Backyard Bounty

Last week when we went down to Bozeman one of my must-stops was the Bozeman Food Co-op, a fabulous place for anyone who loves local, wholesale fare. After our trip to Amaltheia Dairy (I’ll give you the delightful details on that visit later), I was dying to try more of their fabulous goat milk cheeses and knew they carried a variety of them. But I also grabbed a small container of an orange quinoa salad just to give it a try.

Quinoa has been a recent fascination of mine. It’s a plant in the spinach family and orginates in South America in a climate very similar to ours. It likes arid conditions and doesn’t need a lot of fussing- perfect for this region. I’ll have to let you know how it is to harvest and dry it later in the season, but the more I learn how to use it the more excited I am to grow it.

This salad is super easy and perfect for summertime get-togethers:

1 cup quinoa – rinse it before cooking

2 cups chicken  broth or water

1/2 cup raisins, dried cranberries or dried cherries (heck any dried fruit would be yummy)

1/4 cup finely chopped celery (mine is very fine lately since it’s so young and small)

1/4 cup green onion, chopped

Juice of one orange (approximately 1/2 cup)

Zest of one orange

2 tsp. olive oil

2 T. honey (or to taste)

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. cumin

Salt to taste

~ To cook the quinoa, combine the quinoa and chicken broth in a medium sized uncovered saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn it down to simmer until all of the water is absorbed (approx. 15 minutes). Remove it from the heat and fluff with a fork.

~ In the meantime, mix the orange juice, olive oil and other ingredients in a separate bowl. Pour it over the quinoa and refrigerate for an hour before serving. Grab a fork and chow down.

Tags: quinoa, summer salads