eatbensmeat

These things are honest to god fantastic. They don’t taste anything like a beef burger, they’re a patty made from quinoa and vegetables, but the flavor is amazing. And they can get a nice char on the outside that tastes great. I eat them with whipped goat cheese, which I’m going to punch up at a later date. They’re a great easy dinner.

A couple notes:

1. A 10 ounce jar of sun dried tomatoes in oil comes to about 3/4 of a cup of chopped tomatoes, when you drain the oil. The recipe calls for 1/2 a cup, but you should feel free to add more if you just want to use up the jar. It works just fine.
2. You need to heat your skillet for a really long time before you start making these; you want a really even heat over the whole pan, because otherwise the half near the center will be fully cooked and the other half will be raw. I make these in a cast iron skillet, but I need to let it preheat for 20 minutes before I can make them properly.
3. Don’t futz with them while they cook; if you pry them up too early, the charred skin on the outside won’t have had a chance to set, and you’ll lose a lot of it in the pan. If your pan is hot, you can check them after five minutes, and they should be set enough.

Ingredients

1/2 cup oil packed sun dried tomatoes, drained and chopped, with a few tablespoons of the oil reserved

6 scallions, chopped fine

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups vegetable stock (or water)

1 cup quinoa, washed

2 teaspoons table salt

2 slices white sandwich bread

1 egg plus one additional egg yolk, beaten

2 tablespoons lemon zest (for me this was the zest from three lemons)

1 tablespoon lemon juice (just squeeze it from the lemons)

2 ounces grated parmesan cheese (about a cup)

2 ounces baby spinach, chopped (about two cups)

Oil for frying the burgers

Directions

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large saucepan (one that you can put a lid on, because you’ll need to do that later), heat the tomato oil over medium heat until shimmering, then saute the scallions for a few minutes until soft. Add the garlic and fry until fragrant, no more than a minute, then add the quinoa, stock, and salt to the pan. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer on low for 20 minutes, then remove from the heat and leave covered for another ten minutes. After that, remove the lid and let it cool. It’ll go faster if you transfer it to a bowl to cool, but I don’t think it makes much of a difference.

Add the bread to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until crumbled. Add the egg and lemon zest, and pulse until it comes together, then move it to a mixing bowl with the parmesan, spinach, tomatoes, and lemon juice. Add your cooled quinoa to the bowl as well and mix thoroughly.

Form the mixture into eight patties (easiest to just make them into equal sized balls, then flatten them out) and put them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate for at least and hour and up to 24 hours.

When you’re ready to cook, heat a tablespoon of oil over medium high heat in a large nonstick or cast iron skillet until the oil is shimmering. Working in batches, add as many patties as you can to the oil (my skillet fits four at a time comfortably). Fry 5-7 minutes on a side, flipping once. They should have a decent char when the side is done; if not, they need more time, but once the pan was hot they seemed to take about 5 minutes per side. Place on a plate to cool, add another tablespoon of oil to the skillet, and do the next batch.

Eat them like you would a burger! I like them on a bun with fresh tomato slices, and cheese that has been whipped with garlic and chives.