Easy & delicious POTLUCK recipes

I attended a great POTLUCK yesterday in San Francisco…my 1st!  Hosted by my friend Veronica.  OMG the food was super tasty and simple as…

I had 50mins to make something with quinoa (my hosts request), time just seems to sink into the pavement in San Francisco and there is ALWAYS a farmers market, restaurant or fab cafe that pulls my attention away.  So, was back to the kitchen late and had to throw something together.

The result of my frantic grabbing of ingredients…  QUINOA & KALE SALAD

Ahem, I admit I never measure anything… All recipes serve four to five friends.

• 1lb mixed colour quinoa
• A hearty bunch of purple (or any type) kale
• 6 smallish garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp canola or extra virgin olive oil (it irks me when TV chefs call it E V O O!)
• 1 generous handful of almond flakes
• In the other hand, grab cranberries or raisins (I forgot to buy crans so I steeped the raisins in green tea to take away some of the sweetness)
• 1 tbsp salad sprinkle mix (mixed herbs, garlic, scallions, celery, carrots and a whole bunch of other stuff all finely chopped and dried) or half a vegan stock cube (pref yeast free)
• squeeze of small lemon
• s&p to taste….I use pink Himalayan because I’m a salt snob!

I just intuitively added water to the quinoa after rinsing it…I’d say about two pints of cold water to a lb of grain.  I did some research and found this website if you need to measure..How to cook quinoa from Low Calorie Cooking
Boil for about 20mins.  Until you see the grain split and all the water has been absorbed. Leave to cool.
Put oil in a pan DO NOT preheat.
Slice all but one of the garlic cloves and put the burner on low.  Let the garlic slowly cook until it becomes slightly golden.  Remove, with the oil to a small dish and put it in the fridge to halt the cooking process.  DO NOT let it burn, it will be bitter and nasty.
Wash the kale well and shake dry (water will make the oil spit when sauteing).  Chop finely and cut away any tough stalks.
Spray or pour a little oil into a pan and heat.
Add the kale together with remaining garlic clove, finely chopped.
Saute for about 4 mins, until kale is slightly reduced and garlic cooked.
Season well.
Heat pan and drop in the almond flakes..toast until golden and making the kitchen smell like heaven.  Take them off heat and put them in small dish in the fridge to cool.

Now, lets assemble it all.
Grab the cooked quinoa and put in serving dish.
Add the garlic and the oil it danced in.  Spoon in the kale and the almonds.  Sprinkle in the cranberries or raisins (without steeping water). Grab a large salad utensil and mix ingredients.  Squeeze over lemon juice.  Check for seasoning.  Throw on some herb salad or arugula (rocket) leaves.

*Optional

I had some kale chips from Rhythm Superfoods in the cupboard, KOOL RANCH flavour so I crumbled a handful into the mix too.

SERVE!

My friend Veronica made some AWESOME aubergines (eggplant).  Simple and FULL of flavour. 

Recipe for aubergine (sorry but I prefer the name we Brits use for it…but yes, its eggplant)

• 1 aubergine
• 2 cloves of garlic (it was a night of garlic!)
• 2 tbsp of finely chopped flat leaf parsley
• S&P

Slice aubergine
Place on dish and salt…leave it to weep..poor little veggie.  This apparently stops it from soaking up too much oil but I think may be one of those things we do without questioning the validity of it, or perhaps not.
Grill or place on skillet and cook until soft and unctuous.
Remove to serving dish and add finely chopped  garlic, drizzle heartily with a good olive oil (Veronica used oil from her partner’s grove in Italy..now that’s decedent) and sprinkle over finely chopped parsley…season to taste.

EAT!

Asparagus in oil, lightly cooked on a skillet…I was too busy piling all the food on my plate at this point and chatting so forgot to take a picture.  Sorry!

Someone cheated with the final dish.  A colourful beet salad…bought from BI-RITE MARKET

Just roasted beets & carrots and vinaigrette.  Scrummy.

It was a feast.

We finished the evening with fresh pears and dried fruit poached in Marsala wine.  Again, alas too busy eating to photograph…….

Went home stuffed and a very contented bunny.