Summerlazy Quinoa Risotto

I concocted this ridiculously quick Quisotto for lunch today as an alternative to the toil of risotto stirring. It's also lighter and less cheezy in flavour, making it the perfect light Summerlazy dish. Enjoy!

Ingredients
quinoa (cook 1 part quinoa to 1.5-2 parts water)
asparagus, wooded stems trimmed, broken into segments
(try with fresh summer peas too! I didn't have any)

Dress with
fresh mint and tarragon (a pinch or two of each, torn or snipped or chopped small)
parmesan, sprinkled lightly
a tiny splash of olive oil
a tiny squeeze of lemon

Directions
I threw my quinoa and asparagus (you could do this with the peas too) straight in the rice cooker with the 2 parts water (to 1 part quinoa), and a small corner of broth cube (sub a pinch of salt). You can also do it over the stove (covered) over med to med-low heat.

Dress this summer risotto lightly, the flavours are delicate- I overdid it with the mint - that fresh stuff overpowers!

(Learn from my mistake and throw the chopped mint into the just-cooked quinoa; toss till wilted. This will mellow the strong herby flavour. Good luck!).


my now flourishing tarragon and new favourite herb this summer

Cheer Up Thunderstorm Pasta

Heavy days, heavy rain.

On top of all that's been happening lately, I came home from work yesterday to find the afternoon thunderstorm had decimated my baby arugula in the garden.

The day before, the half ripe first strawberry I had been looking forward to snapping a picture of (and procrastinating bringing inside to protect!) had been snatched early by a crow. My first strawberry. Ever. Gone!

I half-heartedly took some photos of the damage yesterday but my heart just wasn't in it. How can you take a good picture when you're sad? So instead I'm going to show you how I cheered myself up today: With a Cheer Up Thunderstorm Pasta.

Years ago, my stepmother imparted to me the perfect summer pasta, which involves little more than fresh summer tomatoes and fresh basil tossed around a pan for a minute or two.

My tomato plants are still just flowering and my basil plants are the tiniest sprouts in the garden (we grew them from seed this year), but I did have a pile of overripe organic tomatoes I left too many days on the shelf, and several pots of other herbs we bought as plants from the garden centre a few weeks ago. Plus, my garden chives from B's mom were out of control and desperately needed a haircut.

Chives are such a great summer herb because they replace themselves to full height a day or two after cutting - they grow like grass - and because snipping a bunch of chives into a dish takes a fraction of the time it takes to dice garlic and gives the same flavour. Summer cooking is all about fresh food and optimum laziness for me, so chives are a great garden chum to have around.

Here's what I did:

1. Put my pasta water on to boil.

2. Went outside with a pair of kitchen scissors, grabbed the whole bunch of chives by the hair and snipped them to an inch above the soil. Then I carefully picked a mixed handful of leaves from my oregano, rosemary and cilantro pot (any mix of Italian herbs would be great). I threw them all on my chopping board and went at them with my mezzaluna (that half moon blade Nigella uses to chop herbs).

3. Diced my tomatoes with a sharp serated knife.

4. Heated the pan to med-high, threw in the tomatoes, a pinch of salt and a glug of olive oil. Threw on the herbs and tossed for about a couple minutes to allow the tomatoes to sweat a portion of their juices and simmer lightly with the herbs and seasonings.

5. Turned off the heat and tossed it a few more times till the flavour was even (You can give a toss here or there inbetween draining and plating the pasta).

6. Threw the sauce on the pasta and tossed with a little olive oil, some sea salt, fresh ground pepper and fresh parmesan.

A bit of sunshine on a rainy day. :)

Yum. Can't wait till my baby basil grows up.


<3 pamplemousse

Summer

A couple things that have made me happiest this summer:



1. Drinking club soda and lemon from market, mason, and jam jars (the grad student's Perrier).

2. The most romantic picnic ever:



I picked B up in Toronto on Monday at the tail end of my Ontario tour. He flew in from New Brunswick after traveling across Canada for a month(!) away.



This boy sure knows the way to my heart - he brought me fresh Malpeque oysters from his home coast for breakfast! We found a city park with a picnic table under a shady tree. The happiest morning of my summer, slurping oysters and grinning madly at one another.



Aw shucks, I have the cutest oyster shucker boy in the whole wide world. :)



:)