emergency tomato soup with quinoa patties

Back story: On Friday afternoon I went grocery shopping with a few people at Seward Co-op, making a point to pick up half a pound of cod from their seafood counter--supplied by Coastal Seafood (yay)! I would have liked to go to their store but I didn't want to make the extra trip... Anyway, I bought this lovely piece of fish with the intention of broiling it, making one of Bittman's salsa recipes to pile on top and eating with the leftover rice in my fridge.

That was the plan. We headed to someone's apartment right after shopping so I didn't get to drop my groceries off at home. When we got there, I stuck the fish in her fridge for (what was supposed to be) safekeeping. "Don't let me forget to take it when I leave!" I said.

Of course I forgot to take it when I left. I got ahold of her yesterday but she was going out of town for the night. She'd be back some time Sunday, she said, and I could swing by and pick it up then.

By noon today I hadn't heard from her and decided I needed an alternate plan. I didn't want to go out and buy anything. I had planned to use a can of tomatoes for the salsa, and from that an idea struck me: tomato soup. It can't be too complicated, Bittman must have a recipe. And I needed some comfort food to alleviate my frustration over the fish situation.

Turns out he does (page 58, softcover), and I had everything I needed in my kitchen to make it.

Veg stock, canned diced tomatoes, onion, carrot, thyme, olive oil, s&p

That's the vegetable stock I made the first week of class! It's come in handy a couple times already.

This is crazy easy to make. I don't know how my mother ever let the canned condensed stuff into our house. Onion, diced carrot, oil, and spices go on the stove, cook until soft, add tomatoes and stock, and cook down for 10 minutes or so to let the flavors come together.

It's pretty chunky, so I decided to food process it to get it to a more tomato soup-like consistency.

The ever faithful Cuisinart

I thought about making grilled cheese to go with it (so good), but all I have right now is pita bread which wouldn't lend itself well to that. I did, however, have a ton of quinoa sitting on my dry shelf. My other most-used cookbook has a good recipe for quinoa patties so I threw a batch of those together too.

Best food ever

Eggs, quinoa, parm, onion, salt, rosemary, garlic 

Cooked quinoa gets combined with eggs, a pinch of salt and grated parmesan--note the block rather than pre-shredded. It's way more delicious! And I know if you buy the semi-fancy Belgioso brand (found at Rainbow... nothing crazy) it's the same price per ounce.

I'm not a big fan of raw onion, so I cooked it with the garlic on the stove before adding them, even though her recipe says to just throw them in as is. I also substituted fresh rosemary for the chives in the recipe because that's what I had.

Then--looking at the bottom of the recipe--I realized I didn't have any breadcrumbs. And without a toaster, no good way to make any. I went through my dry foods one more time to find a potential substitute, and I decided to try using oats.

I put them in the food processor to grind them, and that actually worked really well. They stay a little grainy, but I was trying to replicate bread crumbs so that was perfect.

Add "bread crumbs" to the rest of the ingredients, mix, and form patties on a baking sheet. I like to pop them in the oven for 20 minutes or so instead of frying them as she suggests. As you can see, they turn out nice and brown and crispy anyway!

I grabbed one of the patties, tossed a little white cheddar in my bowl of tomato soup, and added some greens on the side with a tahini-miso dressing I made last week (Jenny inspired me!). I ate this like an hour ago. It was wonderful, and I'm actually kind of glad the fish didn't make it back with me.

RECIPE
Little Quinoa Patties (Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson, page 121)
Makes 12

2 1/2 cups cooked quinoa, room temp
4 large eggs, beaten
1/2 t salt
1/3 c fresh chopped chives (I replaced with about 1 t fresh chopped rosemary)
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/3 grated parmesan or gruyere cheese
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 c whole grain bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine quinoa, eggs, and salt in a bowl. Add chives (rosemary), onion, cheese, and garlic. Add the bread crumbs, stir, and let sit for a a few minutes so the crumbs can absorb some of the moisture.

Form the mixture into patties and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake 7-10 minutes on each side until deeply browned.