But Really, I Don't Wanna Win

Say you have four wacky ingredients, and a funny lady is holding a hypothetical gun to your head, daring you to make a tasty dish out of them. Say the four ingredients are quinoa, cashews, yogurt and “something baby.” Oh, yeah, baby, it's Paper Chef.
Think fast!
Hey, I can swing either way: sweet or savory. I’m less inclined to be sweet, but the recipe I posted yesterday for my Paper Chef entry, kinda on the sweet side, was simply the first thing that came to my – no, confession: Cranky’s – mind. (Well, he only thought of it. I "executed" it! Pardon the “gun” reference.)
But there was all that leftover cooked quinoa, and it began to look like so much Incan bulghur, sitting there on the plate.
In a flash of culture-clashing inventiveness (nah, I got the idea off the Internet), I decided to make this summery dish – because for reasons unexplained by intelligent design, I’ve still got all these summery ingredients growing on my patio.
I didn’t have enough tomatoes for a perfect balance, and I probably could have used more parsley, too. (Hey, it’s the middle of winter!) There was a cucumber in the fridge I probably ought to have peeled and diced and added…
But, even so, I liked the results very much. No, really, a LOT. Chewing on cooked quinoa is, I have to confess, addictive, and the flavors came together really well, especially with bites of arugula.
I smoothed out the tabbouleh with yogurt, because a tub of it was sitting right there in front of me on the kitchen counter after making the previous dish, and because the lady with the “gub” said I had to; ditto the cashews. I wanted to season some extra yogurt to drizzle over the tabbouleh, so I consulted (proudly, defiantly) Joy of Cooking, where I learned that allspice and black pepper were considered logical choices. Wow, the allspice was still on the counter from the previous recipe, too. Come to think of it, that lemon was still there, as well. But what to do for the “baby” ingredient? Simple. Baby tomatoes from the patio, plus baby leaves of parsley and mint.
Not baby enough? OK, how’s this: The arugula might have been baby arugula! But I didn’t card it, so I can’t say for sure.
Still unconvinced?
Then this is my final offer: I named it after baby-faced powerhouse D’Brickashaw Ferguson. If you don’t like it, take it up with him.

QUINOA TABBOULEH D’BRICKASHAW

1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped tomato
1/4 cup chopped cashews
1 tablespoon minced mint leaves
1 garlic clove, minced
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3 tablespoons plain whole-milk yogurt
Salt
Lettuce leaves (I used arugula)

Technique: Ha, technique? Way too fancy a word for this. Just stir everything but the lettuce leaves together in a bowl. Let the flavors mingle at room temperature for 10 minutes or so, while you go set up – oh, right, the tripod’s still set up from shooting the last recipe.
Decorate plates with lettuce leaves, and spoon portions of tabbouleh on top.
Drizzle the tabbouleh with some more plain yogurt which you have seasoned to taste with ground allspice and freshly ground black pepper.

Serves two or three as an appetizer.

Tagged with: Paper Chef