Recipe: Quinoa & Greens Pie

Quinoa and Greens Pie with Mashed Turnips and Beet Chips

Due to popular demand, below is the recipe for the Quinoa & Greens Pie from Vegetarian Times we made for an backyard meal with friends a few months ago, served here with mashed turnips and Mark Bittman’s beet chips (at least the ones that didn’t burn).

Greens and Quinoa Pie

• 1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
• 1 large bunch chicory (1 to 1 1/4 lb), cut into bite-sized pieces (bottom 1 1/2″ of hard stems removed) OR a big bunch of Random Greens (beet tops, turnip greens, cabbage, etc.)
• 1 head romaine lettuce, shredded
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 2 medium onions thinly sliced (2 cups)
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced (1/4 cup)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese, preferably Greek (1 oz.)
• 1/4 cup grated aged goat cheese or Swiss cheese (1 oz.)
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten

Place quinoa in small saucepan, and toast over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes, or until almost dry. Ad 1 cup water, and season with salt, f desired. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, covered, 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and transfer to large bowl.
Heat large pot over medium heat. Add chicory, and cook 3 to 5 minutes, or until wilted, stirring frequently or tossing with tongs. Add romaine, and wilt 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer greens to strainer, and squeeze out excess moisture. Transfer to cutting board, and chop into small pieces. Stir into quinoa.
Preheat oven to 350*. heat 1 Tbs. oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, and sauté 10 minutes, or until browned. Add cooked onions, green onions, dill, feta cheese, and goat cheese to quinoa mixture. Stir in eggs; season with salt and pepper, if desired.
Pour 1 Tbs. oil into 9″ pie pan, and place in oven. hat 5 minutes, or until oil is hot. swirl oil to coat bottom of pan, then spread quinoa mixture in pan with spatula. Bake 20 minutes. Drizzle pie with remaining 1 Tbs. oil, and bake 20 to 30 minutes more, or until golden brown.

Serves 6

Recipe: Beet Pizza

Obviously, I love pizza.  And I love beets, so why not combine the two?

Ingredients

• 2 beets (one golden, one red) cooked and diced (you can bake the beets a few days before, like I did)
• chiffonade of beet greens
• shredded mozzarella cheese
• crumbled feta cheese
• 1 t fresh rosemary, chopped
• local honey (from my mother-in-law’s neighbor in the Valley)
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• whole wheat pizza dough

Preheat your oven and stretch out your dough.  Top with the shredded mozzarella, then the beet greens, then the beets, then the feta, rosemary and shallots.  Drizzle a bit of honey over the whole thing (not too much) and pop into the oven.  So delicious!  Sweet, savory, salty, yum!

Recipe: Raw Beet Salad with Arugula and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Don’t have patience to cook your beets for an hour?  Here’s an easy solution.  The beets definitely take on a different flavor, and stay very crunchy, but their good raw, not like raw potatoes, more like raw celeriac.

Ingredients

• 2 beets (1 golden, 1 red) thinly sliced on a mandolin
• small handful mint, chopped
• a few T chives, chopped
• 3 T white wine vinegar
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 1 bunch arugula, including flowers
• good olive oil
• feta

Combine the shallot and vinegar in a large bowl and let marinate for about 10 minutes, to cut the edge of the shallot.  Add the mint and chives and stir to combine with a pinch of salt.  Then add the thinly sliced golden beets and let marinate for about 5 minutes.  Remove the beets and arrange on a plate, reserving the liquid.  Add the red beets to the vinegar and let marinate for 5 minutes.  This will turn the vinegar red.  Artfully arrange the red beets on the plate with the yellow ones.  Drizzle some olive oil on the beets on the plates.  Add more olive oil to the remaining vinegar in the large bowl.  Add the arugula, some S&P and toss.  Plate the arugula in the middle of the beets.  Scatter feta on top of everything.  Garnish with grilled cheese sandwiches.