Quinoa Balls in Bacon Basket on Cream – Savoy Cabbage

Put quinoa in a sieve and rinse with hot water, then drain. Heat the vegetable stock in a saucepan, add the quinoa and leave to swell on a low heat for about 15 minutes with the lid closed. Put the cooked quinoa in a bowl to cool.

Clean, wash and chop the onion and leek. Peel the carrots and grate finely. Peel and finely chop the garlic.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and sauté the onion cubes, add the carrots and leek and sauté briefly, about 5 minutes. Set aside and let cool.

Add the cooled leek and carrot mixture, an egg, the grated cheese, finely chopped parsley, salt and pepper to the quinoa and knead everything together well. Cover and let the quinoa mixture stand for about 30 minutes.

Shape the quinoa mixture into 8 small balls (the size of a tennis ball) with moistened hands. Wrap a slice of bacon around each ball, fold the lower side of the bacon downwards so that it forms a cup shape (photo 7). Place the quinoa balls in the bacon basket in a silicone muffin pan, with the closed side facing down (photo 8) and bake in the preheated oven at 160 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Clean and wash the sausage and cut into bite-sized pieces without the hard core. Peel the onion and cut into cubes.

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a saucepan and sauté the onion cubes until translucent. Add savoy cabbage and sauté at medium temperature. Pour the cream over the savoy cabbage, add the allspice grains, season with freshly grated nutmeg and cook covered for 5 minutes over a low heat until soft.

Add the crème fraîche to the savoy cabbage and simmer for another 3-5 minutes. Season the cream savoy cabbage with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

Remove the allspice grains from the cream savoy cabbage and distribute on preheated plates. Take the cooked quinoa balls in the bacon basket out of the muffin tin with the help of a spoon and place on the cream savoy cabbage. Garnish with parsley, lemon wedges or as you like.

The quinoa balls can be prepared without bacon baskets. Simply place the shaped balls on a lightly greased tray and bake for 15 minutes at 160 degrees until golden yellow. Prepared in this way, they are also a pleasure for vegetarians. They taste great cold and warm.

My experiment paid off. We think that the beautifully wrapped, healthy Inca grain goes well with juicy savoy cabbage. Have fun with the preparation and bon appetite!