Playing in the Kitchen

Today I decided to experiment to create a high protein vegetarian dish. I was inspired by the ending of an episode of Iron Chef America where one of the chefs created what she called Farro and Edamame Polpette. I searched for hours in vain for a similar recipe and finally had to resort to creating something myself, with a little guidance from Carluccio's Chef Guilio.

1/4 cup farro (spelt)
200 grams edamame (in their pods)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
olive oil
besan flour (chickpea flour)
1/2 egg, beaten (well, of course you have to beat the whole thing!)
salt and pepper to taste
sprig of rosemary, chopped (about 1/2 tbspn)
sprig of thyme, chopped (about 1/2 tbspn)
soy flour (for tossing)
Your favourite tomato pasta sauce
Grated parmesan

Heat some olive oil and cook the farro for about two minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups boiling water and simmer farro until cooked (about 30 minutes).

Boil some water and cook the edamame in their pods for about 2 minutes. Remove from the pods (and yes, you throw the pods away) and chop the edamame in a food processor.

Fry chopped onion, taking care not to brown it, then add the garlic and continue frying. Add rosemary and thyme.

Drain farro and mix in a bowl with chopped edamame and onion mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Add the egg and mix well, then add as much besan as you need to form a mixture that you can roll into about 8 small balls. You want the mixture to be firm but not too dry as it will fall apart. Toss the balls in soy flour.

Heat some more oil. Fry the polpette (okay, it's pretentious to use the Italian name, but I can't think what else to call them - balls, I guess), turning regularly, until brown and crisp on the outside.

Put balls in a baking dish, top with the tomato sauce and cover with grated parmesan. Bake for about 10-15 minutes in a moderate oven (180 degrees C, 350 degrees F for my American readers).

Enjoy.