Herbed quinoa & zucchini

The early warm weather and ample rains this spring have led to another bounty summer at my CSA.  Plus this year for the first time I signed up for an herb share. Luckily this year also marks my household having 2 people instead of one – an extra mouth to feed is a good thing when swimming in produce!

But also, sadly this year saw the closing of my beloved local grocery store, Keyfood.  Sure I still have H-Mart a few blocks away or giant supermarkets Pathmark and Waldbaums a bit further, but none have the convenience or proximity Keyfood had.  Or the awesome staff I’d gotten to know over the 10 years I’ve lived in the ‘hood.

No grocery store means living off of stores of food and less last minute quick trips for fresh protein sources.  That’s ok, I have quinoa to last several meals; I stocked up on non-perishables during the 25% off sales during Keyfood’s last days.  It was bittersweet savings, but that didn’t stop me.

My herb share brought me two herbs I’d never had before, SummerySavory and Lemon Thyme.  I'd of course had regular thyme before though, and this wasn't too different, except the thyme had flowered, which made it lovely and aromatic… but geez what a hassle to pull the tiny little leaves off without getting any flowers.  The summer savory at least was easy – it looked and worked much like rosemary, although it certainly had its own distinctive flavor – almost sharp.

I set some quinoa going in the rice cooker in vegetable broth.  While it cooked I pulled herb leaves and put them in the food processor along with a handful of cilantro left from the week before.  I processed the herbs, along with some fresh cracked black pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and about 2 ounces of munster cheese.  On the other side of the kitchen I sliced up zucchini and cipollini onions (bulb and greens), and melted some butter in a large pan with olive oil.  I sautéed my zucchini and onion, with some Kosher salt and it was done just about the same time as my quinoa.  I folded the herb-cheese mixture into the grains, and there you go, dinner. 

I wondered a bit if my fiancé would mind a vegetarian meal, but decided to not make mention of it.  He didn’t either and just said it tasted great.