Little Quinoa Patties

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin extra-virgin
• 4 large eggs beaten
• 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 0.3 cup gruyere cheese freshly grated
• 2.5 cups quinoa cooked at room temperature
• 0.5 teaspoon sea salt fine-grain
• 12 servings water 
• 1  onion white yellow finely chopped
• 1 cup bread crumbs whole plus more if needed
• 0.3 cup chives fresh finely chopped

Equipment

• bowl
• frying pan
• sauce pan
• wire rack
• spatula

Directions

1. Combine the quinoa, eggs, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the chives, onion, cheese, and garlic.
2. Add the bread crumbs, stir, and let sit for a few minutes so the crumbs can absorb some of the moisture. At this point, you should have a mixture you can easily form into twelve 1-inch/2.5cm thick patties. I err on the very moist side because it makes for a not-overly-dry patty, but you can add more bread crumbs, a bit at a time, to firm up the mixture, if need be. Conversely, a bit more beaten egg or water can be used to moisten the mixture.
3. Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-low heat, add 6 patties, if they'll fit with some room between each, cover, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, until the bottoms are deeply browned. Turn up the heat if there is no browning after 10 minutes and continue to cook until the patties are browned. Carefully flip the patties with a spatula and cook the second sides for 7 minutes, or until golden.
4. Remove from the skillet and cool on a wire rack while you cook the remaining patties. Alternatively, the quinoa mixture keeps nicely in the refrigerator for a few days; you can cook patties to order, if you prefer.
5. Combine 2 cups/12 oz/340 g of well-rinsed uncooked quinoa with 3 cups / 700 ml water and 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, decrease the heat, and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until the quinoa is tender and you can see the little quinoa curlicues.
6. Reprinted with permission from Super Natural Every Day: Well-loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen by Heidi Swason. Text and photographs copyright © 2011 by Heidi Swanson. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.Writer, photographer, and designer HEIDI SWANSON is the creator of 101 Cookbooks, the award-winning culinary blog and recipe journal. She is also the author of Cook 1.0 and Super Natural Cooking. Her work has appeared in Food & Wine, Saveur, Glamour, the Washington Post, Time, Fast Company, Utne Reader, and the Vegetarian Times, as well as on Salon.com and NPR.com. Heidi lives, cooks, and writes in San Francisco. Visit www.101cookbooks.com and www.heidiswanson.com.