My little brother is a mean, mean man. He’s a chef, working at the sort of locavore, casual-to-fine-dining restaurant that you know I love. The problem is that it’s 50 kilometres away and Sean sends me photos of what’s on the night’s menu, when he knows there’s no hope of me booking a car and heading out deep into the heart of the Fraser Valley. Like I said, mean.
If you don’t believe me, here’s one of the photos he sent me tonight.
Yes, that’s a perfect Caprese staring back at you. Sigh…
Luckily, we have a delicious, vegan soup on our own fresh sheet tonight, keeping me from becoming too morose. It’s flavoured with garam masala, ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes. It’s also meant to have barley in it, but we went gluten-free and used quinoa instead. It’s the sort of meal Kevin has been working toward, as he eats vegetarian or vegan most of the time now. There’s lots of protein in the quinoa and the soup itself is surprisingly hearty. Meatless meals have always been a big part of my diet, but I might find myself crumbling some bacon on tomorrow’s leftovers, as my brother the chef suggested. Then again, I might not – this soup doesn’t really need it.
Judge for yourself. You can find the recipe here, along with interviews with three of our most lovely Doristas.
And you can find out what everyone else thought of this week’s recipe here.
One Wet Foot 
Oh this is a great idea to add quinoa – brilliant! Also, I think we need Chef Sean to cater a Dorista meetup 😉
Thank you for the quinoa adaptation! Enjoyed your post!
Quinoa version sounds wonderful.. actually lighter for late Spring and late Summer… I will remember that. .. and your brother must torture you with the food photos… killer.
The quinoa sounds like a great substitution. I think I would have enjoyed that even though I’m not GF. I wish I had a sibling who could cook. My sister is on the opposite side of the spectrum than your brother. I guess I should be glad she doesn’t send me photos of whatever it is she is making.
Quinoa is a good sub for barley! I’ll have to suggest it to my bestie, who has recently had to go GF per her Dr. 🙂
This was a pretty good one, and *sigh*… miss a good caprese, “mean” Chef Sean indeed! ;P
Good idea to substitute with the quinoa, and that caprese salad looks absolutely
scrumptious.
Teresa, I have yet to cook with quinoa – I stared at it in my favorite health food store the other day and I noticed there were quite a few different kinds, including red quinoa – I must say that I am intrigued – so, all I have to do is buy some and prepare s.th. delicious with it. Your soup looks wonderful with that quinoa, the warm colors and lots of veg, perfect!
Have a great weekend!
Mmmmm… your soup looks incredible with the quinoa, Teresa! Great photos, too! Have a great weekend!
Thanks, Kathy! I hope you had a great weekend, too.
Your brother is mean. Great to know that this soup works well with quinoa too. BTW, I just tried making quinoa a new way last week: http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2014/03/18/how-to-cook-quinoa/ It was lighter and fluffier than it’s ever come out before.
Now I’ve met Mardi too. We had dinner together last night. She is lovely! So fun!
I’m going to have to check out that link – thanks!
So cool that you two got to meet. She really is lovely.
Ha….that is pretty mean. But your soup looks just as lovely as his caprese!
Thanks so much!
Quinoa is a great substitution and I wish I had thought of it since I have quinoa and had to go hunting for barley. Its not on the shelf at the supermarket here but we found it at the health food store. Did I miss a blog redesign? It looks really good Teresa. Your brother is mean and I hope you were mean right back, sending him a picture of your lovely soup!
Thanks, Guyla! I sent him a link to the post. 🙂
Mmmmm….I love quinoa! Great substitution. And, whoa, does that caprese salad look divine. I haven’t seen beautiful tomatoes like those since last summer!
Thanks, Liz! I’m looking forward to this year’s summer produce, too. Right now, it’s all about preparing the garden beds.
Your soup looks just the ticket for this crazy in-between-spring weather we are having 🙂 and how fun about your brother! That is one gorgeous plate.
It was very warming, especially after getting caught in a downpour while working on this year’s veggie garden!
He’s a real artist, isn’t he?
The sole purpose of brothers is to torture their sisters. It’s how we know they love us 🙂
I like the quinoa addition!
It’s true, isn’t it? It’s when they’re ignoring you that you know there’s a problem.
I like both quinoa and barley so either in this soup would work for me. Quinoa is a good thought for next time. I actually doubled the barley because I wanted the soup to be more substantial. Your bowl of the soup looks delicious. As does your bro’s Caprese. Yeah, mean. When I was at the farmer’s market this week-end, I bought some homemade mozzarella and tomatoes exactly the size of those in the picture. I have parsley on hand and a really good olive oil. Tomorrow for lunch, I am going to try to duplicate that picture. If it looks at all decent, I will send it to you. Fun, huh?
That sounds like a great idea, Mary! I’ll pass the photo on to Sean and let you know what he thinks. 🙂
I hope you sent a photo of your delicious soup back to your brother! What a great idea to use quinoa. Your soup looks so good!
We eat meatless meals 4-5 night a week, and I agree that this soup made an excellent meatless entree. The photo of the caprese has me drooling, though. I can hardly wait until tomatoes are back in season.