Table Talk » Eat Your Veggies in a Burger

My favorite veggie burger is an adaptation of Eating Well's Mediterranean Burgers. Their recipe uses millet, which is hard for me to find, so I adapted it to use quinoa, one of my favorite grains. I knew that these veggies burgers would appeal to some of my clients, so I streamlined the recipe to make it easier and faster to prepare. Except for using quinoa instead of millet, I didn't make many changes to the ingredients. Rather than pan-frying them, which is time-consuming, I bake them so that I can cook them all at the same time and not have to watch them carefully while they cook. The burgers are packed with the hearty, whole-grain goodness of quinoa, along with spinach, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, and feta cheese. A great way to eat your veggies.

These veggie burgers are served with Olive Ketchup. This yummy condiment is so easy and the perfect topping for these burgers.

In September, a client asked for these veggie burgers. They've requested them over and over again since they first tried them. These veggie burgers freeze very well. I vacuum seal the burgers and the olive ketchup separately and advise my clients to defrost, but not heat the olive ketchup. You can heat the burgers in the microwave, in a frying pan on the stovetop, or in the oven. Since the olive ketchup takes just a few minutes to make, you could make a small batch whenever you serve the burgers.

Grr, there is no photo today because I just discovered that I didn't have a memory card in my camera when I took pictures of the veggie burger. You can get an idea of what the veggie burgers look like by looking at the picture on the Eating Well site. I puree the spinach in my version, so my burgers are green throughout, not brown flecked with spinach. Note to self, always check to see if there is a memory card in the camera before you start taking pictures. The next time I make these I'll come back here and update this post with a photo.

Mediterranean Veggie Burgers with Olive Ketchup
Serves 8

Burgers:
3 cups cooked quinoa
1 onion, chopped
12 ounces baby spinach
4 cloves garlic
1 cup feta cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2/3 cup bread crumbs, to make these gluten-free, I use Gillian's Foods plain bread crumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup sun-dried tomato halves, finely chopped
salt and pepper -- to taste
nonstick aluminum foil
olive oil spray
Olive Ketchup:
1 cup pitted Kalamata olives
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
4 scallions, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 6-ounce can tomato paste

Position an oven rack in the top third of the oven and preheat oven to 450.

Add onion and half of the spinach to the food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. Transfer to a large bowl. Add remaining spinach, garlic, feta, and basil to food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. Add to bowl. Stir in bread crumbs, egg, sun-dried tomatoes, salt and pepper.

Place quinoa in food processor and pulse to chop lightly. Add to spinach mixture and mix well.

With dampened hands, form the mixture into 1/2-inch thick patties, using about 3/4 cup mixture for each.

Line a large baking sheet with nonstick foil. Spray with olive oil spray. Place patties on foil. Spray tops with olive oil spray.

Bake at 450 in the top third of the oven for 18 minutes. Use a spatula to flip the patties and bake for 15 minutes longer.

To make the Olive Ketchup: combine olives, parsley, scallions, garlic, oil, and vinegar in a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. Transfer to a small bowl and mix in tomato paste.

Notes: You can make vegan veggie burgers by omitting the feta cheese and egg. They will hold together well without the egg.

Posted December 21, 2007 1:16 PM in Gluten-Free, Recipes

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