Quinoa for the King of Salmon

A couple of weeks ago, I posted one of the most challenging reader questions to date. What do you feed a multi-generational family where one person is on a gluten-free, dairy-free diet and another must eat low-GI foods but no root vegetables? Oh yes, lean pork, chicken or turkey only. No beef or high-fat luncheon meats. And not too spicy for the 7-year-old, either. The fallback meal revolved around fish so frequently Grandpa earned himself the title “King of Salmon”.

As usual, readers stepped up to the plate with some great suggestions.

• Brandislee pointed out two sites with low-spice, gluten-free, casein-free recipes. I’m not sure how low-GI their recipes are, but $5 Dinners and A Year of Crockpotting have economical meal solutions with no wheat or dairy. Mom might find these sites useful when GI isn’t a factor.
• Jill, aka One of the Woodside Joneses, believes she’s uncovered Grandpa’s identity. Only the King of Salmon knows for sure. Jill cleverly suggests a chili made with ground turkey or chicken. She even goes so far as to suggest, “Smash the kidney beans prior to adding, and the youngster will never know they’re in there.” To round out the meal, she suggests ladling the chili over low-GI brown rice.
• Peggasus, recommends chicken with beans, brown rice, barley or quinoa. She, too, is “thrown for a loop on no root vegetables”.
• Elizabeth Kricfalusi adds wild rice to the mix and a second vote for quionoa. To the grain base, she likes to “mix some sliced almonds and a favorite veggie — green beans, peas, chopped tomatoes — with it to change up the flavour.”

Since two people suggested quinoa, I thought I’d give it a try.

For those who aren’t familiar with quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah), it’s an ancient gluten-free grain that’s high in protein and fibre. I tried to pin down its GI rating, but the number swung between 35 and 53 depending upon the source. Either way, it gets the green light for low GI diets. Uncooked, it looks a little like a cross between couscous and sesame seeds.

Cooked, it looks like something out of sci-fri — fish eggs with wonky spirals. However, it has a pleasantly nutty taste and a lovely bit of crunch.

It also cooks up very much like rice, which makes it a natural substitute in casseroles, pilafs or paellas. Like this…

That’s the good news. The bad news? My quinoa paella looked pretty but tasted unremarkable. Not the fault of the quinoa. I just haven’t found the right spicing yet. So there’s no recipe.

With any luck, quinoa will open the door to family casseroles for our anonymous Grandpa. I know you can buy quinoa pasta, so maybe even a plate of spaghetti could make its way onto the menu? Hold the cheese, of course.

I’m still going to experiment with this grain, but in the meantime, does anyone have a good quinoa recipe they care to share? Or if you’ve tried the pasta, how does it compare to traditional semolina?