Lemon Sugar Cookies

A few weekends ago it was a fabulous day in Santiago, not simply because of the weather, though it was a fairly nice winter day, but because a day at the market produced the most wonderful results.  On a Saturday, I finally managed to make it out of the house at a reasonable hour, meaning there was time to go to La Vega Central, the huge fruit, vegetable, and all purpose market in the center of the city.

Hummus

Being in a new place like Santiago, here are a few of the things I’ve learned recently:

There’s not a lot of Middle Eastern food in Chile
1 cup of dried chickpeas produces a lot of cooked chickpeas
I’m willing to pay an obscene amount of money for tahini

Pastéis de Nata (Portuguese custard tarts)

Now that I’ve graduated, now that I have my diploma in hand and I’m in the workplace, I can admit to the world what I’ve already admitted to most of my friends. I used my final presentation for Portuguese as an excuse to bake.

Quinoa salad with avocado and lima beans

Don’t be afraid of the title. Lima beans can be tasty. And this recipe proves it. I love quinoa and all year in my co-op, I couldn’t understand why so few people in our house made it.  It’s healthy, it’s easy to make, and it’s a delicious base for so many different meals and side dishes.  As such, for my summer, El Comidista meal, with Summer Lasagna, Roasted carrots and cauliflower with orange, and Arroz con leche, I decided to make a tasty quinoa salad to round out my meal.  I’d had my eye on this recipe for some time, even though it contains those dreaded lima beans.  Rest assured, though, this quinoa comes out delicious and refreshing.

Quinoa salad with avocado and lima beans (adapted and translated from El Comidista)

Yield: Serves 4 people, almost a meal unto itself

Ingredients:  
400 gr. of quinoa
400 gr. of large lima beans (can be frozen)
1 avocado
200 gr. of radishes with their leaves
100 gr. of oak leaf lettuce
1 lemon
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
2 dried red peppers (optional)
Extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground salt and pepper

Directions:
1) Begin with the dressing. Using the blade of a knife, crush and peel the cloves of garlic. Mix them in a bowl with 8 tablespoons of olive oil, the cumin, crushed red peppers (for a bit of spice), salt and pepper. Set aside.
2) Prepare the quinoa according to the directions on the package. When it’s finished cooking, set aside and allow to cool.
3) While the quinoa cooks, boil the lima beans in heavily salted water for 4 minutes. Strain and rinse with cold water before using your hands to remove the grey skin that covers the beans. (I forgot to do this and the salad was still good)
4) Remove the leaves from the radishes. Choose the good leaves, wash and dry them, set aside. Then, wash the radishes well and cut them into small pieces.
5) Peel the lemon as seen in this video, and put it in the large bowl in which you plan to serve the salad. Add the avocado, peeled and cut into chunks, and coat it well in the lemon juice so it doesn’t turn brown.
6) Combine the lima beans, quinoa, radishes, radish leaves, and the the lettuce in the bowl with the avocado. Remove the crushed garlic from the vinagrette, pour over the salad, and mix. Salt to taste and serve immediately.