Crispy Cheesy Zucchini Quinoa Cakes

Spring is here and summer is around the corner and you know what that means, right? It means I am once again faced with an overabundance of beautiful zucchini and need to come up with lots of new ways to use it up. Enter these cute little babies. With Shavuot coming up I wanted to make something dairy but also light as I tend to eat lighter as the weather warms up. These are the perfect little bites of spring- hints of lemon and basil that I think go beautifully with zucchini, some Parmesan cheese because everything is better with cheese, and the exceptionally crispy crust made by crisped quinoa. Delish! Serve with some sour cream mixed with a little lemon and basil and you are good to go. Enjoy!

2 cups shredded zucchini (preferably the dark zucchini not the lighter squash)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup quinoa

1 cup vegetable stock or water

1 medium onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic

2 Tbl olive oil

1 tsp fresh lemon zest

2 Tbl minced fresh basil

1/2  tsp dried oregano

1 egg

1 cup bread crumbs (or up to 1/2 cup more as needed)

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

oil for shallow frying

Place the zucchini in a colander and sprinkle with the salt. Let the zucchini drain for about half an hour. Meanwhile, cook the quinoa in the vegetable stock or water- rinse the quinoa well, place in a small pot, pour in the water, season with salt and pepper, bring to a boil then lower to a simmer and cook about 15 minutes, until the water has been absorbed. Turn off the flame and keep the pot covered for another 5 minutes. Remove cover and fluff the quinoa with a fork.

In a frying pan (the same one you will use to fry the cakes) heat the 2 Tbl of olive oil and saute the onion and garlic.

Mix together the drained zucchini, quinoa and the rest of the ingredients. Season well with salt and pepper. Form mixture into cakes, pressing them together well so they won't fall apart and fry them in a little bit of oil until crispy on both sides.