Red
and White Quinoa with Basil and Spring Vegetables Recipe
Merchant
Gourmet and Chef Alex Mackay
Merchant
Gourmet recently launched a brand new web site www.merchant-gourmet.com.
As well as an online store to enable you to easily order
Merchant Gourmet products a recipes section has been
created, into which video guides have being incorporated
from top chef Alex Mackay.
Merchant Gourmet was started by Mark Leatham in 1985.
He spent his time looking for the cream of the crop,
and talking about it to la crème de la crème.
Today, Merchant Gourmet now has over forty products
that you will find on the shelves of major supermarkets.
Mark is still looking for more, newer good stuff, and
working with their suppliers. The rest of the team spend
a lot of time cooking and tasting.
The range includes everything from Chestnuts to Porcini
Mushrooms, Sun Dried Tomatoes, and Balsamic Syrup. Merchant
Gourmet wants people to use them all the time, rather
than lose them in the back of the cupboard. The big
idea is that a bit of something special can elevate
your lunch or dinner. One ingredient makes all the difference,
if you will.
For written version of recipe please
scroll down page
Alex
Mackay . . . the Cook, the Teacher, the Writer and the
Father
Cooking
is everlasting, ever changing, magical fun. I cook all
the time, very often three times a day. I cook for work,
I cook to relax, I grow things that I want to cook and
I read about how best to cook them. And I really love
to talk and write about it.
Nearly
fifteen years ago Raymond Blanc called me in Bermuda
to ask me to come back to Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons
and run his Cookery School. That was the day I started
to become less of a chef and more of a cook.
These
days I'm learning to be a father as I write, appear
on television, run Delia Smith's Cookery Workshops at
Norwich City Football Club and spend as much time as
I can with the wonderful Kids Cookery School. And as
you can see I have also become the Merchant Gourmet
Cook.
I
write a monthly recipe feature for Sainsbury's Magazine.
I won The Guild of Food Writers Cookery Journalist of
the Year 2006 and was runner up in 2007 and 2008. My
book "Cooking in Provence" won the Gourmand
World Cookbook award for "Best Book on French Cuisine
in English" and was in a short list of three for
"Best First Book" at the Guild of Food Writers
Awards.
I
am a regular on Ready Steady Cook on BBC 2 and I have
featured on This Morning and Too Many Cooks on ITV.
I was a regular for five years on UKTV's Great Food
Live and made three thirteen part series for Carlton
Food Network.
My
cookery workshops at Norwich City Football Club with
Delia Smith are now going into their seventh year.
I
started working in restaurants completely by chance
after being asked to leave school in New Zealand at
fifteen. I washed dishes for a year before starting
an apprenticeship and then as soon as I finished I bought
a one-way ticket to France. I spent nearly three years
working in the kitchens of two starred Michelin restaurants
in Burgundy, Tours and Courchevel. After this I went
to work for my great friend and mentor Raymond Blanc.
I was promoted to Sous Chef after six months. I left
a year later to get a little rest in Bermuda where at
the age of twenty-three, I was runner up in Bermuda's
Chef of the Year Awards. It was then that RB called
to ask me to the come back to Le Manoir as Director
of L'École de Cuisine and Head of development
for Blanc Restaurants Ltd in charge of all its publishing
and consultancy activities.
This
time I spent three years at Le Manoir working on Projects
as varied as Raymond Blanc's books and food for Virgin
airlines. I then opened my own school, Le Baou d'Infer,
in Provence. It was soon placed in the world top ten
by the Sunday Times and Conde Nast Traveler as well
as being voted one of the Worlds Finest by House and
Garden Travel. The cookery school is now finished after
fulfilling its five-year plan and, apart from the first
year, always being fully booked.
My
projects these days are ever more varied, but food,
and people that want to learn about it are always at
the centre.
I
live in Oxford with my wife Jess and sons Jake and James.
Delia
Smith from her foreword to Alex Mackay's book Cooking
in Provence:
"Alex
Mackay is, first and foremost, a brilliant chef. Yet
at the same time he is much more than that. He has
a rare and special gift, which goes beyond simply
creating beautiful dishes. That gift is the ability
to teach, inspire and enthuse others who want to learn
how to cook."
Raymond Blanc from the booklet for Alex Mackay's
former Cookery School Le Baou d'Infer:
"I have watched Alex grow with great pride from
a fine chef into a fine teacher and listened with
pleasure to the many guests who have enjoyed his free
style of teaching and learnt so much in their time
with us. The sadness I feel as he leaves is overwhelmed
by the joy of seeing a pupil become a master."
RED
AND WHITE QUINOA WITH BASIL AND SPRING VEGETABLES RECIPE
This tasty and quick supper sings out that spring has
sprung. The quinoa is rich, delicious and satisfying
amongst the crisp and colourful vegetables. You can
vary the vegetables according to whatever is freshest
and best. Or, if you haven’t had time to shop,
you can make a lovely variation from your fridge and
freezer using larger quantities of the SunBlush and
frozen peas.
Ingredients
2 large carrots
1 pack of ready to eat Red and White Quinoa
100g mange tout, cut in half
200g peas (from the freezer)
25g (1 good knob) butter
8 SunBlush® Tomatoes, cut in half
75g cheddar, grated
1 small bunch (25-28g, typical supermarket size) of
basil, leaves only, sliced
Salt and black pepper
Method
Bring
a medium sized pan of lightly salted water to the
boil.
Peel
the carrots, cut them in half and slice them into
1cm slices. Put them in the water to boil for 5 minutes.
Next,
ladle 100ml of the carrot cooking water into a shallow
pan, add the Quinoa then warm through over a medium
heat.
If
necessary add a little more of the cooking water so
that the Quinoa is creamy in the way a risotto is.
Add
the mange tout and peas to the carrot pan, bring back
to the boil then boil for 2 minutes.
Strain
into a colander or sieve then return to the pan.
Add
the SunBlush® Tomatoes and half of the butter,
then sauté for 1 minute - this evaporates the
excess water and intensifies the flavour of the vegetables
To
finish, stir the remaining butter, cheese and basil
into the quinoa, add the vegetables, season to taste
then serve
Kids
Corner:
This is a great dish for children of all ages. For
my family, I make one and a half times the recipe.
I take out one of the portions before I add the salt
at the end, chop a small amount for my 1 year old
and my 3 year old eats the quinoa and vegetables as
they are. With a little water added this makes an
excellent puree for the tiny and toothless.
We used the Quinoa itself to mix with purees when
we were getting both boys onto more textured solids.
A good idea is to freeze a packet of quinoa in ice
cube trays, then you have pre-portioned amounts to
add to each meal with no waste.
Cooking
is everlasting, ever changing, magical fun. I cook all
the time, very often three times a day. I cook for work,
I cook to relax, I grow things that I want to cook and
I read about how best to cook them. And I really love
to talk and write about it. 
