Salmon Quinoa Patties with Lemon Tahini Sauce

I made these salmon patties for dinner on Friday night and they were really good!  You can easily make them after a long day at work, without having to spend much time in the kitchen.  One thing about the salmon.  It's canned.  I know that some folks hate canned salmon.  You are welcome to substitute nice smoked salmon but I live in Luanda, Angola and smoked salmon is 1. hard to find or 2. so expensive that it would probably be cheaper to fly out of the country to buy it.  So, I used canned salmon (that I order through Amazon).

Patties
1 1/2c cooked quinoa
12-15 oz canned salmon
1 1/2 tablespoon cilantro
 zest of one lemon
1/2t lemon pepper
Salt
2 eggs
oil for sauteeing

Sauce
Lemon-Tahini Sauce
1 1/2 Tablespoon tahini
2 large garlic cloves, pressed
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Juice of one lemon
⅓ cup extra virgin olive
1/2 teaspoon cumin

First, I prepared the sauce and then stuck in the fridge to chill while the patties came together.  Mix the tahini, garlic, salt, cumin, and juice together then whisk in the oil. Chill.

Gently combine all the ingredients (except the oil) for the patties together.  Depending on your salmon, you may need to add a little more quinoa to it to make the patties stay together.  Heat a skillet over med then carefully  add the patties (I had six patties but it depends how big/small you make them) and brown (about 5 minutes) then flip and repeat.

Top with sauce and enjoy!











OR (AND)

Serve for breakfast/brunch

I had leftovers the next morning for breakfast!  I topped a reheated (in the oven) salmon patty with an over-easy egg, sauce, tomato slice and avocado slice for an amazing twist on eggs benedict.

Spinach Quiche

For dinner Friday, I decided to make a nice vegetable quiche (Catholic = no meat on Fridays in our house).  I found a nice recipe for a spinach quiche on Smitten Kichen's page and played around with it a little and came up with my version - Spinach, caramelized onion and mushroom quiche.

For the crust, this recipe from Martha Stewart is super easy and it makes enough for two crusts which is great because you just freeze the other and have it on hand for the next quiche or pie or whatever.  If you hate the idea of making your own crust, you can always buy a pre-made crust (unless you live in Rio because I have definitely not seen them in the grocery stores here). I made the crust the day before and left in the freezer overnight.  I took it out in the morning and let it defrost in the fridge all day.

For the quiche, preheat the oven to 425.  Then, caramelize the onions and mushrooms.  This takes maybe 30-45 minutes because you want to do it at a low heat and give the onions time to get nice and brown and delicious.  You can always do this earlier in the day (or the day before) to save time.  Once the onions and mushrooms are almost done, throw in a minced garlic clove to add a little more deliciousness. Remove from heat and let cool a little.

Caramelizing the onions/mushrooms.  They aren't quite done here but getting close.

Next,  take the cream cheese and and beat until nice and fluffy.  Then add the eggs, one at a time and beat before adding the next egg.  After that add the half and half.  I couldn't find half and half here so I made it (half milk, half cream, duh).  Next add the onion/mushroom mix, drained spinach, cheese, green onions and salt and pepper.  Mix well and pour into the pie crust.  Bake until the top is nicely browned and the the filling is set (not jiggly). Let cool and rest for a few minutes.


1/2- 1 medium onion, chopped (I used 1/2 an onion but next time will use a whole one)
5 oz shiitake mushrooms, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 3-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup half and half
3 eggs
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 cup grated Gruyere
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
3 green onions, sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

I served this with a nice salad, fresh fruit (mango and papaya) and some extra Gruyere cheese chunks.