 cups water and the pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover pan, and simmer 12 minutes or until quinoa is cooked through and water is absorbed.

Remove quinoa to a large bowl and set aside.

Wipe out the pan and add the remaining teaspoon of coconut oil. Add shallot and cook until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add blueberries and snap peas and cooked until warmed through, about 30 seconds - 1 minute.

Add the blueberries and peas to the quinoa in the bowl. Stir to combine. Taste for seasoning and add more salt to taste. Serve dolloped with yogurt and sprinkled with mint and nuts.

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Red Quinoa Salad

Sometimes I don't know where my mind is. We went out to eat one Saturday, but I completely forgot that the next day, Sunday, even existed. So I certainly didn't have anything planned for dinner. Consequently, we didn't have anything much in the fridge for me to work with.

This is where having a well-stocked pantry comes in handy. I try to have several kinds of grains on hand, plus canned beans, sturdy vegetables like carrots and onions, and copious seasonings. The freezer is usually stocked with sausages of various types, chicken thighs, and frozen vegetables. I was feeling vegan, so opted only to use a box of kale from the freezer, which I combined with some red quinoa to make a salad. There were a couple of cara cara oranges in the fridge, which I had purchased weeks ago on a whim. Although I love oranges, I seldom eat them out of hand, so when I buy them, they tend to languish. I thought a nice orange vinaigrette, punched up with some lemon juice and champagne vinegar, would be a nice dressing for the bland kale and quinoa. I didn't want to waste the lovely pinkish orange flesh of the oranges, so rather than wring the juice out of them, I borrowed some of Mr Minx's orange juice (he likes to drink it with breakfast, while I prefer grapefruit juice).

Our chive plant was growing nicely (the only thing in our garden being productive besides a lone strawberry plant and a pack of ginormous, knee-high, dandelions that have taken over our cherry tomato planter) so I grabbed a handful, including the pretty lavender flowers, to add a bit of extra onion-y savor to the salad.

For something I made up as I went along, it was pretty damn good. I mean, really. It'd be a great dish to take to a party of vegetarians/vegans, and would be fantastic alongside a pork chop.

Red Quinoa Salad with Kale, Carrots, and Orange Vinaigrette

For vegetables:
1 cup onion, diced
Olive oil
Pinch salt
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup julienne carrots
1 box frozen chopped kale, thawed and squeezed dry

For quinoa:
1 cup red quinoa
2 cups water
Pinch salt

For dressing:
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
Pinch cayenne
1 teaspoon superfine sugar
Splash champagne vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste

To serve:
1 orange, cut into supremes
2 tablespoons snipped chives + whole  chive blossoms

To make vegetables: Cook the onion in 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a generous pinch of salt over medium heat until translucent. Stir in the garlic and the carrots. Add the kale and stir well to combine. Cover and cook for 5-7 minutes, until carrots are slightly soft and kale is warmed through.

To make quinoa: Combine quinoa, water, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil over high heat, then turn the heat down to a simmer. Cover the pot and cook until all water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Remove quinoa from heat and allow to cool. When cool, transfer to a large bowl.

To make dressing: While quinoa is cooking, combine the orange and lemon juices, olive oil, cayenne, sugar, and vinegar in a bowl and beat vigorously with a fork to combine. Taste for seasoning, add pepper and salt to taste, keeping in mind that the dish will be served at room temperature or cold, so it should be well-seasoned.

To serve: Add vegetables to quinoa in bowl. Pour dressing over and mix well to combine. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed. Toss in the orange supremes and chives. Eat at room temperature or cold.

Serves 4-6

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Quinoa Milk

We went to the Natural Foods Expo at the end of September but have been so busy we haven't had an opportunity to go through our bag of brochures and business cards and sit down to write about some of the more interesting products at the show. Still haven't gone through that bag yet, but as I'm currently finishing up a glass of Suzie's Quinoamilk, I thought I should talk about it while it's on my mind.

For a while there in the summer I was attempting a vegan diet, at least during breakfast and lunch. That means no animal products of any kind, so I was left with using non-dairy milk in my coffee and cereal. I have always disliked soy milk, plus I have a mild allergic reaction to it. Rice milk is an abomination. Almond milk is much better, but I only like the stuff made by Blue Diamond. Coconut milk is ok, if you like coconut. But I find all of them leave an aftertaste.

Enter quinoamilk. As we were finishing up at the Expo, I noticed a table with little cups of off-white liquid. I was thirsty, saw that the product was made from quinoa, and thought why not? And it was very, very good. Not at all like cow's milk, of course, because it lacks that fatty mouthfeel, but much much better than all of the other non-dairy milks I have tried. And it doesn't have an aftertaste. The Suzie's rep was encouraged by my reaction and gave us a quart each of the original unsweetened and vanilla sweetened flavors to take home.

Suzie's Quinoamilk is great for people who have soy or nut allergies, and it's gluten-free, too. And while it's great in coffee and cereal, I enjoy a glass of it on its own, cold from the fridge. I would never do that with cow's milk, so I'm thinking that rather than drinking a glass of cold water with my chocolate chip cookies this Christmas while Mr Minx and MinxBro are drinking milk, I'll have me some Quinoamilk.

The stuff should be available at Whole Foods and other fine retailers nationally, but if you don't see it, ask for it!



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