salmon with silverbeet coconut rice

Salmon is a favourite in our household, particularly Atlantic Salmon, which seems to be available all year round in Sydney (as are Ocean Trouts).  Oozing with omega-3 and vitamin D, and so easy to make.  A bit of salt and pepper, a few minutes each side on the pan, and done!  

The challenge is finding a side to accompany complement it and round out the food pyramid; i.e. some veg and starch.  Rice and some kind of soft, wilt-able greens came to mind. While plain rice and fresh salad would have worked find, I wanted something different. And I wanted to integrate (sneak in) the greens with the rice for two preschoolers who will be at dinner.  Coconut-flavoured rice also came prominently to mind, thus, 'tis was how this rice dish was born. 

Silverbeet (Swiss Chard, Spinach) Coconut Rice
Ingredients
- 1 can of coconut milk (size would depend on desired fragrancy; I used a full 400ml can)
- 1 cup of rice
- 3-4 (packed) cups of freshly chopped chard (any soft greens should work)
- pinch of salt

Direction
1)  Add coconut milk and water to pan, to a total volume of ~700ml.  Add a pinch of salt. Bring to boil. 
2)  Add rice, stirring until boiling point is reached again (this prevents the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot).  Reduce heat to low and simmer, covering, for 15 mins. 
3)  Increase to medium heat.  Stir in greens, one cup at a time. Keep stirring untill all greens are incorporated.  Turn off heat and replace lid.  Let stand for at least 5 mins. 

blue hubbard quinoa & brown rice casserole

As usual, this dish was inspired by one of the items in our CSA box this week: blue hubbard squash (cucurbita maxima).  We didn't get an entire squash (thank goodness!); I think we got ~3-5lb (6-11kg) which is probably only 5%-10% of the total squash!!  Deborah, our CSA farmer, suggested several ways of preparing it; basically, you can substitute any pumpkin or squash recipe with the hubbard.  I'm not a casserole person by nature, but for some reason, I had a desire (not quite a craving) to have casserole.  Besides, it sounded like something that our little 1yo can eat as well =)

I took inspiration from the both Local Nourishment & Food Buzz. Here is my version:

Ingredients
~3-5lb squash (any winter squash or pumpkin would work)
1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 cup brown rice
5 celery sticks (finely chopped)
6oz mozarrela cheese (grated)
sprinkles of dried basil
sprinkles of crushed dried rosemary
salt & pepper
~2oz cold butter
~1/2 - 3/4 cups course wheat flour (I thought that would provide better texture than white flour)

Steps
1.  Partially bake squash, whole, at 350F for ~35mins (This was so that I can cut into the darn thing!)
2.  While waiting for step (1), soak rice & quinoa in water for at least 15mins (For the quinoa, that's the recommendation I got from the internet.. I've never cooked quinoa before(!). For the rice, I know for a fact that pre-soaking gives a much fluffier texture; the secret to good congee).  Rinse. Bring ~2.5cups of water to boil.  Add rice & quinoa; stirring often to prevent sticking. Once the content reboils, turn down heat and simmer until only ~1tbp water remains. Shut off heat and leave lid on. This will allow the grains to absorb the rest of the liquid without burning. [Of course, if you prefer your rice to be more chewy, use less water and open lid straight after cooking.]
3.  Once squash is ready (out of the oven & cooled enough to handle), cut into small cubes (~0.5" or 1cm).  I did this my slicing around the skin as it was still pretty tough to cut through and I didn't want to destroy my knife. Place cubes in casserole dish.
4.  Add cooked rice & quinoa and finely diced celery to casserole dish. Sprinkle dish with dried herbs & season with S&P.  Toss well.
5.  Cover top with grated mozzarella. [You could also mix the cheese in with the rest of the stuff.] 
6.  Work the butter into the flour and crumb on top of the cheese.
7.  Bake at ~400F for ~30mins for until crumb is golden.  [You may have to play around with the temp and time.  I did as the suggested temp of 350F and suggested time of 15mins did not work for me.]

Here is a photo of the final product:

The verdict?
My opinion: I thought it was good.  The quinoa was really flavorful. The squash was sweet. The celery was soft.. too soft?  Some parts of the crumble dried up a bit.. I wonder if I should have added more butter or a dash of milk?
His opinion:  It's  simple.  Healthy.  I like it.  [I take that to mean he likes it but is not excited by it; not like a bacon club sandwich ;-) ]
Bubby's opinion:  He didn't spit it out (phew!)  In fact, I was happy to have it for lunch for the next few days.  I call that success =D

wild rice salad with dried and fresh fruits and nuts

People keep telling me that white rice is empty calories, so in an attempt to add the nutrition back to my rice, I bought a pound or two of a blend of wild rice from the local Co-op.  I no longer remember what's in the blend (I'll jot it down next time I am at the Co-op), but it looks like there are some long grain brown rice and black japonica. Anyway, I got it about a month ago and haven't really done anything with it, and increasingly I felt like it was time...  Initially I was thinking of a warm rice dish similar to a Chinese fried rice but with dried fruits, such as sultanas or dried cranberries, and roasted nuts.  Google searches turned up mainly salad dishes and given the weather has been rather warm this week, I decided to give it a whirl.  The recipe that caught my eyes was this one: http://www.healthyfoodforliving.com/?p=8358 and that's mainly because of it's simplicity and lack of overpowering spices. As usual, I made modifications to this recipe and to my surprise, my hubby loved it;  he normally doesn't like wild or brown rice because of the rough texture, but he seemed to really like the flavour of this one.  I hope I get a chance to make it for my new mother-in-law because we think it is something that she would totally enjoy =)

Ingredients

Salad:
* 1 cup wild rice, rinsed
* 2 cups chicken broth (it took some effort to find one without onions!)
* 2 cups water
* 1 cup dried cranberries (I had also wanted to used sultanas but it was easier to find organic cranberries than sultanas)
* 1/2 cup pistachios, shelled, toasted, and roughly chopped  (pistachios is a good source of choline)
* 1 large apple, cored and chopped (in retrospect, a sweet soft pear would have been much more fitting)
* 1 large nectarine, stone removed, chopped (it's stone fruit season, so I had to make use of this lovely fruit)
Vinaigrette:
* 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
* 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (the recipe did recommend a fruity vinegar but I didn't have any, so I may try that next time)
* 2 tsp honey
* salt to taste


Procedure
1.  Bring broth and water to boil.  Add rice, stir, and let liquid return to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 45mins. Drain liquid and rinse briefly under cold water. Place in a large bowl.
2.  Place all vinaigrette ingredients in a small jar.  Shake well to emulsify.
3.  Stir chopped fruits, dried cranberry, prepared nuts, and vinaigrette in with the rice, until well mixed.
4.  Serve immediately at room temperature or or cold after 'marinating' in fridge.

** Keep leftovers in an airtight container.  If planning on having let overs or serving cold, it is best to mix in the nuts just before so they remain crunchy.

** We actually had it with grilled Italian sausages; it was a great combo. 

Enjoy.