Meatless Monday: It’s a Wrap

Here’s a dish I tried a few weeks back when we were enjoying some unseasonably warm days — Asian Collard Wraps — inspired by a recipe I read in a flyer at the Elm City Market. The original recipe is online here. 

Of course, I chose not to follow the recipe exactly.

Here is my version.

Asian Collard Wraps

Serves 6. 

INGREDIENTS

1 bunch collard greens, washed well, large stems removed

2 cups cooked quinoa 

(Make sure the quinoa is drained of any excess liquid)

2 tablespoons tamari

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 dash hot sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 cup carrots, shredded

1 cup cabbage (red or green), shredded

1/2 cup red bell pepper, julienned

2 green onions, thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS

• In a pot of boiling, salted water, blanch the collard leaves, one at a time, for about one minute each. (They will turn bright green.)
• Remove with tongs and place gently on a towel to dry.(These can be prepared in advance. Simply stack on a plate when dry, cover with plastic wrap, and store in the fridge until you are ready to assemble them.)
• Whisk together the lime juice, vinegar, hot sauce, and sesame oil.
• Pour onto the hot quinoa, and let it marinate at least one hour.
• Once cool, store in the refrigerator until ready to use. (This also can be prepared in advance, and will handle better if well chilled.)
• Prepare the vegetables.
• To prepare the wraps, lay out one blanched collard leaf with the stem side towards the bottom.
• Place 2-3 tablespoons of quinoa at the bottom of the leaf. Flatten with the spoon.
• On top of the quinoa pile a few pieces of carrot, cabbage, and pepper.
• Sprinkle with green onions. 
• Fold the bottom of the leaf up over the fillings.
• Fold in each side of the collard leaf and continue to roll upwards until you have what looks like a burrito.
• Set aside and repeat the process until you have used up all the ingredients.  

It’s a wrap!

Turning a bunch of collard greens into a stack of wraps is a little labor intensive.  But once I had the wraps prepared, and the grain marinated, the rest was easy, and I had enough wraps to make the base for several meals (alone as a lunch, with a side for dinner). This satisfying and inexpensive dish will be a great addition to next summer’s repertoire. 

Happy Monday! 

Have a great week. Eat well. 

I often blog on food, food issues, or gardening on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday: How to Turn Any Salad Into a Meal

This short post is about making your summer easier, your time spent in the kitchen shorter, and your summer salads more satisfying.

The next time you cook a grain — any grain — to go with a hot dish, make twice as much as you need. Set aside what you require for dinner, and then place the remainder in a glass or ceramic dish, immediately marinate it, let it cool, and then place it in the fridge for use later in the week. 

Within the next few days, prepare your favorite salad and add a scoop or two of the marinated grain.

My salad, in the photo below, has a base of mixed salad greens and is topped with: shredded carrot salad from The Art of Simple Food, by Alice Waters; fresh sugar snap peas; minced Bermuda onion; grape tomatoes; avocado in fresh lime juice; and a generous scoop of marinated red quinoa.

I marinated the quinoa in a dressing I made in the proportions of 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar to 3 tablespoons of good olive oil.

Mark Bittman offered up a similar salad idea in “Eat With the Grain,” in the June 12 New York Times Magazine. He suggested using 2 cups of grain to 1 cup of fresh veggies. 

There is no need to measure or to be that precise. Go with what you have on hand. This is a great way to use up leftovers that don’t quite make a meal on their own. 

Adding a grain turns a simple salad into a satisfying meal. With a grain like quinoa,  it’s one packed with protein as well.

Doesn’t this sound easy?

Have a great week. Happy eating.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday: A Salad for Every Diet

Last week I promised everyone I would post a recipe rather than a rant this week, and I always do my best to keep my promises. So here goes… 

The heat is rising, and outdoor festivities are filling up the calendar — two great reasons to try out this easy, make-ahead recipe, inspired by a serving suggestion on the back of a bag of Trader Joe’s Organic Red Quinoa. 

Black Bean, Roasted Corn & Avocado Salad on a Bed of Quinoa

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup Red Quinoa
• 1- 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups corn kernels, toasted by sautéing in a lightly-greased cast iron pan
• 1 large avocado, cut into 1/2 inch pieces 
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, cut into halves
• 1 small red onion, finely diced
• juice of 1 large lime
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• a bunch of your favorite salad greens

PREPARATION

Prepare the quinoa.

