Quinoa Caprese

The Folk Singer goes gaga over the combination of tomato, fresh mozzarella, basil, and balsamic vinegar. So much so that she was forced to improvise beyond the traditional caprese salad to avoid the impending mutiny that I had been threatening after the sixth consecutive week of red, white, and green.

Folk lore has it that South Louisiana natives eat more rice than any other regional people save for those in the Far East. At the CBD branch of Blackened Out, we do our part by utitilizing the rice cooker we purchased from Hong Kong market a year ago. (More on this incredible appliance at a later date; let's just say that it was the best $20 we ever spent.) But man cannot live on rice alone, so we were glad to discover that the rice cooker does a bang up job with quinoa, an often overlooked grain which adds a nice diversity to our limited culinary repertoire.

Quinoa Caprese

• Ingredients
• Quinoa (1 cup)
• Fresh Mozzarella (1/2 lb)
• Grape or Cherry Tomatoes (1 pint)
• Basil (1 bunch)
• Balsamic Vinegar (1/2 cup)
• Directions
• Rinse quinoa in a strainer for 15 minutes.
• Place quinoa in rice cooker with a shade less than 2 cups of water.
• If using stovetop, bring water to a boil, add quinoa, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
• Remove quinoa from cooking vessel and fluff with a fork, then set aside to cool.
• Place balsamic vinegar in a saucepan on medium and reduce by half. Cool after reducing.
• Cut tomatoes in half (or quarter if tomatoes are larger) and cut mozzarella in a similar size.
• Chop basil.
• After all ingredients have cooled, throw them in a bowl and stir to combine.

Grill steak and serve quinoa salad on the side.