Quinoa, Grape and Nectarine Salad

This weekend we went away with the family to celebrate my Father in Law's 60th birthday. My job was to bring a salad to eat at a BBQ lunch.

Not knowing exactly what cooking facilities I'd have available and wanting something that I could easily transport all the bits and pieces, I thought I'd look for a sturdy sort of salad. As I happened to be flicking through the latest Coles catalogue, I came across this recipe.

In true eat quaff laugh form, I modified it a little bit to suit my tastes, but it turned out to be an absolute winner! Everyone loved it and there was only a small bit left over, which is always a good sign.

I cooked the quinoa before we left home and just took it away with us in a container. The grapes I cooked in the morning and left to cool in the fridge, so that they wouldn't make the rest of the salad soggy. I didn't use up all the dressing on my salad, but you could use it all if you like a lot of dressing. Otherwise, keep it in the fridge for another time.

This was a great BBQ salad, but would be perfect to take anywhere you need to bring a share plate. The flavours were very summery, so if you're going to make it, you'll need to do it soon while nectarines are still in season. The white nectarine gave it a beautiful floral sweetness. Yellow nectarines would probably be quite nice too, but try to hunt out the white ones if you can.

To make this salad into a bit more of a meal, toss through some cooked chicken or flaked salmon for a protein hit.

Delicious!

Quinoa, Grape And Nectarine Salad

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1 cup quinoa

3 cups red grapes, removed from stems

1/4 cup marsala

4 spring onions, washed and root end removed, thinly sliced white and inner green part

100g rocket

2 white nectarines, seeds removed and thinly sliced

80g Danish feta, chopped

1/4 cup toasted pinenuts

1/4 cup toasted macadamia nuts, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine oil and vinegar in a jar and season to taste. This is your dressing.

Bring a medium sized saucepan of water to the boil. Add quinoa and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until it is cooked. Remove from the heat and drain well. Set aside to cool.

Heat a drizzle of oil in a large frypan over medium heat. Add the grapes and toss for about 3 minutes, or until they start to soften.

Add the marsala to the hot pan and toss around to coat the grapes. Continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until the marsala has evaporated, but the mixture isn't too dry. Tip the grapes into a bowl and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, combine the quinoa, spring onions, rocket, grapes, feta, pinenuts and macadamias. Toss through half the dressing.

Add the nectarines and fold through carefully so they don't break up.

Season to taste and add a little bit more dressing if you think it needs it.

Enjoy!

Fancy Chicken And Salad

As well as being the first birthday of eat quaff laugh this week, I've also had my parents over to stay, so it's been a great chance to cook up some nice meals and open some lovely wines.

I picked up the recipe for last night's dinner years ago, and I've finally got around to making it.

The vincotto and orange glaze on the chicken was beautiful - slightly sweet, but with a hint of bitterness as well. Served with the rocket, feta, red grape and caramelised walnut salad, it was just delicious. I ended up only needed a very small amount of the glaze, so you could either make half the recipe, or put it in the fridge to use another time.

I think this recipe is definitely going to become my go-to dinner in summer. While the walnuts do take a bit more time to prepare, you can make them in advance. I didn't use up all of mine in the salad, as I thought it might make it too sweet, so now I have leftovers to make a fancy dessert. Never a bad thing!

For a more interesting salad to take to a BBQ or gathering, make the salad by itself, without the chicken. Much more interesting than potato salad or coleslaw. Instead of chicken, you could always use lamb or pork. Crispy skinned duck fillets would be fantastic too.

With the warmer weather on the way, now is the perfect time to try this for a weekend lunch or dinner.

Vincotto Chicken With Rocket, Grape and Caramelised Walnut Salad

Caramelised Walnuts

100g walnuts

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup water

Cover a baking tray with a sheet of baking paper.

Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan.

Stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved, then simmer over medium heat without stirring.

Watch the mixture carefully as it can easily turn from clear to burnt in the blink of an eye!

Remove from the heat when it turns golden brown, add the walnuts and stir to coat in the caramel.

Quickly pour the walnuts and caramel onto the baking tray and spread out into a single layer.

Allow to cool, then break into small pieces.

Glaze

1/2 cup vincotto

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1 1/2 Tbs honey

1 galric clove, finely chopped

1 tsp soy sauce (or to taste)

Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat.

Stir until the honey dissolves, then increase the heat and simmer for about 1 minute.

Taste and add extra soy sauce, if needed.

Dressing

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1/2 Tbs verjuice or white wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a small jar and shake to combine.

4 chicken breasts

3 cups of rocket leaves

1 medium bunch of red grapes, stems removed

100g soft feta (Danish is perfect), diced

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Using a meat mallet, beat the chicken into roughly 1 1/2cm thick pieces.

Place chicken on a baking tray and brush liberally with the glaze. Turn and brush the other side.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

During cooking, brush with the glaze another couple of times.

In a large bowl, combine rocket, grapes and feta.

Gently toss to combine with the dressing.

To serve, place salad on the plates, top with a handful of walnuts and one piece of chicken.

Enjoy!

And To Drink....

Last night we were a bit greedy and decided to open two bottles of wine. A bit fancy on a school night,  I know!

Mum and Dad live interstate, so I don't get the chance to see them very often, so opening good wine when they visit makes perfect sense. Champagne is obligatory for family dinners and what better bottle to open than a Champagne Jacquesson Cuvee no 735. This wine was based on fruit from 2007, so had a few years of extra complexity to it.

This Champagne was delicious! Yeasty and toasty with some acidity and lemony flavours. It wasn't overly heavy and was the perfect aperitif to have with some cheese before dinner. 

I could certainly drink a lot of this Champagne!

The second bottle we opened was a Turkey Flat limited release 5 month skin contact Roussanne. This wine was only released to the public last week and I managed to snap up three bottles, which were delivered yesterday. The fruit came from the Barossa Valley in South Australia.

Having 5 months skin contact, made this a lovely golden colour with beautiful stone fruit, honey and quince characteristics. There was still some acidity, but the overwhelming flavour was of being in an orchard at spring time. The sweetness perfectly complemented the glaze on the chicken, the caramelised walnuts and the salty feta.

This was a wonderful wine combination, that I hadn't even planned. I'm so glad I have another two bottles left to experiment with on another occasion.