(Recipe can be found on the site Spoon Fork Bacon here.)
Step by Step Instructions:
For the quinoa cakes, you just need the following: Olive Oil, Quinoa, Salt and Pepper, All-purpose flour, 2 green onions, Fontina cheese, and 1 egg.
To make this delicious aioli, here is what you need: Salt and Pepper, Mayonnaise (I used the reduced fat olive oil mayo), cayenne pepper, 1 head of garlic, and 1 lemon.
Begin by preheating the oven to 500 degrees. To roast your garlic, just remove all of the layers of skin for the garlic until you are just left with the cloves and the very outside skin of the cloves.
Then cut off the tops of the cloves to they are exposed. Drizzle some olive oil over the top and wrap the garlic tightly with foil. Roast it in the oven for about 25-30 minutes.
While the garlic is roasting, I went ahead and cooked the quinoa. Begin by rinsing your quinoa in a fine mesh strainer. I cooked 1 cup of quinoa and had enough for this recipe and for the second quinoa recipe I made that week (see my Lemon Blueberry Pancake post too!).
I brought about 2 cups of water and the quinoa to a boil and then cooked it according to the package directions by covering it and simmering it for about 20-23 minutes.
While the quinoa cooked, I thinly sliced my 2 green onions being careful not to cut into too much of the white part of the onions.
Then I lightly beat one egg in a small dish and set it aside.
Here is a great tip that I learned from Giada: If you are needing to grate some soft cheese, put it in the freezer for a few minutes, and it makes it much easier to grate without falling apart. I grated up about 2/3 cup of cheese…yum!
When the quinoa was done, I fluffed it with a fork and removed it from the heat to cool just a little. It’s such a cool/weird-looking food, isn’t it?!
I went ahead and zested my lemon at this point with my microplane grater for the aioli and set it aside.
Once my smoke detectors quieted down, I was able to take a look at my roasted garlic. It was so easy to roast! I let it cool for a few minutes and began assembling my quinoa cakes.
In a medium-sized bowl, I combined 2 cups of cooked quinoa, the fontina cheese I grated, 3 tablespoons of flour, the green onions I thinly sliced, the egg, 2 teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper, and salt to taste.
Once the mixture is combined let it sit for about 5 minutes.
At this point, I used the back of a knife to coax out the roasted garlic from the garlic head I roasted. Geez, it smelled so good!
In my food processor, I combined the mayo, roasted garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, cayenne, and salt and pepper…
…and processed it until it was nice and smooth. Then I put it in a small bowl and set it aside.
I heated a pan over medium heat and added about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Once the pan was hot, I measured 1/4 cup of the quinoa mixture and formed patties and began adding them to the pan.
Cook the cheesy quinoa cakes for 4-5 minutes on each side until they are a lovely golden brown. Then repeat with the remaining quinoa mixture until all of the cakes are cooked.
These cheesey quinoa cakes would make a fabulous appetizer served on a plate with the roasted garlic and lemon aioli. I couldn’t help myself and dove in. (They make a pretty great dinner too, in case you’re wondering!) The fontina cheese was all melty and delightful and the aioli really kicked up the flavor of the cakes several notches too. I definitely will be making these again!
Cheesy Quinoa Cakes with a Roasted Garlic and Lemon Aioli
Makes 10 to 12
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked quinoa
2/3 cup grated fontina cheese
3 tablespoo
ns all purpose flour
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste
aioli:
½ cup light mayonnaise
1 head of garlic, roasted
1 lemon, zested and juiced
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation Instructions:
1. For the cakes: Place all ingredients, except for the oil, into a mixing bowl and stir together until well combined. Season with salt and allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes.
2. Pour oil into a large sauté pan and place over medium heat.
3. Form ¼ cup patties with the quinoa mixture and place in the heated sauté pan. (this will have to be done in batches)
4. Cook quinoa cakes for about 5 minutes on each side. Repeat with the remaining patties until all of the cakes have been cooked. Set aside.
5. For the aioli: Place all ingredients into a food processor, season with salt and pepper and blend until smooth. Pour into a small bowl and serve alongside the warm quinoa cakes.
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