test kitchen
February 23rd, 2009 § Leave a Comment
My digital audio recorder got a test drive this evening in the kitchen. It’s a nifty little thing that my iPod nano plugs into and was easy enough to operate, capturing what we were doing both in voice and the chopsizzlestir of cooking sounds. Feeling healthy and lazy, we made grilled chicken with vegetable quinoa bowls. They’re in our tummies, and the audio’s in the editing room right now. Ha.
Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) is a grain that is boiled and fluffed in a similar fashion to couscous, but with a nuttier flavor and appealing texture, that I like even a little al dente.
We made this version using chicken stock, to add a savory layer of richness. Fresh zucchini was sliced length-wise down the center and grilled with spears of fennel of about the same thickness, to ensure even cooking. We just drizzled them with good extra virgin olive oil, plus a pinch of salt and a few turns of cracked pepper, before throwing them on. While they grilled, diced shallots were caramelized in a sautee pan and added to the eventually cooked quinoa.
- Nice grill marks meant it was time to pull the veg from the grill. We chopped nice large pieces to fold into the grain/shallot mixture and didn’t want them to turn to mush.
A little freshly-snipped chive and thyme from the pot outside, and voila. The gourmet in me sneered as some extra steamed veg jumped in for good measure.
