Indian Spiced Quinoa Patties with Farmer's Market Corn Medley (OMG: It's Raining!)

I wanted to write about these quinoa patties we'd had for over a week now. But the heat had stifled my writerly self to the point of such despair that I'd contemplated shunning "The Blog" for the remainder of the season until my heart and mind could once again muster the strength to put into words food stuff and my ramblings. Then I had that chocolate moment last week and that sort of broke the spell. Thank. God.

We have rain. Finally! And not just a teaser-rain. A real honest-to-goodness gully washer. Deep. Breath. Hubby and I are sitting out in the screened-in porch, and I'm a bit "chilly" so am wearing a sweatshirt! A. Sweatshirt. I am giddy with excitement! Now, I know better than to think this will last. So I pray. . . fall then winter. Fall then winter. My mantra for today and all days from here to eternity.   

Action shot: rain.

Action shot: hummingbird. How cool is that? (Okay it only took a hundred and fifty attempts, but still.) 

The recipe for this lovely little quinoa patty can be had from one of two places. First from a wonderful new cookbook by a blogger I'd not heard of prior to stumbling across his collection of recipes--in the grocery store of all places: Herbivoracious by Michael Natkin. The book is gorgeous in its own right--photos that are cook-inspiring and real--as he states in the introduction: he took the food photos himself. (Being a blogger and one who deals mostly in foodie things--I totally respect that). The recipes offer a spin on amazing veggie dishes, many an exotic flavor and spice included to tempt you to want to get in the kitchen and COOK! Or you can go to Heidi Swanson's version of the quinoa patties at 101cookbooks. Either recipe will put you on the right track. I gleaned inspiration from both for mine. Ultimately, I settled on frying my patties in my cast iron skillet. More and more, my 10" Lodge skillet is my go-to pan. In fact, were I to be stuck on a deserted island and could only take one thing from my kitchen, I'd grab that cast iron skillet in a nanosecond. (Right after I pocketed some chocolate.)

As for the corn ensemble, you can see for yourself what direction I went with. I had just come from the farmer's market and had six ears of corn. I used two of the ears for this stir-fry of sorts. I relied on cumin, coriander, some turmeric, onions, garlic, scallions, squash, red potatoes, jalapenos, fresh oregano and thyme--all with the intended purpose of pushing the corn dish in the Indian flavor direction as I had with the quinoa patties. It worked beautifully. I then topped it off with some sliced fresh tomatoes from my garden and whisked up a vegan mayo/horseradish/lemon sauce for drizzling over the top. So very yummy.

The forecast is for a return to 100 degree days for the next four days. Hard to believe as I sit here in the cool rain. Typical St. Louis. But grateful nonetheless for the break we've been granted today.