Beetroot quinoa with feta and tomatoes
Yummy and healthy dish
I can still remember the very first time I came upon Bea’s blog La Tartine Gourmande. I was awestruck to say the least. Those gorgeous airy photographs! Delicate, flowery and with a clear style. I was hooked. We’re literally talking years ago. It must have been 5 years ago, I think. I honestly don’t know. Do you know or remember that very first moment you saw a food blog and thought, wow, maybe that is something I should be doing too?
Why do people decide to start a food blog? To begin with there should be a clear interest in food, otherwise; what is the point but there are tens of thousands of people out there that have a strong love for food, but absolutely no inclination to start a food blog. Mine is not even that old. With a mere 3 years it’s a medium aged blog. A lot don’t survive past a year, a few make it to more then 5. But what is it, that makes you start a blog? Most of the people reading my blog are probably bloggers themselves and a lot of them I follow too. And I love it. I love to follow all your blogs (if only there was more time!) and I love to write in my own blog too.
Juicy tomatoes and pink quinoa
There is nothing more satisfying for me then to have a clear idea on what I want to make, shoot it and then write about it. Let’s face it; a food blog is not only about food. That would probably make it slightly boring. I made this and that and it tasted good, bad or ugly. No one is going to want to read that more then once. It’s always funny to notice that the posts I write that have nothing to do with food, are often the ones that get the most amount of comments or the most traffic. The funny stories that is. Or the ones that are deeply personal. It’s at those moments that the blogging community can be at it’s best, I think.
I think I’ve said it before but blogging has brought me so much! I’ve met so many wonderful people along the way, both in real life and through twitter and Facebook and obviously through the blog itself. People that are now part of my life and that I love dearly. How cool is that? So to everyone who thinks blogging is weird I would say; try it first (but with your heart and soul in it!) and then judge.
Coming back to Bea; I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her in person at Foodblogger Connect last year and while that was too brief and in a large group of people, I would have loved to chat a bit more with her. She seems to be the same person you ‘see’ online when you meet her. With that lovely French accent.
So naturally when I found out that she was going to make a book I just had to have it. And even though I think I had to wait for about two years to actually hold the book in my hands; it is here now. And it’s every bit as gorgeous as I had expected it to be. The photos are just gorgeous but the recipes. O the recipes are even better!
Juicy tomatoes and pink quinoa
So when I found out that Nurit from Family Friendly Food had the same book, we quickly agreed on both cooking something from the book and blogging about it. We haven’t shared which recipe we’ve cooked, so for both of us it’s a surprise..;) Nurit and I have done a similar thing a while back where we picked pancakes recipes from around the world and made blintzes, blinis and some other yummy pancakes in the process. So it’s fun virtually cooking together again!
You would want to buy this is you saw it right?
In the name of health I picked this gorgeous recipe. And guess what happens; I had beets in my veggie box this week so figured I’d roast those and then use these for the salad. So early this morning I wrapped them in aluminum foil and roasted them for a while. (1,5 hour as they were big) And guess what? Turns out they’re yellow beets! Now that was not what I wanted! This quinoa salad is so pretty because it’s pink. And yellow beetroots, ladies and gentleman, do not become pink. So I cheated a bit and bought a precooked beet at the supermarket this morning. Tsssk. I did still use the yellow one which is why the salad is not so pretty and pink as I wanted to, so I made up for it with the props used. 
The salad itself is absolutely delicious with the sweetness of the tomatoes and the salty feta. Yum! The book I can only recommend as I plan to cook much more from it and I know Nurit has already done loads of recipes and was enthusiastic over most, if not all!
You can read Nurit’s post here.
