Popping up in my feed is pictures of people cooking amazing things – seafood, tagines, roast with all the trimmings – no one is really living on what they have in their pantry.
I’m taking a different approach and trying to use up what I have in the pantry first, cooking what I have on hand.
And it turns out, I have a lot of Quinoa on hand, leftover from now non-existent catering jobs.
As cooking is in my blood, heart and soul, I am going to work out as many ways to cook Quinoa as possible, maybe come up with 100 recipes.
So far, I have three.
This recipe was served as a side dish with last nights dinner (Building Maintenance doesn’t feel like I’ve fed him right unless there are carbs on the plate).
The next night, I stuffed it into zucchini, then baked the lot in the oven covered with fresh tomato sauce.
Quinoa with pickled lemon and parsley recipe.
Cook Quinoa using pressure cooker method, 1-part Quinoa 2 parts water, 3 minutes on high pressure.
Finely mince a 250 ml jar of pickled lemons and a bunch of parsley.
Once the Quinoa has cooked for its three minutes and the steam has released from the pressure cooker, but the quinoa is still hot, stir through the minced lemon and parsley.
Season with salt and pepper.
Enjoy!
A friend told me recently, that in tough times make sure you have Brussels Sprouts. They will survive at the bottom of your fridge through everything.
Here’s how you cook them
To save on the typing, from now on I’m going to call Brussels Sprouts, BS.
I like to peel off any leaves for the outside that are past their best.
You can either cut a cross in the bottom of each BS or cut each BS in half vertically.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil. Blanc your BS in the boiling water for 2 minutes. I do less time, not more, as I like my BS still crispy. Not grey and soggy.
Dice a couple of strips of bacon and one onion.
Heat a frying pan. Add a spoonful of butter. Melt.
Add the bacon and onion to the frypan. Fry off until the bacon is crisp, and the onion cooked.
Throw in the BS. Fry off until they start to brown.
To finish the BS off, pour in ½ cup of white wine. Add a pinch of salt, pepper and the chef’s secret ingredient, sugar.
On this day, I’ve served mine with a rack of Wattlebank park farm lamb
Stay safe and keep cooking!
Acknowledgment of country
Hello, I’m Jaci Hicken, from the lands of the Brataualung clan, which is where I’ve spent most of my life.
I would like to acknowledge all of us here today to cook together and share a meal.
I love sharing my dream of growing the food this country has to offer and share it with you.
The traditional place that we come together today is on the lands Gunaikurnai people
And I’d like to pay my respects to our elders past, present, emerging leaders, along with all the young people in our community.