- Hey guys, this one is going out
to all of my vegetarian and vegan subscribers
that have been asking me for meatless entrees.
This one is a great one, it is perfect
for a summer dinner party.
It is my crispy quinoa cakes on top of a bed
of corn puree topped with roasted tomatoes
and toasted pine nuts.
It is a delicious dinner to serve in the summertime
and the best part is, most of it can be made in advance.
Let me show you how to put it together.
Now, the first thing we want to do
is prepare the corn puree, now this can be done
either the morning of or even the day before
and it's super simple, all you're gonna do
is place some olive oil in a pot.
To that you're gonna add half a cup of white onion
that's been diced, season with a little salt and pepper,
and then saute that up just until the onions
are soft and tender and translucent.
Then you're gonna add one garlic clove
that has been roughly chopped and just stir that up
and saute it for about a minute or so.
Then you're gonna add two cups of vegetable broth
and two and a half cups of frozen corn.
Then you can just let that simmer
until the corn is nice and cooked through
and then we're gonna take this mixture
and we're going to pour it in a blender
and puree it up, and at this point
you want to check it for seasoning
and add salt and pepper to taste.
And once you get it to where you like it,
then you can add some red pepper flakes.
I really like to put a little heat in this corn,
'cause I think it's a good counterbalance
to the smokiness of the quinoa cakes that we're gonna make,
but if you don't like spicy things
you can leave this part out.
There, and now your corn puree is ready to go.
So if you're doing this in advance,
put it in an airtight container, pop it in your fridge,
and all you have to do is reheat it
when it comes time to assemble.
I'm gonna show you how to do that in a second.
(peaceful music) So now for the quinoa cakes.
So in a large pot you're gonna add
two cups of vegetable broth and one cup of quinoa
and then you're just gonna let that boil
and once it does you can turn it down to a simmer
and cook it for about 15 minutes.
And once it's done you can fluff it up with a fork,
transfer it to a large bowl, then to the warm quinoa
you're going to add half a cup of shredded zucchini,
a half a cup of diced onion,
and then two tablespoons of finely shredded carrot.
I just take those little baby carrots
and run them across a Microplane, works perfectly.
And the reason I like to do this
while the quinoa's warm, is it'll start
to kind of cook the vegetables a little bit.
Not really cook them, but I guess
take their rawness out a bit.
And then we're also going to add two tablespoons
of freshly chopped parsley.
Now, to bind our quinoa cakes together
we are going to create what's known as a flax egg,
which is essentially just one tablespoon of ground flax seed
to 2.5 tablespoons of water
and because we're gonna need two flax eggs,
we're gonna do two tablespoons of the ground flax seed
and then five tablespoons of water.
You just wanna stir that up with a fork
and let it sit for about five minutes to thicken up.
Now, if you're not vegetarian or vegan and you eat eggs,
you could just use two eggs.
Then at this point, make sure your hands are clean,
and just go in there and toss this all up with your hands.
It's really kinda the best way to do it
to make sure that all these ingredients are combined.
At this point we're also gonna add one cup of flour,
two teaspoons of curry power, half a teaspoon of salt,
and some freshly ground pepper just to taste.
And then you can stir that all up.
So we're gonna take a half a cup measuring cup
and scoop out some of the mixture.
Then you can take that mixture and form a nice, flat patty
and then we are going to press this
into some panko bread crumbs
just to give them a nice crispy crunch on the top.
You wanna do that on both sides.
Then, in a large cast iron skillet
that's filled with about an inch of oil.
I find it's a good thing to have enough oil in there.
I'm just using olive oil to make sure
that they get nice and crispy and you're probably
just gonna go about three to four minutes on each side
just until those cakes are nice and golden brown.
Now, because this recipe feeds six people,
that's quite a large group to be frying quinoa cakes
while everybody's milling about,
so it might be better to do this in advance.
Put them on a cookie sheet and then pop them in your fridge.
Then all you have to do when you're ready to serve
is reheat them at 350 for about 15 minutes
until they get warmed through and crisp up.
OK, so your corn puree's ready to go,
your quinoa cakes have been fried.
Here's what you're gonna do the night of the party.
You want to begin by roasting your cherry tomatoes,
so this time of year you can find
those multi-color cherry tomatoes
which I think makes this dish really summery and beautiful.
You're gonna take about three pints,
drizzle with some olive oil, season with salt and pepper,
and put those in a 450 degree oven for about 10 minutes.
Then to toast the pine nuts you can go two different ways.
You can either pop them in a non-stick skillet
on your stove top and just toast them
until they're nice and golden brown and fragrant,
or during the last five minutes of the tomato roasting
you can take another cookie sheet
and put them on the bottom rack and let them toast
while your tomatoes are finished, either way.
So now the crescendo. (laughs)
This is how you're gonna put this all together.
I like to take a plate that has a little bit
of an indentation in the center
because that's gonna hold our corn puree.
Just so it creates like a nice pool
and you see the indentation kinda keeps it in place.
And then you're gonna place your quinoa cake
right in the center, then you're going to take
just a little bit of basil that has been thinly sliced
and just place that all around.
Then we're going to place our tomatoes on top
of the quinoa cake, see how pretty this is starting to look?
Very summery.
And then sprinkle with a little bit
of those toasted pine nuts and then to finish it off
from the parsley that you used to put in the quinoa cake,
just go in there and grab some of the leaves of the parsley.
You don't even have to do anything.
Mother nature has done it all for you. (chuckles)
Just pluck off a little leaf and pop it on top.
And there you have it, a beautiful vegan meal
that is perfect for summer entertaining.
You've got that crispy quinoa cake
mixed with the sweetness of the corn
and that fresh basil underneath,
and of course those savory, beautiful roasted tomatoes
and the crunchy pine nuts.
It is a flavor sensation, I promise.
I hope you guys give this one a try
and let me know what you think.
Be sure to subscribe for more quick and easy
summer recipes and I will see you back here next week
with another one, until then, bye.