La Tartine Gourmande – Recipes for an inspired life
Beetroot and quinoa salad with feta
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons pinenuts
- 200g quinoa (uncooked)
- 475ml water
- seasalt
- 1 cooked beet (large, peeled and diced and make sure it's red)
- 100g cherry tomatoes
- 90g feta (crumbled)
- 1/4 piece red onion (finely chopped)
vinaigrette
- sea salt
- pepper
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon cilantro (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon chives (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon mint (chopped)
Directions:
| Toast the pinenuts in a frying pan over medium heat for 2 minutes or until lightly colored and fragrant, remove from the heat and set aside to cool. | |
| Rinse the quinoa under cold water and drain it in a colander. Add it to a pot and cover with the water or broth and a pinch of seasalt. Cook for about 12-15 minutes until most or all of the water is absorbed. Turn of the heat and let it stand for a further 5 minutes with the lid on. | |
| Transfer the quinoa to a bowl and fluff it up with a fork and make sure it cools down. Add the beet and toss gently. If you do not mistakingly have a yellow beet then your quinoa will turn lovely and pink. Add the tomatoes, onion and cheese. | |
| vinaigrette | |
| In a small bowl, combine the sea salt and pepper with the olive oil and lemon juice and whisk to combine. Stir in the herbs. Dress the salad with this vinaigrette and adjust the seasoning to your taste. Serve with the pinenuts | |
Note
It's funny that I only now find out that I totally forgot to add pinenuts. It was still very lovely. I left out the onion, as I don't particularly like raw onions but I used spring onions instead. I also used spring onions in place of the chives as I had those left in the fridge.
Recipe from La Tartine Gourmande
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Gorgeous, gorgeous shots, Simone! It was fun cooking “with you” again
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A beautiful salad and combination! Really mouthwatering.
Cheers,
Rosa
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Bea’s blog is definitely one of the most beautiful ones out there. I’ll keep my eye out for her book (even though I really have no more room for cookbooks). That salad looks awesome, both healthy and flavourful.
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Simone (junglefrog) — March 2nd, 2012 at 16:26
O but you have to have this one Valerie… Seriously.. I have no room for anymore books really but I just keep getting more. I do become a lot pickier but this is – to me – a must have!
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I agree, Bea was lovely when we met her. I haven’t got a copy of her book but I can imagine I am going to love it. She does have a very light style, which completely matches her persona. She really loves her work, too. A lovely recipe and I think you have done it justice – great styling! Here’s to food blogs and being perpetually inspired to write about and cook good food.
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Simone (junglefrog) — March 2nd, 2012 at 14:36
Amen to that!
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Gorgeous salad! Love the inviting colours!
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Simone (junglefrog) — March 2nd, 2012 at 14:34
Thanks Sylvia! I find it mmm maybe a bit too pink but nonetheless nice..
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Yay for us bloggers! I remember that one of the very first blogs I loved because of its photography was Helen’s http://www.tarteletteblog.com/. And then I started a journey that I don’t want to earn anytime soon. I still have so much to learn and that’s why I visit other food blogs (not as often as I’d like). I think we feed each other
Keep the good work, because you’re one of the best out there in the immense blogosphere
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It’s quite difficult for non-bloggers to understand what it means to have a blog, how addictive and part of life it can become, and just how much inspiration you can get from there (well, at least I do get so inspired). I think one of the first blogs I’ve discovered were Tartelette, Delicious Days and Pioneer Woman, that kind of inspired to start blogging, and it has been on of the best decisions I’ve taken!
Lovely styling of the photos! The salad looks trully inviting, but I have a forever ongoing love hate relationship with beet…
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I love how the beets give the quinoa a pale pink tinge. It’s so dainty, so feminine! Seems like the perfect dish for spring- Maybe an Easter or Passover party, even.
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Bea’s blog was the blog that inspired me to start one. Love her and I just ordered the book. You nailed her style right away. Not just healthy, but modern and delicious.
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I started out by roasting the beetroot, as well as the onion, and some cloves of garlic using the following recipe: http://www.juliegoodwin.com.au/recipe-roast-beetroot.html. Once it was finished cooking you’re actually left with a bit of the roasting juices, as well as the mushy roasted garlic, so I mixed this all into the vinaigrette which was the best thing I could’ve done!! You don’t mention how much lemon juice to add in your ingredients list, so I just added it according to taste (I like it tart). This recipe makes a pretty big batch, so to tonight’s leftovers I’m also going to add some steamed green beans; I think it’ll be a nice splash of colour amongst the pink/red.
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