Harvest is well underway around our glorious State and with
that in mind, I welcome you to the first recipe in my series designed to celebrate
local WA products and producers.
This month, I’ve decided to focus on a product that I’ve had
my eye on for a while and now that I’ve mastered how to pronounce it, it’s the
perfect time to share.
Three Farmers Quinoa is exactly as the name suggests, a
brand of quinoa grown and packaged by three innovative WA farmers – Ashley
Wiese, Megan Gooding and Garren Knell.
The Three Farmers have spent years refining the growing
process of quinoa, injecting a burst of red into a landscape traditionally
dominated by paddocks of golden hues.
They’ve trailed different varieties to find the one best
suited to local conditions and to ensure what they were harvesting was a
premium product before releasing it to the wider market.
So what exactly is quinoa?
Well, firstly you say keen-wa – which is really important to
know if you’re going to boast about incorporating the gluten-free superfood
into your diet to your hipster mates, or order it in one of those ultra-cool,
bearded barista-type cafes with milk crates as chairs.
On top of being a trendy superfood, quinoa is actually a
seed rather than a grain and is packed with nutritional benefits (including
being high in protein, low GI, plenty of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory).
Being low GI also means it’s good for filling tummies, which
is a very handy attribute to have when you’re trying to feed three little lads
who always seem to be hungry. Always.
It’s also a versatile little number in the kitchen and can
weave its way into dishes both sweet and savoury, from breakfast right through
dinner.
I’ve tried it in various dishes and there are a range of
recipes on the Three Farmers Quinoa website, but my
favourite for this time of year has to be a roasted vegetable salad.
Change it up according to whatever you have on hand, but the
roasted garlic works well and not to boast, but I actually harvested the garlic
from my own garden (we’re an emerging River Cottage over here).
If you want to share a favourite locally grown or made
product with me, so I can give it a whirl in the Everyday Baker kitchen, please
do!
Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
1.5 cups quinoa
1 bulb of garlic
Variety of vegetables for roasting (I used mushrooms, red
onion, cherry tomatoes and capsicum)
150g soft fetta (Persian is great)
Half a broccoli
¼ cup pepitas
Fresh parsley and thyme
Dressing:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper, to taste
Method
Cook your quinoa according to the instructions on the packet,
allow to cool slightly and add to your salad bowl.
Pre-heat oven to 200C.
Roughly chop your vegetables and place on a tray lined with
baking paper (except the broccoli), drizzle with olive oil.
For the garlic, don’t bother pealing but chop the top off to
reveal the cloves and drizzle with olive oil. Place on the tray and bake for
about 30 minutes.
Chop and steam your broccoli. Add to the salad bowl with the
roasted vegetables and gently mix through.
Squeeze the cloves of garlic out of their skin and straight
into the salad, along with the chopped parsley, thyme and pepitas, tossing
gently to combine.
Crumble the fetta over the salad.
For the dressing, combine your ingredients and whisk to
combine before drizzling over the salad.
Add any meat if you desire, I added some sliced, roasted
chicken thighs which were sprinkled with some herbs and served as a main meal.
Enjoy!
