Bacon broccoli beans - and quinoa (fritters)

I was pleased to see this recipe for Fritters in the recent Donna Hay magazine. With virtuous quinoa, no less, so how can you go wrong? Slight discontent, however, when the relatively short recipe in the magazine ended up taking ages to make – because of the prior preparation, such as cooking the quinoa, mashing the beans and steaming the broccoli.

However, as chippies all know, you should measure twice and cut once. Or, to translate into cooking terminology, measuring and organising everything you need beforehand (I think it’s called mise en place) makes the actual cooking much easier and error-proof.

Of course, having a food blog that features recipes that you just have to photograph every step for, well, it pretty much doubles the time it takes to prepare dinner, but it does make you focus on all the ingredients and prepping and making sure that the final result is worthy of blogdom. Hmm, not sure about being worthy, but this recipe is okay, nonetheless.

Bacon, Broccoli, Bean and Quinoa Fritters

serves 4

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa

400g tinned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 small head of broccoli, florets removed

4 rashers bacon, chopped

1 egg, lightly beaten

¼ cup basil leaves, chopped

salt and pepper

1 tblsp olive oil

Method

1. Cook the quinoa in 1½ cups of boiling water for about 15 minutes, until the water is absorbed, then set aside to cool slightly.

2. Mash the cannellini beans in a bowl and set aside.

3. Steam or microwave the broccoli until just tender, then chop finely.

4. Heat a non-stick frying pan over high heat and cook the bacon until golden, about 5 minutes.

5. Place the cooked quinoa, mashed beans, broccoli, egg, bacon, basil and lots of salt and pepper in a large bowl and mix to combine. Take 2 tablespoons of the mixture and shape into fritters. Place onto a plate and refrigerate for 20 minutes to firm.

6. Heat the oil in the frying pan over medium heat and cook the fritters for 4 minutes on each side, until golden. Serve.

recipe adapted from Donna Hay magazine (issue 62)

Ingredients, including cannellini beans, quinoa, broccoli, bacon, egg and basil

The prepared ingredients are mixed together to form fritters.

Serve au naturel, or with corn relish or chutney