quinoa with apples and walnuts
Apples apples apples, all through fall and winter. That’s all the fruit I’m getting. Honey-sweet gold supreme apples, loudly crisp Macoun apples, and my personal favorite: the winesap. New York Magazine has a feature on locally grown apple varieties found at the greenmarket (John and I are huge fans of visual aids like this… I think I squealed a little when I saw it). Though the descriptions probably won’t help you figure out which among these varieties you like, eating them will. And I’ve seen prices drop to something like $1 a pound in mid-winter.
My new thing this season is grain salads with apples and warm spices. Make a vinaigrette with shallots or red onion, whatever vinegar you’d like (I used apple cider vinegar), and oil. Spike it with a little bit of cinnamon (or garam masala even). Add cooked quinoa, chopped apples, dried cherries (or cranberries or raisins), toasted walnuts and/or pecans, and chopped parsley. Also good with a little yogurt in the dressing, and/or with wheatberries instead of quinoa.
