Thumbs-up on quinoa
Sunday's recipes featured an encomium to quinoa (KEEN-WAH) a South American grain with an excellent taste and texture. I wanted to add my voice to the chorus: quinoa is nutritious and tasty. I use it often as a base for my Pseudonachos and my Easy Greek Casserole. It cooks in about 15 minutes, which is only a few more minutes than couscous takes, so you can use it as a side dish whenever you'd normally use couscous. It has much the same texture and you can do a lot of the same things to it--drop pine nuts and some grated Parm in to make it more interesting, etc.
You can get quinoa in health-food stores, or in most Trader Joes' (where the rice is) or in the fancy organic aisle in your local supermarket.
The article, and most quinoa boxes, say you should rinse the grain before cooking to make it less bitter, but I've never found a convenient way to do that and hence have never bothered. Tastes fine to me unrinsed, and I'm not a fan of bitter food.
Comment
Permalink
E-mail
Who is Miss Conduct?
Robin Abrahams writes the weekly "Miss Conduct" column for The Boston Globe Magazine. Robin, who has a PhD in psychology from Boston University, has worked as a theater publicist, organizational-change communications manager, editor, stand-up comedian, and professor of psychology and English. She lives in Cambridge with her husband, Marc Abrahams, founder of the Ig Nobel Prizes, which are given annually for achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think.
