Sum Sum Summertime with Carpe Season

Hello Summertime!

To start things off in this Sum Sum Summertime series is Liz from Carpé Season. Liz and I ‘met’ through last December’s 25 Days of Cookies series and I’ve been hooked on her content ever since. Beautiful photography, wonderful writing and a collection of delicious recipes inspired by the foods of the season. She just had a beautiful baby boy but kindly agreed to join in the summer fun with a recipe I, for one, am looking forward to trying.

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Hi! I’m Liz from Carpe´ Season and am so glad to be a part of the Sum Sum Summertime Series. Carpe´ Season is all about eating seasonally, so summertime in Minnesota is time to celebrate after months of frozen vegetables and pitifully aging root cellar veggies all winter. Thanks, Amy, for asking me to be a part of this series!

Summer has always been my favorite season. I spent summers on the beach as a kid, taking swimming lessons in freezing cold lake water and running down the sand away from my little brother, who would fling seaweed at me. But I loved spending the majority of my days outside, loved the feeling of warm sand after hours of swimming and jumping off the pier, yelling every 10 seconds, “Hey, Mom….watch THIS jump!”

And now, I’m a teacher, so summer has its place at the top of my list for obvious reasons. The countdown to the last day of school begins with that first 70* day we have sometime in April, when I bust out my skirt and sandals and bravely bare my sickly white winter legs.

Now, as an adult who is mildly fanatical about eating seasonally, summer tops my list again, as week after week, more and more goodness shows up at the farmers market. This recipe for vegetable quinoa salad is the perfect way to use all those pretty summer veggies.

I love this recipe for two reasons:
1. You don’t even have to think about turning on your oven, which is the only way to do things when your window AC unit is struggling to compete with the rain-forest-like heat and humidity outside.
2. This salad is totally flexible – from making the dressing just the way you like it to using whatever produce you happen to find in your CSA box or the market that week. Peppers in season? Great use up a bushel. Zucchinis taking over your garden? This salad should be their final resting place. Add black beans for more protein. I’ve even toyed with the idea of throwing mango in here, but haven’t tried it yet!

This salad starts with quinoa – which is grainlike, but totally not a grain. Gluten-free friends, rejoice! It’s consistency, for those of you new to quinoa, is somewhere between rice and cous cous, and it deliciously takes on the flavors of everything around it.

Then, you add whatever veggies your summertime heart desires.

Finally, I made an Asian Peanut Vinaigrette dressing, loosely based on this recipe and inspired by my friend Mel’s version of this quinoa salad, which used an Asian peanut sauce from Trader Joe’s.

I’ve added some notes in the recipe about how wonderfully adaptable this salad is. Make it yours! Make it summery! Enjoy!Vegetable Quinoa Salad with Asian Peanut Vinaigrette

1 c. uncooked quinoa
App. 3 c. roughly chopped veggies (I used 1 bell pepper, 1/3 head broccoli, and 1 1/2 zucchinis)*
cilantro, roughly chopped, for garnish
Other optional additions: avocado, black beans
For the dressing:
3 tbsp. lime juice (may substitute lemon or orange) + a little more to taste
3 tbsp. seasoned rice vinegar
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. water
1 tbsp. sesame oil
2 (heaping) tbsp. creamy peanut butter (or more to taste)
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
red pepper flakes, to taste

Directions:
To cook the quinoa, add 2 c. of water and 1 c. of uncooked quinoa to a pot. Uncovered, bring to a rapid boil. Lower heat, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes or until water is absorbed and quinoa is soft but not mushy.

Roughly chop your vegetables. I left the bell pepper and broccoli raw for some crunch, but I sauteed the zucchinis in 1 tsp. olive oil over med-high heat for about 3 minutes: just enough to soften them but have them retain some texture.

For the dressing, place all ingredients in a tightly sealed container and shake vigorously until they are combined.

Place quinoa and veggies in a large bowl and stir. Pour the dressing over, a little at time, stirring, until you’re happy with the dressing/salad ratio. I used the entire jar of dressing.

When serving, garnish with cilantro and an extra squeeze of lime juice if desired.

This keeps well in the fridge for about 4-5 days.

*Veggie options: sugar snap peas, spinach, broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, kale, tomatoes, asparagus, bok choy, cauliflower, celery, eggplant (The zucchini, kale, asparagus, bok choy, and eggplant would benefit from being cooked a little first.)

**I’ve had this salad with all raw veggies, but also with grilled veggies. Both options are delicious. To grill your veggies, cut into large pieces, coat with olive oil, and either grill in a grill pan or straight on the grill, turning frequently, until slightly charred, softened, but still retaining shape and texture.

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Thanks Liz!