• Rinse the quinoa with cold water and drain.  [This is a very important first step. Quinoa that is not rinsed first will have a bitter taste.] Place the quinoa, along with 2 cups of broth or water into a 1-1/2 to 2 cup saucepan. [I added one Not-Chick’n vegetable bouillon cube to 2 cups of cold water.] Bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer, cover, and cook until all liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, toss with 1/4 cup olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.

While the quinoa is cooking, prepare the salad.

• Combine the beans and vegetables in a large bowl.
• Make a dressing by combining lime juice with olive oil in a ration of 1:3. [Adjust to your taste.]
• Pour over the vegetables. Stir gently until all the ingredients are moistened.
• Wash and spin dry your favorite greens. Tear and place into salad bowl(s) as the base.
• Spoon quinoa onto the greens.
• Top with the mixed vegetables.

Colorful. Delicious. Nutritious. A complete summer meal or a hearty potluck dish in under an hour. When served atop greens, the salad makes six very generous servings.

Vegetarians and vegans will love that this dish is high in protein without meat. Vegans will appreciate that it is dairy-free. Paleo dieters should be happy that high-protein, low-carb quinoa is the salad base rather than rice or pasta. Quinoa is also gluten free. A dish for almost everyone, and certainly appropriate for a summer Meatless Monday!

FYI I was happy to discover that Trader Joes' Red Quinoa was not in conflict with any of my Buycott campaigns. Read about Buycott here.

And now for an update on the CT GMO labeling bill that had me ranting last week: In a surprise turn of events, GMO labeling supporters are now celebrating. On Saturday, the CT Senate voted unanimously to support a compromise bill, supported by House leadership, the governor, AND GMO labeling advocates! 

CT is likely to become the first state in the country to pass a GMO labeling law. 

The new bill has a more reasonable trigger clause, but more importantly NO LONGER INCLUDES the exemption for farmers grossing less than 1.5 million dollars. You can read the new bill here. The protest previously called for today has become a party to thank the legislators! Congratulations, Tara Littman-Cook and GMO Free CT.

Good eats! Good news! 

Have a great week.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday: Quinoa [KEEN-wah] Gets Its Due

For 5000 years, quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) has been a staple food of the Andean indigenous peoples. In recent decades the rest of the world has begun to sing its praises. In fact, the United Nations has declared 2013 the International Year of Quinoa! 

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations issued the report Quinoa: An Ancient Crop to Contribute to World Food Security. In brief, the report is a compilation of the many nutritional benefits and agricultural versatility of quinoa. The authors also propose that quinoa is a crop “with high potential to contribute to food security in various regions worldwide, especially in those countries where the population does not have access to protein sources or where production conditions are limited by low humidity, reduced availability of inputs, and aridity.” You can download the entire publication here. 

Quinoa is an annual species in the goosefoot family (the same botanical family as sugarbeet, table beet, and spinach) and is related to common lambsquarters (Chenopodium album L.), considered by many a weed. Quinoa is sometimes referred to as a "pseudocereal" like buckwheat and amaranth, because it is a broadleaf non-legume that is grown for grain unlike most cereal grains which are grassy plants. 

According to the FAO, “Quinoa is the only plant food that contains all the essential amino acids, trace elements and vitamins and contains no gluten.” Its nutritional quality has been compared to that of dried, whole milk. Quinoa is very low in cholesterol and sodium, is high in dietary fiber, and is also a good source of magnesium and phosphorus and a very good source of manganese. 

Quinoa can be used in many of the same ways as rice and takes about the same time to prepare. It can easily be cooked in a larger quantity to be reheated or used in salads. Be warned about one quinoa trait, however. The quinoa “berry” has a coating of bitter saponins, which can be removed by rinsing in water; the water will acquire a sudsy appearance as it does its work. Some packaged quinoa is sold pre-rinsed, but read the label carefully. [It is interesting to note that according to one source I discovered, “In South America the saponin which is removed from the quinoa is used as detergent for washing clothes and as an antiseptic to promote healing of skin injuries.]

Cooking Light offers a collection of 15 easy quinoa recipes to get you started. They may not be traditional Andean fare, but they are an easy way to introduce this “ancient grain” to your cooking repertoire.

Happy Monday. Have a great week.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”