Olive Juice

I outdid myself tonight, y'all. After hitting up the gym I went to my mecca (Whole Foods) and did some damage. I've been craving kalamata olives ever since I had them for the first time a few weeks ago, so of course I bought a jar. Then I spotted the sundried tomatoes and my mind went wild. My mind and my tastebuds, actually. Too much money and an hour later, after what was supposed to be a quick trip to WF, I came home with the ingredients to make this perfect meal.



Mediterranean quinoa salad
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup quinoa, rinsed
- 1/2 cup water
- 6 sundried tomatoes, chopped
- 6 kalamata olives, pitted and halved
- 1 cup baby spinach, packed and lightly steamed
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 2 tsp kalamata olive liquid (can sub red wine vinegar)
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp oregano
- Pinch red peppa flake
- S&P
- Tofu feta (recipe to follow)

Instructions
- In a sauce pan, bring both water and quinoa to a boil, cover and turn down to a simmer for 25 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- In a bowl, combine quinoa, spinach, olives and sundried tomatoes.
- In a separate bowl, combine oil, kalamata olive liquid (or vinegar), garlic, shallot and oregano. Whisk and add to quinoa mixture. Season as necessary and top with tofu feta. Serve at room temperature. Enjoy! Note: Don't go too overboard with salt because the olives/olive liquid is quite salty.


Pre-feta




Tofu feta
Ingredients
- 1 serving (1/5 block) extra firm tofu, frozen and defrosted
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- S&P

Instructions
- Crumble tofu in a bowl, add remaining ingredients, stir and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

The scary part is that this actually tasted like feta. I highly recommend using frozen defrosted tofu because it adds the perfect feta-like texture; using fresh tofu would result in too soft of a "cheese". It totally put this dish over the top. Even just one serving of tofu makes a lot too - I used plenty tonight and still have some leftover.


On the side I had some adorable baby summer squash. I wanted to try a slightly new preparation, so I whole roasted them. The result was delicious; a nice crust formed on the outside but the inside was soft and sweet.

For these, all I did was coat them with 1 tsp olive oil, S&P and roasted them in a 425 degree oven until they were golden brown and soft to touch.

The complex flavors of this dish exploded in my mouth upon first bite; I was in heaven. The sweetness from the sundried tomatoes, saltiness of the olives and feta, sour bite of the dressing and fluffy, delicate quinoa resulted in a very happy Krystina. This is one of the best dishes I have ever made, if I do say so myself.