Friday, April 1, 2011

Quinoa, Fruit, & Nut Salad - French Fridays with Dorie

This week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe can be found on page #138 of Dorie Greenspan's cookbook, Around my French Table.  The quinoa, fruit, and nut salad is something that I would have never picked-out to try without a group like FFwD



When we were in the process of adopting our oldest daughter, "Penguin" from a Russian orphanage, we lived in the orphanage with her for a week or so while we waited for the court hearing and paperwork to come through so we can travel with her to Moscow and then back to the USA.  I do not have good memories of Russian food, esp the food we ate in the orphanage.  We paid for our meals there, but I think they still fed us what the kids in that home ate.  On numerous occasions, they placed a bowl of some kind of boiled grain in front of us ... no syrup, sugar, or anything to put on it except weird butter, salt & pepper ... certainly no nuts or fruits!!  No amount of salt could make that boiled grain taste good.  I think they were feeding us millet, but when I look at quinoa, those flavors, smells, and memories come rushing back to me.  FYI: If you want to lose a quick 5+ pounds, take a trip to Russia.

Back to the recipe ... I sent my husband to Wal-Mart late one night to get the ingredients that I needed to make this recipe.  He couldn't find quinoa anywhere and when he asked for assistance, the Wal-Mart workers were no help.  So I ended up getting my quinoa from a bin at a health-food-type-store a few nights later.  This recipe was very easy & quick to make.  I made mine with dried cranberries, almonds, & walnuts. I really liked the nuts with the quinoa. This recipe was good, but I can't say I loved it.  It's no Double-Chocolate Mousse Cake!!  And now after making it and trying all the flavors together, I think I'd prefer making some quinoa with some fruits and nuts and serving it as a breakfast food rather than in a salad.

12 comments:

  1. I love quinoa but this recipe wasn't great for me either. It did feel like something you'd eat for breakfast :)

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  2. You know, eating this for breakfast isn't a bad idea, especially since my dish ended up on the sweeter side. Great post!

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  3. You captured the experience Nana and I had perfectly when you said you would not have tried this recipe were it not for FF's :) Nana may not revisit it but I did enjoy it (if not the aroma.....) and am very sold on how healthy it was. In fact it is pretty much a blank canvas and I plan to try using it as a side dish, main course and even breakfast. Now to find more recipes....

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  4. Loved your post! Beautiful photo! My first encounter with quinoa was as a breakfast food. Cooked in milk with blueberries added at the end, and sprinkled with a little brown sugar! Delicious!

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  5. Isn't it interesting how certain fragrances bring up memories for us? Fascinates me every time. I'm sorry you didn't like it, and maybe your memories had something to do with it, but I found it very refreshing. Perhaps a second go with some different fruits or herbs (or maybe even fresh fruit or veggies) might change your mind. Nice photos, by the way!

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  6. Great post. Amazing how a food can bring back such memories! Some good ideas - breakfast?

    This wasn't my favorite at all, and I agree - no choclate cake. Good for you for trying it though!!

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  7. I loved it but then I added salt and extra herbs. I"m going to have to try this breakfast idea...

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  8. It's amazing how smells and tastes take us back down memory lane!

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  9. Nice photo...actually very nice phone... and I'm glad i got a little taste at your house. I'm going to make this...no time yet and probably not for a few days...after last nights giant dinner I still have a few days of dishes to wash and put away...but after the taste I will want to add way more goodies...like more kinds of nuts and, yes, I think for breakfast is a good idea. The grain needs more flavor...it is blah like rice and depends on everything else to jazz it up.

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  10. I think if you took out the viniagrette and added enough fruit & nuts, this would make a great breakfast! Sorry you were underwhelmed...

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  11. How interesting the memories this brought up for you. Perhaps it was doomed from the start to not be a favorite. So glad you were able to save Penguin from the horrors of Russian cuisine!

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  12. Your food always looks so impressive and intimidating to me...but I have recently discovered quinoa (Costco sells it in a 4 lb bag) and I use it instead of rice sometimes--in burritos or with chicken and veggies. I might actually try using it on a salad or with fruit, looks yummy!

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