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When I made the spice-crusted lamb, I mentioned the grape-almond port sauce from the Sunday Suppers winter dinner. I love being surprised by things, and the grapes in the sauce definitely did that for me. And I left that dinner wanting to make it again.
Only the next time I made lamb, I couldn’t give up my mint. So I switched the sauce to a side and was equally happy with the result.
We didn’t have port on hand, and I am not sure if I would have used it in the rice regardless, but wine we do have and I figured it would amp up the rice … it works great it risottos. I subbed half the water (or stock) that I normally use in rice for red wine, giving the grain a vivid color and bright taste.
Another day, another snow storm.
Seriously, I never knew winter could last thing long. I know there are plenty of places that are much, much colder with much harsher weather, but this is enough for me. Particularly when I step onto what I think is the sidewalk, but is really a foot deep puddle of snow and sludge.
I dream of sunshine and tea parties and some asparagus! Oh, and tomatoes, notfromacan but honesttogoodness real tomatoes that.grow.on.a.vine. Who knew these would become my dreams.
But we aren’t quite there yet…
I like to make a big grain salad to have on hand for lunch during the week. They pack well, keep well and well, make me feel better than most other things I would come up with for lunch.
Quinoa is a fave of mine, and I often change up the veggies, but keep the dressing the same – some version of a vinaigrette to flavor it all. So when Heidi reposted this double broccoli quinoa on 101 cookbooks this week, I couldn’t wait to give it a try.
Especially when it packs a little punch with chile oil. The heat is important against all the other good-for-you stuff.
I am a big fan of pestos, especially non-basil ones, and so the thought of a broccoli pesto was right up my alley.
I changed it slightly from Heidi’s and a traditional one, as I omitted the parmesan. Shocking that I left out the cheese, but I figured it wouldn’t really be missed – and I was right. Plus, then I could amp up with more feta at the end.
I knew it was too good to be true – the sun didn’t last long at all. Back to cold and rainy. How do people do this regularly? Well, the only good side of all this grey is that warm, hearty food is perfectly acceptable in this weather. Scratch that, it is required.
That being said, I wasn’t in the mood for any of our usual suspects or traditional hearty dishes. I wanted something that was both comforting but a bit light. Does that even make sense? Well, if it does, I think I came up with something that worked wonders!
For quinoa cakes
3 scant cups water*
1 1/2 cup quinoa
1 clove garlic, peeled but still whole
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 t. dried oregano
1/4 t. pepper
1/4 t. salt
zest of 1 lemon (depending on your zester, chop the zest so its finely minced)
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
For topping
1 1/2 pounds eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 1/4 t. salt, divided
1 small onion, chopped
1-2 cloves finely chopped garlic
1/2 t. dried oregano
1/2 carrot, peeled and finely grated
1/4 t. dried chili flakes
2 T. olive oil
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes with juice
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
Make quinoa cakes:
Rinse the quinoa in a fine-meshed strainer. Note – I find this to be the biggest pain that no one mentions!! The quinoa grains are so 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 backing 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.
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 the other orange inspiration, America’s favorite Italian chef. 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, with a spooning the ragu over the top. Sprinkle with pecorino or parmigano and parsley. Spoon over quinoa cakes, then sprinkle with remaining mozzarella.
Serves 4.
Additional notes:
** The original recipe included smoked mozzarella in the ragu. I think that would be awesome (or a good feta), but I wasn’t going to the store. This was simply going to be a “work with what you have” type dinner.
** The cakes were also excellent on day 2 – I didn’t cook them all up at night, since there are only 2 of us, and quickly fried a cake for lunch the next day, served with cold ragu and garlic-yogurt-garlic sauce.
** How great would these quinoa cakes be with eggs? Poached or fried – what a great substitution for hash-browns or even and english muffin for a healthier eggs benedict.
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!
