Quinoa Cakes with Eggplant and Tomatoes

I had every intention to make these.  Don’t they look amazing?  I even bought the eggplants.  Granted, I was going to change the recipe a bit (not because one should do that with anything Smitten Kitchen, but because I like to do dinner a few nights a week meat free, and thought this could be a good one). Switch out the meat for quinoa and mushrooms.  But then a few days passed and the mushrooms went into an impromptu chicken dinner and the eggplants needed to be cooked.

Thank goodness for the internet!  Seriously – how many cookbook indexes did one have to claw through before when looking for inspiration for a particular ingredient?  No thank you!

I knew I wanted to used stay veggie only and I didn’t want to go to the store.  I thought about breading them and topping with a quick tomato sauce, but since I just did pork that way, I wanted something a little different.  Maybe just a sauce (like the one I ended up with) for pasta? – nah.

I kept thinking about the quinoa with the eggplant, since that was my original plan, and went searching online.  Oh how I love  epicurious – it often comes to my rescue, and particularly the avid commenters.  In the instance of any kinks in a recipe, they have already worked out the problems (in this case, the extra egg in for the cakes).

After that, it was just figuring out my adjustments to the ragu.  Cherry tomatoes – nope, but I did have a can of diced oragnic tomatoes and one fresh roma – that will work.  In fact, now I wouldn’t do it any other way, as the canned variety helped created a better sauce, as opposed to a warm “salsa” from just chopped veggies.  Nope on the peppers or cheese, but there is always parmigiano or percorino on hand around here.  Add carrot for a touch of natural sweet and chili flakes for a hint of heat and it would be just right.

Well, that wasn’t really all.  It was convincing Billy not to go get a cheesesteak once he heard dinner was going to be “Quinoa Cakes with Eggplant and Tomato Ragu.”  That was harder than rinsing the grains and keeping the cakes together.

I can happily say however that I did quite a victory dance later when the gent had seconds.  Ahhh, they sweet feeling of a dude, or this one anyway, happy with a quinoa dinner!

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Make quinoa cakes:

Rinse the quinoa in a fine-meshed strainer. NOTE – I find this to be the biggest pain that no one mentions whenever I make quinoa!! The quinoa grains are so teeny-tiny they either slip through or stay behind in the strainer. My fix is to line the strainer with a paper towel, and then once rinsed, I transfer the quinoa with the paper towel to the saucepan with water, and then just toss the paper towel. Its not perfect, but better than nothing.      DOUBLE NOTE – I think Viva paper towels are the best, so I can’t promise this would work with ones not so sturdy…

In a medium saucepan heat the quinoa and water until boiling (I throw in the garlic clove too for a hint of flavor. *If you want a richer base, you can substitute the water for chicken or veggie stock). Cover, reduce heat and simmer until water is absorbed and quinoa fluffs up, about 15 minutes. Quinoa is done when you can see the spiral germ in each grain, and it is tender but still with a bit of bite. Drain any extra water and transfer to a bowl to cool, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.

Stir in egg, oregano, salt, pepper and the zest of lemon to combine.

Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap and brush with oil (or a quick spritz of cooking spray). Using your hands, make quinoa balls, packing together firmly – about the size of large meatballs or a tennis ball?? – and then place on the baking sheet. (If you read the original recipe – the technique for this was so complicated I could hardly read it, let alone do it!)   Chill the cakes, uncovered, in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes, up to 1 hour.  Can also be chilled overnight, but if planning to go that route, they will need to be covered.

Make Ragu while quinoa cooks and chills:

Toss eggplant cubes with 1 teaspoon salt in a colander and drain 30 minutes. Squeeze handfuls of eggplant to extract liquid, then pat dry.

Heat a heavy bottomed pot or skillet to medium with oil. Add eggplant and onion, cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally as onions and eggplant begin to soften. Add garlic, carrots, chili flakes and oregano and continue cooking about 2 minutes (I don’t add these right away as they have a tendency to burn.) Also, the addition of the carrot is a trick from  America’s favorite Italian chef, he adds it to his basic tomato sauce – and now I do too. The carrots adds a bit of sweetness, which is a nice balance to the acid in tomatoes and the slight bitterness that eggplant can have.

Add the tomatoes with juice and the additional water, reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes until the ragu thickens nicely.

Cook quinoa cakes:

Preheat oven to 200°.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a heavy bottom skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Carefully add quinoa balls (I was able to fit 4) to the oil, gently flattening out with a spatula. Cook for about 5 minutes on the first side until golden. DO NOT turn them too early, and let them cook a minute longer than you think. It will help develop an even tastier crust and keep them together for the flip. Carefully turn the cakes and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes until crisp and golden, adding a touch more oil if you think necessary.

Transfer cooked cakes to baking sheet and place in oven to keep warm while you cook the remaining cakes.

To serve:

Plate two cakes per person, spooning the ragu over the top. Sprinkle with pecorino or parmigano and parsley.

Serves 4 as a main course, 8 as a side.