Tasty crispy little cakes I made yesterday with my friend Jani. She’s moving away this weekend, to which I can only say: Boo! But at least we had time to make one more good thing together!

Ingredients:

Quinoa Cakes:

• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• 2/3 cup grated fontina cheese
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour (I used gluten-free)
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• salt to taste

Aioli:

• 1/2 cup light mayonnaise
• 1 head of garlic, roasted (wrap a head of garlic and a bit of olive oil in some foil and chuck it in your toaster oven until it feels smooshy; when ready to use, peel off the outer layers, then squish the softened garlic cloves out of their outer layers)
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the quinoa cake ingredients except for the olive oil in a medium bowl and stir together well. Set aside for 5 minutes to come together.

There’s a tiny bit of red quinoa in with the white quinoa, just because. Totally not necessary/noticeable in the taste.

While you wait, combine all the aioli ingredients in your food processor and process until smooth.

Heat the oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Form golfball sized portions of the quinoa mixture into flattened patties, and cook approximately 5 minutes on each side.

The color of the quinoa on the top becomes a bit less bright when they’re ready to flip.

Remove the browned cakes to a piece of paper towel to blot any excess grease.

Serve with the aioli, and enjoy!

I think more cheese would have been nice, especially since they’re called “cheesy” quinoa cakes. They’re easy enough to make, and you can scarf enough of them, that I think you might as well make a double batch. The recipe makes enough aioli that you shouldn’t need to double that.

Cheesy Quinoa Cakes

From spoon fork bacon.

Quinoa Cakes:

• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• (at least) 2/3 cup grated fontina cheese
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• salt to taste

Aioli:

• 1/2 cup light mayonnaise
• 1 head of garlic, roasted
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the quinoa cake ingredients except for the olive oil in a medium bowl and stir together well. Set aside for 5 minutes to come together.

Combine all the aioli ingredients in your food processor and process until smooth.

Heat the oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Form golfball sized portions of the quinoa mixture into flattened patties, and cook approximately 5 minutes on each side. The color of the quinoa on the top becomes a bit less bright when they’re ready to flip. Remove to a piece of paper towel, then serve with the aioli.