Baller, Shot Caller

As promised, here are the arancini made from the quinoa salad/pilaf thing. They handsomely balanced two opposite poles of culinary compulsion: one the one hand, they’re quinoa, and on the other, they’re deep fried. Yin and yang, righteous and decadent, trendy and timeless. I contain multitudes, dude.

The only trick is that quinoa doesn’t cohere as well as rice, so you need to cook it on the wetter side the first time around, and compact it rather forcefully to make stable spheres. These each had a little nugget of Vermont cheddar inside, and got the customary roll in flour, beaten egg, and then panko before their dunking in hot oil until brown and crispy.

The sauce was tomato paste mixed with yogurt whey and a little sriracha, then cooked down until nice and thick and unified. The salad was selvetica arugula and wrinkled cress, both superbly peppery, tossed with a little oil and vinegar. It was impossible to argue with any part of this dinner.

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