quinoa, endive, celery and fruit salad, and I’m steaming

I rarely get upset but today I really am. The other day, as I was waiting in line at a supermarket cash register, I started perusing a magazine of gluten-free recipes published especially for the holiday season . When I saw they had one for gluten-free homemade phyllo leaves I decided to take a look. I was curious, because until I had come up with my own recipe, back in 2015, I had not found anything suitable on the net. Some people suggest using rice sheets as a substitute (sorry, not the same at all), others use ready flour mixes, (with the occasional additives, a no-no for my husband), but nobody, nobody has ever thought of using an egg white along with the flour and water. I gasped when on page 74 of the magazine I saw the exact same ingredients (including the essential egg white), the exact same measurements, and the exact same words as my recipe!

A coincidence ? Truly, I don’t believe it. I am angry because the whole point of my blog is to share freely with others who like us have to deal with food intolerance and yet long to eat tasty foods. I never intended it to help some business make money on my work, because it is work when I spend time thinking, trying, re-trying if things don’t come out right. Besides, whenever someone else was at the origin of my inspiration I always make a point of referring to the original author, out of respect and gratitude. Needless to say I put the magazine back on the rack. Anyway, the recipe in there does not mention the fact that these phyllo leaves (recipe in English here) can be frozen until needed, nor does it give the link to the video I made 2 years ago with my son’s help and that I really need to do over again: with time passing I have become more and more comfortable making my gluten-free phyllo leaves and would like to show you a « stress-less » version of me cooking (got stage fright the first time ; ha-ha).

Dear neighbor, I apologize for venting out my anger ; time now to proceed with today’s recipe, a salad so sweet in taste that I do not serve it when dessert is on the menu !

Ingredients (serves 4)

100 g de quinoa of your choice ; here mine was red and white

2 endives

2 to 3 celery stalks

1 or 2 pears

1 or 2 apples (Granny Smith is best, but not what I had at hand here)

1 pomegranate

dressing:

EITHER my white miso vinaigrette (found at the bottom of this post), OR:

3 TBSP freshly squeezed orange juice + 1.5 TBSP rice vinegar + 3 TBSP canola oil (chosen for its milder taste than olive oil) + sea salt, unrefined, to taste

How to:

1. Prepare dressing by mixing together orange juice, vinegar, oil and salt.

2. Wash and rinse quinoa thoroughly, strain and cook in a large volume of water until germs pops out. Strain and rinse in cold water before placing in a salad bowl.

3. Slice endives, dice celery stalks, wash fruit and cut in small pieces. Combine with quinoa, add dressing and mix well, allowing the flavors to blend.

4. Cut the pomegranate open, and extract as many red and juicy seeds as you like. Add to quinoa mix, toss, sit down, savor the salad « in full consciousness »… and forget about life’s little annoyances ! 

November 26 update:  I have also made a similar salad in the white miso vinaigrette, leaving out the quinoa, keeping the endives, an apple, the pomegranate seeds, and adding some germinated “alfalfa”.  A great way to start our meal! (see photo below)