A couple of days ago, I posted about the newest addition to my evolving pantry - pumpkin seed meal; and promised to post this recipe that uses it in place of traditional wheat-based breadcrumbs. Making this simple change is such an easy way to make something just a little healthier, and natural. A baby step, so to speak.
In truth, revolutionary changes I try to take on are less than successful – one of the many reasons my New Year’s Resolutions last about as long as a glass of champagne. I do much better with the gradual, evolutionary change of baby steps. It feels more natural, and organic with the rhythms of my life, while I take the time to slowly absorb the aspects of whatever I’m taking on to change. And time to discover things I can do to support the change I’m seeking.
It’s why we get engaged before getting married. We need to sit with that level of commitment we’re making to someone, with whom we will be sharing a life and possibly creating a family. We need time to absorb, and savor, the huge changes that are on the way.
So if you’re new to using pumpkin seed meal, this recipe is a great baby step for you to take while you think of other uses that are more dramatic.
Kale or Swiss chard can be easily substituted for the spinach. Although then it wouldn’t be Florentine. A quick food history note: the term Florentine comes from Catherine de Medici’s time in Paris in the 1500′s. She moved as a young girl from Florence, Italy to Paris to marry the man who was to become King of France. At that time Florence was far more an epicenter for food than Paris, so when Catherine left for Paris, she took her chefs and many of her beloved foods with her, including spinach. Most Parisians were unfamiliar with this new green, but soon embraced it and created spinach dishes of their own, calling them Florentine as a nod to their Queen.
Ingredients...
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 onion, finely diced
- 1/2 leek, sliced horizontally into thin slices
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 large russet potato, baked until soft
- 1/3 cup Gruyère cheese
- 1 cup baby spinach leaves
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 egg, whisked
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin seed meal
- Olive oil
- 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- Squeeze of lemon juice, to taste
- Salt, to taste
- Pinch cayenne (optional)
Making It...
- Spoon the baked potato out of the skins. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl until the egg is completely incorporated.
- Form small potato cakes.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and sauté the potato cakes until lightly browned, about 4 minutes per side. Serve over a salad, topped with the Mustard Yogurt Sauce.
- Whip together all the ingredients with a fork until completely blended. Chill until read to serve.
Cooking Notes...
Carbs: 23 grams; Protein: 7.5 grams. This dish is a good source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, phosphorus, and manganese. It's a very good source of Vitamin K. The Glycemic Load is estimated at 10. All of the nutrition information is from Self Nutrition Data website.
Such an original recipe – I wonder what would happen if I skipped the pumpkin meal and used flour, just because I have everything else on hand…
Thanks Liz! Any kind of breadcrumbs will do in this recipe. Pumpkin seed meal isn’t nearly as fine as flour, and flour could make it kind of gummy.
Oh my do these sound good. Love the mustard yogurt sauce with them, I don’t have the pumpkin seed meal so wondered the same as Liz about subbing flour. Maybe chickpea flour?
Thanks Suzanne! Chickpea flour could be a little fine (see my response to Liz’s question. I’d go with breadcrumbs to be sure. I hope you try these little guys. They’re really, really good.
Adding orange juice to the mix that’s a neat idea.
Thanks Norma! I find that it brings a nice hint of caramelized fruit to the cakes that I really like. I do this with a lot of other dishes too – especially since we’re still in citrus season.
This is a nice idea!I wonder why that never occurred to me… Thank you for the suggestion..
I hope you try it, California Callie! Thanks for stopping by.
Yum! Gruyere, quinoa, pumpkin seed flour?? Put my favorite things into a burger why don’t you? Making this with sweet potatoes tomorrow- thank you!
I hope you like it as much as we did!! Using sweet potatoes will be quite a bit healthier too
Thanks for stopping by, Heather.
Very interesting recipe. Thanks, I will try it soon…:)
Thanks so much Andrea! I hope like them as much as we have!
do you have any nutritional info on this dish? sounds very enticing!
