Hey there!
This week I want to change it up a little and delight you with some of my weeknight staples. There will be recipes of things I actually cook during a busy week, when I haven’t got hours and hours on hand to do all the chopping, soaking and waiting and everything I want after a long day is a fast and filling dinner. I am quite a aware of the fact that I could just chuck a frozen pizza into the oven or get some take-away food from the local Thai restaurant but since I love eating fresh food, well I am Fanny the foodie, so obviously I do, I also want my dinners to be delicious and rich in variety. So guess what, I am stuck with preparing my own food most days unless I want to splurge and eat out in one of my favourite restaurants, which usually doesn’t happen during the week. As I mentioned previously, there’s just not enough time.
What I always prepare, it doesn’t matter what else we’re having, is a salad. I usually use some kind of lettuce; avocado and whatever other vegetables we’ve got on hand. At this time of the year this would be fresh tomatoes from our own veggie garden. As for dressing I usually just use balsamic vinegar, balsamic cream, soy sauce, salt, pepper, lime juice and some vegetable stock dissolved in hot water. But you can really just use whatever dressing you like, this is just my personal preference. I guess preparing a salad doesn’t require a recipe; nevertheless I have got a little tip for you. I always mix the dressing and the vegetables about 30 minutes prior to serving it, so the veggies can really soak up the flavours of the dressing and develop their own juices. By adding the avocado you will also end up with an extremely creamy dressing, even though you didn’t add any mayo or such thing.
When salad is covered I usually go on to the next step and prepare the main course. The one I want to show you today is a super easy one-pot quinoa dish. This is such a simple recipe and it actually only requires a handful of ingredients. You’ll need some quinoa, obviously, a few potatoes, saffron, a little splash of white wine, an onion and a sprig or two of rosemary.
It already sounds easy, doesn’t it? I mean you can’t really do much chopping here, yes you have to chop up the onion, rosemary and potatoes, but that won’t take you any longer than 10 minutes. Then it’s basically only some stirring and waiting and you’re done.
I just find saffron and potato one of the best combinations on earth. They complement each other perfectly in whatever meal constellation they are prepared. I can still remember the first time I was delighted to taste this perfect couple.
A long day of skiing in Braunwald was finished, I was freezing and exhausted, but what I was served for dinner made me forget my sore muscles and warmed me up from the inside. Divine potato and saffron soup. I’m fairly sure the only ingredients were vegetable stock, potatoes, saffron and onions but it was honestly one of the best things I have ever eaten.
Now you’re probably wondering why I don’t just have potato soup, whenever I haven’t got much time on my hands. The thing is, you see, as you know if people don’t eat much meat they don’t always get enough protein, so since quinoa is rich in protein and also absolutely delicious I thought it would be the perfect companion for this perfect couple.
I wrote down a recipe for one person, since this is a meal I like to cook, whenever I am eating on my own. If you like to get more then one serving just double, triple or if you are catering for a whole family quadruple the recipe. Whatever floats you’re boat.
So there you go my one pot saffron- potato quinoa.
Ingredients:
- 50g quinoa
- 150g potatoes
- 1 sprig of rosemary
- 1 onion
- 2dl water
- half a glass of white wine
- a few saffron threads or a sachet of saffron
- salt
- olive oil
- Soak your saffron in some hot water. (If you really haven’t got time or are just extremely hungry, just use sachet of ground saffron)
- Rinse quinoa
- Dice your onion and potato and chop up your rosemary
- Heat up your olive oil and fry rosemary and onion over high heat
- When the onions are soft add the quinoa, soaked saffron, water, wine, water and the potato chunks, let it cook for 10 minutes
- After ten minutes let turn off the heat and let it stand with the lid covered for another five minutes
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Voila, delicious saffron quinoa. So easy but so good. I think this is such a great weeknight staple, by adding the potatoes and quinoa it really fills you up and accompanied by a bowl of salad it just makes the perfect week night meal.
Have a good week and try some of my easy recipes instead of going the easy way and having a frozen pizza, which honestly just can’t be that delicious.
Bisous
Fanny, the foodie
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