Connecting Through Food - Sea Bass with Red Quinoa Salad

This past week, I was in Seattle to meet with my friend Rita Golden Gelman, the author of Tales of a Female Nomad, Living at Large in the World to talk about her non-profit organization Let's Get Global, celebrate her new anthology-cookbook Female Nomad and Friends, Breaking Free and Breaking Bread Around the World, and to attend her launch party and book signing.

While in town, my husband and I had the opportunity to see our dear and very precious friend Kimberly Lockard Ness not only at Rita's author event at Ravenna Third Place Books in Seattle, but Kimberly invited us to come to her home in Milton on Saturday afternoon for a late lunch on her sun-lit deck, as we were heading back south towards home.

Our time with Kimberly was absolutely delightful and lunch was fabulous - we were greatly blessed and nourished body, soul, and spirit! I asked Kimberly is she would be interested in writing something about our lunch together and share her recipes with us on my food blog.

Here are Kimberly's personal reflections and recipes for Sea Bass served with Quinoa Salad:

I’ve recently passed through a major surgery and am learning and seeking new, fresh and healthy foods to aid me in my recovery. I am focused on high protein and organic fare. My sweet friends from out of town (Lee Erickson and Cliff Bisch) invited me to join them at a book signing event in my city, where they would be attending. What an extraordinary event – so wonderful to meet old and new friends. A wonderful evening.

We planned a lunch at my house the next day, on their way out of town. I knew Lee was also focused on fresh, healthy, gluten free organic eating and I planned a sea bass and quinoa salad menu. I noticed at Trader Joe’s a new kind of quinoa that I’d never seen – Red Quinoa. And on the back of the box – this recipe!! So I take no credit, except that I added the organic greens and couldn’t find fresh corn to roast so I used a can of organic corn. All the ingredients I chose were organic. The recipe called for Cilantro Salad Dressing, which I couldn’t find so I chose a Tarragon Dijon Vinaigrette at QFC instead. It was really good.

The thing that makes food so wonderful is the hearts you get to experience along with it. I am always amazed and so very grateful when I participate in breaking bread with others and see how open communication and sharing of hearts is facilitated through eating. I believe there must be a spiritual restoration that happens in our hearts, as we corporately fill our bodies with wholeness and purity in all of its forms. Everything we do and say on this earth has the potential lead us into the presence of God, to mirror his design for our lives, and aid in fulfilling a purpose for His glory.

Sometimes it’s difficult to see it when you are in the middle of a dark season, but I often look behind me and see what He’s done in my life after it’s happened and more times than not, there was someone there alongside me enjoying a meal, a flower, a moment of time together with me. Glorious days, bright days await us and my story today with Black Beans and Red Quinoa is about how our dark days (those Black Beans) can pass through the blood of the Lamb (that Red Quinoa) to a brighter day with loved ones to share our experiences with on this journey.

Black Bean, Roasted Corn & Avocado Salad on a Bed of Red Quinoa and Greens

Ingredients:

1 cup red quinoa, cooked with broth
2 cups vegetable broth... See More
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained/rinsed
2 cups roasted corn kernels
1 avocado, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
½ cup red onion, diced
¾ cup Tarragon Dijon Vinaigrette Dressing (QFC)
½ bunch cilantro, chopped
¼ cup olive oil
Zest of 1 lime
Sea salt and pepper
2-3 cups organic greens of your choice

Directions:

Cook quinoa with broth according to package directions. While quinoa is cooking, combine beans, corn, avocado, tomatoes and onion. Top with salad dressing and toss gently. Add salt, pepper and lime zest to taste. Add ½ of cilantro and gently toss once more. Set aside.

When quinoa is cooked, toss with olive oil; add salt and pepper to tast. Set aside to cool. When read to serve, spread greens on serving platter, spread quinoa on top of greens, and top with corn and bean mixture. Garnish with remaining cilantro.

Serves 6 as a side dish.

I believe that Kimberly baked the Sea Bass in a 350-degree oven for 15-20 minutes. The fillets were baked in olive oil in au gratin dishes topped with a freshly ground lavender-pepper blend.

We LOVE you, Kimberly! Thank you for sharing your heart, your food and your home with us!

[If you also like to connect with others through food, Rita invites YOU to join her Female Nomad and Friends Global Dinner Party "Connecting Through Food" on June 18th, which will be taking place all over the world in our homes. For more information, go to Rita's website or her Facebook Female Nomad fan page.]