Pan-Fried Flounder and Quinoa Cake

Quinoa is all the food rage nowadays. I’ve tried it a couple times and it’s okay, not that much different from rice. The blog Portuguese Girl Cooks has an awesome recipe for quinoa cakes. Now, I am really impressed. The cakes were simple to prepare, not messy, and came out looking like they are supposed to. They are very flavorful. I could make a batch of these and put them in my son’s lunch box this summer, they make a real firm cake, easy to eat with fingers, but moist inside. Yes, yes, I’m a fan. I served these with the Pan-Fried Flounder and it was a nice combination.

I made a half a batch for two of us. It made 5 or 6 patties. There was one left over.

Quinoa Cakes

This is the recipe for two people (Portuguese Girl has the doubled recipe . . . you should visit her blog):

Bring 1 cup of water to a boil and stir in 1/2 cup quinoa. Cover. Turn heat to very low and let simmer for 20 minutes. Cool before proceeding with recipe.

Stir in 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 2 Tbsp. parsley, 1 tsp. lemon zest, 1 clove minced garlic, dashes of salt, pepper, cayenne, 3 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese.

Beat 2 eggs with 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard. Stir egg mixture into quinoa mixture.

Form into patties and fry in a little olive oil on a skillet over medium heat until cakes turn a golden brown color.