I don’t, but you ask a really good question. I’ll post a great site to use for this. You insert the ingredients and ingredient amounts, hit the enter button and presto! You have all the nutritional information you could want. I’ve thought about doing it for all my recipes, but is a time consuming to do it every time. But I might reconsider that now.
I just redid the recipe and included a bunch of nutritional information on the dish! I hope that helps. Sorry for the delay in getting this to you!
thanks for finding the nutritional info! what a great website that is ( Self Nutrition Data website)!!! i will have to scout around there for a while!
sandyh
Great! I’ve searched through a few of them over the last few years, and I tend to like this one the best. I think they do a pretty good job on both a detail level and summarization. And they frequently update it for information. I’d put all my recipes through it but it’s a pretty laborious process. I’m always looking for good sites like this if you run into any others too.
Looks delicious, wondered if I could use sweet potatoes instead?
Absolutely! I think they would be great in this instead of the russets.
Thanks for replying…I’ll be sure to try it with sweet potatoes since my daughter prefers them over russets.
And frankly sweet potatoes are healthier. The yogurt sauce feels like it could still work, but I’d consider maybe a pinch of nutmeg in it instead of the cayenne. And maybe a little orange zest. I’m going to have to try these with sweet potatoes next
Would love to hear how they work for you.
How about almond flour? That’s a similar (ish) texture to bread crumbs and I imagine similar to pumpkin seed meal?
Almond flour is very similar in texture to the pumpkin seed meal, and is a great suggestion. We unfortunately are a nut-free family here with allergies, but I think it would work very well!
Hi, looks delicious — could you suggest something in place of the egg? Or perhaps try it without? Thanks!
The egg is the glue that holds them together, and it provides some moisture. It’s not so important in eating them, but in the saute/fry process, you don’t want them falling apart as you flip them. So I would suggest either 1) eliminating the egg, browning them on either side quickly in a saute pan, then transferring them to a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F; or 2) use a vegan egg substitute. Common substitutes are 1/4 cup applesauce, soy yogurt, or silken tofu; or 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds mixed with 2 -3 tablespoons warm water. Among these choices, the applesauce might be my last choice unless I change out the white potatoes for sweet potatoes. I haven’t actually made them this way, but it feels like to me that the other choices would work very well with the white potatoes. Or you could try it without the egg altogether and see what happens
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These sound great!
I wonder if these could also be baked?
I definitely think they could be baked. I haven’t done them this way I admit, and you might want to brown them first with a quick 1 – 2 minute saute on each side. Otherwise bake them at 400 degree F to get a good browning. You’ll notice I recommended 350 degree F oven to Colleen above. I recommended a lower temperature to her because she would be eliminating the egg that provides some moisture. If you keep the egg in, I’d move the heat up to 400.
Wonderful recipe! I am going to “Pin” it and definitely make it soon. I am a huge fun of quinoa but my husband cannot have eggs so I will try the egg-less version you mentioned above. Thank you.
What should the consistency of the patties be? Is the Spinach supposed to be chopped? I had a hard time getting the spinach to incorporate into the patties.
The consistency should not be too dry or crumbly. There should be some good moisture from the egg and from the steam of the cooked quinoa and potato. The egg and the potato should hold the patties together pretty well. I did not chop the spinach – it wilted from the warmth of the potato and cooked quinoa so that chopping wasn’t needed. Were your ingredients at room temperature by any chance?
The Wimpy Vegetarian recently posted..#SundaySupper #CookForJulia: Pissaladiére Niçoise – Vegetarian Style
These look absolutely amazing! Any way to combine quinoa and spinach is a win in my book. Two powerhouse ingredients – in a dish that would be perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I love it!
I’m hosting a Quinoa link up party on my site, Queen of Quinoa, and would love for you to enter this recipe if you’d like
The event is called Thank Goodness It’s Quinoa (TGIQ) and is hosted bi-weekly. You can visit this weekend’s here:
http://www.queenofquinoa.me/2013/01/thank-goodness-its-quinoa-tgiq-2/
Hope to see you there! And thanks for sharing this awesome recipe!