Beatlesque (Parmesan-Cauliflower Fritters)

When friends visit and offer to stay in your apartment you have two choices when it comes to food. It's either quick baby, hide the yoo-hoo, break out the Brownie Chocolate instead (like my wife did with the pizza) or we live as two kings (tomato tort). Recently, we lived as two kings, and I have regretted it ever since. It was the best recipe of the week and the third mouth to feed deprived my palette of additional opportunities to be tickled.

Recipe of the Week: Parmesan-Cauliflower Fritters (as seen in Veg Times, May 2008)
Printable Version

1/2 cup quinoa
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
8 oz cauliflower florets
2 Tbs. chopped Italian Parsley
2 Tbs. breadcrumbs
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
Tomato and Basil sauce warmed

1. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Heat saucepan over high heat. Add quinoa and cook 3 minutes, or until quinoa begins to pop, stirring constantly. Add one cup water and 1/2 tsp. salt. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 10 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Cool.

2.Meanwhile, cook cauliflower in boiling water 8 minutes, or until tender. Drain and break into small pieces.

3.Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees F. Mix quinoa, cauliflower, Parmesan, eggs, parsley, bread crumbs, and pepper in large bowl. Mixture will be moist and loose. Shape into 3-inch patties and arrange on baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes, or until fritters are golden brown. Serve with tomato-basil sauce.

Just a note. Any music that can be classified as Zeppelinesque has a 99.75% chance of being hated by me (I did like Given to Fly when it came out). If it is Beatlesque then the percentages increase slightly to 99.87% (although if the mash-up of Kanye West's Diamonds from Sierra Leone and the Beatles Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds doesn't count than the percentage becomes 100). Just thought I'd point that out, neither of those two bands (nor anyone who sounds like them) played while making this recipe.