A recipe from The Bitten Word
These are the crazy times.
It's the time of year when produce is piling up all around us. We're getting more than we can handle from our CSA, and yet we're still buying more each week at the farmers market. We can't help it! Everything is so good and abundant right now! (Our names are Zach and Clay, and we're addicted to vegetables.)
As a result of our over-abundance of veggies, we've got to have a couple tricks up our sleeve for using up a bunch of different vegetables.
One is called Throw Everything In a Skillet. It's a very complicated recipe in which we basically sauté everything in our fridge. Onions, corn, tomatoes, okra, zucchini, squash, whatever. Eggplant? Yes. Green beans? Sure. We sauté one group of veggies at a time (so each different kind of vegetable gets nicely sautéed), then throw it all back in the pan to combine. If we're feeling especially fancy, we'll throw in a handful of chopped fresh basil at the end.
Our other favorite recipe this time of year? Quinoa Salad.
We like grilling the greens because it adds a lot of great flavor and takes the raw edge off them.
We also keep the quinoa to a minimum here -- 1 cup of quinoa for all these veggies and greens. We like that proportion, but you can certainly double the quinoa if you'd like (that's a great way to stretch this dish to feed a larger crowd).
You can serve this warm or cold. We like it either way, but we might actually prefer it cold. It's refreshing and easy, especially on a hot summer day.
This Grilled Summer Vegetable and Quinoa Salad is a total staple around our house these days. Why, with this and our patented Throw Everything In a Skillet, we may never need another recipe again.
Grilled Summer Vegetable and Quinoa Salad
A recipe from The Bitten Word
Here's how we go about creating a Grilled Summer Vegetable and Quinoa Salad. You can mix and match with whatever vegetables you would like. (We've used turnips and kholrabi when those were available.)
Serves 4
1 large summer squash, sliced length-wise into 1/4 inch planks
1 large zucchini, sliced length-wise into 1/4 inch planks
1 large eggplant, sliced length-wise into 1/2 inch planks
1 onion, sliced into 1-inch wide wedges, seperated
1 bunch of hearty greens, such as Swiss chard or kale
1 cup cooked quinoa
2 to 3 tablepoons of thinly sliced parlsey, basil or mint (choose 1 or use all 3)
Olive oil, salt and pepper to finish
Prepare a grill for medium-high direct cooking.
Take the sliced squash, zucchini, eggplant and onion and toss with oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Grill until nice cooked, with thick grill marks, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the grill and transfer to a bowl. Allow to cool slightly and then chop the vegetables into bite-size pieces.
Brush the greens with oil, then toss directly on the grill. Grill briefly on each side, allowing the greens to get charred lightly, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Remove to a pan, and cut into bite size pieces (use scissors if the greens are too hot).
Toss the grilled vegetables and greens in a bowl with the quinoa. Taste it, and adjust the seasoning to the amount of quinoa, salt and pepper that you like. If you'd like more moisture, add a few additional tablespoons of olive oil. Finish with fresh herbs. Serve immediately or chill.
