Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Elegant Veggies

Dearest Jess,

This weekend was awesome. I'm so glad we got to have some time together even if it was short lived. I'm sorry we were not able to make it to the show that night. We had already picked up all the dinner stuff, and after the bachelorette I really have no money left until next payday. I hope you had fun!

While cleaning with Rachel on Saturday we came across a table stacked full of magazines. Lucky for us, we decided to take our lunch break at that very moment. I flipped through a few without much success of anything interesting until I fell upon the July 2011 issue of Chatelaine. On the cover was food! I flipped into the back where all the recipes are (wrongly) kept (they should be in the front in my opinion) and found a jackpot of summer treats. It always warms my heart when a recipe (or recipes) find you when you least expect it.

After you and I parted ways on Saturday, Jason and I gathered some groceries and got to work on the Quinoa-Veggie Burger that you and I had oggled over in the Jeep on the front page of said magazine. As we suspected, the grocer did not have any quinoa (the Bulk Barn is on the other side of town) so we substituted couscous. It worked so much better than I ever thought it would. I was expecting it to turn into a scramble like my falafels. Much to our surprise they stayed together on the pan, and onto our plates. They even held pretty well once we started cutting into them! I love it when recipes actually turn out the way they promise.

This 'burger' is placed on top of grilled portebello mushroom caps. Our grocer didn't have  full caps, but they did have sliced caps. We used these instead and they were pretty and yummy. We topped with spinach, tzatziki, and tomato. Make these!








Quinoa-Veggie Burger (Serves 4)

adapted from Chatelaine July 2011, pg 164

1/2 cup uncooked quionoa (about 2 cups cooked) (we used couscous)
1 tsp vegetable oil (we used olive oil)
1/2 227g pkg cremini mushrooms, coarsely grated (we used baby bellos)
1 cup coarsely grated zucchini
3/4 cup coarsely grated carrot
1 small shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 egg, beaten
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (we used 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper and some chili powder. We like heat!)

1. Cook quinoa (couscous) according to package directions. Transfer to a large bowl.
2. Heat a large, wide non-stick frying pan over medium. Add oil, then mushrooms, zucchini, carrot, shallot and garlic. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add to quinoa (couscous.) Stir in egg, cornstarch, salt and cayenne (and any 'extras' you want to add)
3. Heat the same non-stick frying pan over medium. Fimly press quinoa mixture into a 1/2 cup measuring cup. Turn and release into a pan. Genty press to shape into a patty about 4 inches wide. Repeat for all patties. Cook until golden and warmed through, about 4 minutes per side.

Tzatziki
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1 clove garlic, minced

Stir together

Grill or pan fry Portobello caps until tender.
Top mushroom caps with spinach and a patti. Top the patti with Tzatziki and a slice of tomato.

Eat with a knife and fork. Mmmmm. So tasty.


The wedding is this weekend. I can't wait to see you at the rehearsal.


I love you,
Sally

1 comment:

  1. ...and I love both you inspiring gals!....you fill my heart.

    Love Mom(Sandy)

    ReplyDelete