Thursday, April 26, 2012

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

12 comments:

  1. What a great way to prepare quinoa...love the addition of bacon (who does not?)and beans....and basil...so flavorful.
    Love the pictures Bel.
    Hope you are having a nice week :)

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  2. I hate it when I embark on a recipe only to realize there's an hour long chilling time or some other time-consuming step. One day I might even learn to read the recipe through BEFORE embarking on it. One day...

    I think this sounds super tasty!

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  3. I am a shocker when it comes to preperation for a cooking session. The result is I often end up in a mess and missing an ingredient. I have made it my mission to be more organised in the future! Anything that has bacon in it is "worthy" in my books!

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  4. I really need to get some quinoa! Those fritters look too good to miss!

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  5. Lol, I'm so unorganised it's not funny. Normally I'm missing an ingredient and I have to sub it with something quick - 50% of the time it turns out ok :P

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  6. Quinoa fritters has been on my list for so long. One day... promise.

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  7. hurrah! i recently purchased some quinoa but didn't know what to make with it, these fritters sound delicious!

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  8. Carol RomagnolliMay 1, 2012 at 6:51 PM

    Hi, when I got my Donna Hay this month I ran to make this recipe because I actually quite like quinoa. Altough I liked the flavour of the fritters, the texture was very intriguing for me because after pan frying, the fritters completetly felt apart, it was sooo crumbly, I could barely lift from the frying pan.
    Did you have the same results???
    Cheers, Carol

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  9. hi Carol - I didn't have any problems with these fritters, though quinoa is quite crumbly. Make sure to really squeeze the fritters when forming them, to make them stick together. I also left out the parmesan cheese that the recipe originally had, though I think cheese would be a binder anyway. And make sure the base is browned before turning them. Good luck with your next batch =)

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  10. Carol RomagnolliMay 2, 2012 at 5:38 PM

    Thanks so much. The flavour was yummy, I'll definetly try again

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  11. I can't believe it's...more fritters haha!

    But seriously, I love how you can make fritters bite-sized and they magically transform into chic party food.

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