How to Sound Pretentious at Your Next Potluck

Bring something with quinoa (keen-wah) in it! This filling, nutritious grain used to feed the Inca, and it's just recently burst onto the mainstream cooking scene. I'd describe it as a cross between couscous and barley, and I've yet to have it taste better than it does in this recipe for Quinoa with Charred Corn, Red Pepper and Feta.

Quinoa with Charred Corn, Red Pepper and Feta

Adapted from Rose Reisman's Quinoa with Charred Corn, Spinach and Red Bell Pepper (ctv.ca)

1 cup quinoa
2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
2-3 ears of corn
Olive oil for sauteeing
1 cup diced white onion
½ cup diced red bell pepper
2 tsp crushed fresh garlic
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp seeded minced jalapeño pepper
1/3 cup chopped green onion
1/3 cup chopped FRESH parsley (you can also use cilantro, but not everyone likes it)
2 oz crumbled light feta cheese
2 Tbsp olive oil
2-3 Tbsp lemon juice

Start by doing two things at once: in one pot, bring the quinoa and stock to a boil. Cover and simmer at medium-low for 15-20 minutes, just until the stock is absorbed. At the same time, in another pot, boil the ears of corn until they're bright yellow and tender enough to eat. Remove corn and quinoa from heat and set aside.

Chop up your other ingredients while you wait for the corn to cool. When it's cool enough to handle, use a serated knife to cut the kernels off of each ear. Some of them might stay clumped together, and I prefer it that way.

Brush a non-stick skillet with olive oil, and heat it up over medium heat. Sauté the corn for approximately 8 minutes, just until browned, stirring every few minutes (i.e., let it brown, but not burn). When most of the pieces have a touch of brown, caramelized goodness, remove from heat and set aside.

In another skillet, saute the diced onion, bell pepper, garlic, cumin and jalapeño pepper in a bit of olive oil until the onion softens and begins to brown--this might take 6-7 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Dump the now-somewhat-cooled quinoa into a LARGE serving bowl. Add the sauteed vegetables and corn, and stir in the green onion, parsley, olive oil, and lemon juice. Now, if you're serving this immediately, add the feta and go nuts. However, if you're saving it and taking it to a potluck, I recommend waiting and adding the cheese just before serving, or at least once the mixture has cooled. If you don't, the cheese tends to melt and get lost in the salad. I like it better when you can find huge chunks of feta, and I doubt I'm alone in feeling that way.

The resulting salad is colourful, delicious and really transportable--definitely potluck material. I wish I had a picture of it to share, but the stuff didn't last long enough to photograph. Instead, here's a picture of raw quinoa.