We've been getting a bit bored with the same old meals (except for the homemade linguine with clam sauce, we still luuuuuuuurv that) so we've been trying to find some new recipes to try out in the Psmith Test Kitchen. This week we had two solid hits, one vegan and both vegetarian. I am sad to say I took no photos, but I can still share the recipes.

The first was
Crispy Baked Parmesan Green Bean Fries. This came from a co-worker of mine who says it's the only way they get their son to eat vegetables and they are indeed finger-lickin' good. Instead of parm we used Manchego, which is a Spanish sheep cheese that we've become ferociously addicted to, and we baked them for 20 minutes instead of the 10-15. We followed the suggestion of finishing them off with 2 min under the broiler. I have to say that they never did really get crispy, but the flavor was fabulous. I think you'd have to bake them for about 30 min to actually get them crispy/crunchy. Next time I would toss them with a tiny bit of olive oil so that the cheese and seasoning mix sticks to the beans better (that might also make them crisp up). Best part: those little crispy bits of cheese "lace" on the tinfoil after all the beans were gone :)

The second was a recipe Mr Psmith found: Sweet potato quinoa cakes with avocado-lime dressing. He doesn't often suggest recipes so I was determined to make them to encourage more such activity :) And WOW were they a knockout! I baked the sweet potatoes the night before (because AN HOUR IN THE OVEN OMG), but everything else was pretty quick to put together. The mixture is kind of like falafel, very soft when you pat them into shape and they don't change much when you bake them. I baked them 25 minutes because 10-15 really only warmed them through, then I finished them off with 2 min under the broiler. Even with the extra baking time they were still fairly soft when done, but soooooo yummy!! Next time I might try broiling for 2 min, then flipping them and broiling another 2 so the other side gets a bit more toasted; you could probably also fry them in a little olive oil as you can with falafel patties. Maybe if I'd made the quinoa the night before so it had a chance to cool/dry a bit they might have been firmer? The avocado-lime dressing was fantastic -- I didn't bother using a blender since the avocado was really ripe, just minced the cilantro really tiny and then mushed everything up together with a fork. Also I didn't have any tahini, so intead of 1 T olive oil I used 1 T toasted sesame oil.

Oh, and a note on quinoa: you've probably been cooking it wrong. You get much better results with a 1:1 quinoa/liquid ratio instead of the 2:1 that most packages tell you. Bring it to a boil, put a tight lid on it, turn it down to low, and let it sit for 20 min then fluff with a fork.

Also, why do they sell cilantro in such ENORMOUS bundles? What am I to do with all the rest of it?

And tomorrow our favorite restaurant is doing a vegetarian dinner with wine pairings, so instead of the usual Friday pizza we will have major foodie goodness!!