Smoky Beet Burgers
On January 1, my sisters and mom texted our family chain asking what my word of the year would be. I’d loosely seen people talking about this idea online — the practice of choosing just one word to help guide your intentions and actions — but I hadn’t given it much thought. Didn’t really plan to, in fact; wasn’t even sure I found it that compelling, except… I knew immediately what my word was: pause. I recall in years past scheming up long, ambitious lists of things I wanted to tackle. But this year? No such list. Not that I don’t intend to do some tackling; I just want to carefully consider what those things might be.
A few of you may have seen my Instagram post last week in which I mentioned a book I’m reading, Designing Your Life. I’m generally a bit skeptical of books like this, but this one resonated as it talked about approaching your life as if it’s a problem to solve, much like designers approach a project — breaking it down first and then building it back up. If you’re feeling a bit stuck with work or fulfilling personal goals, I highly recommend it. I got to the exercise section of the book where authors Dave Evans and Bill Burnett encourage you to think about your life as a dashboard comprised of Health, Work, Play and Love. They have a visual that looks like the gas gauge in your car and ask you to shade the extent to which you feel each is full and satisfied. Work and Love are pretty self explanatory; Health is the physical but also the spiritual and emotional, and Play is something “just for the joy of it.”
I stopped cold when I came to that explanation. Something just for the joy of it! Imagine that! While I dutifully sat shading in my work gauge all the way full and my love gauge pretty darn full, I paused and realized my Play gauge was virtually empty. Well, that’s unsettling. My mom reminded me that sitting on the floor and reading to Oliver or chasing him around the house making lion noises fit squarely into my Play meter, which is certainly true. But most other things I could think of to possibly plunk into Play (yoga, hikes) had another end goal in mind (fitness, head-clearing); if I was honest with myself, they weren’t just for the joy of it.
So on this Monday afternoon, a bright wintry day when the snow is gleaming off the Olympics and there’s promise of leftover birthday cake at home, I’m reminding myself about my word this year. The word I didn’t really set out to choose, but that, as woo woo as it sounds, I think chose me.
Something I did explicitly choose? These beet burgers. They’re all about working a little less and playing more, perhaps in ways you wouldn’t guess. First, the recipe makes 8-10 burgers and the leftovers are great for easy, simple lunches, so you won’t have to spend too much mental energy on meal planning. In our house lately, we have to think about feeding ourselves but also our toddler, so now I really only gravitate to recipes that Oliver can eat as well — that way, I’m not spending all of my time in the kitchen or staying up at night to try to prep things for him to eat the next day. Because that’s making the Work gauge overflow at this point. Less of that. More sitting on the floor eating leftover beet burgers with our hands. Just for the joy of it.
Cook’s Notes: These beet burgers don’t have bread crumbs or any flour to help bind them, relying solely on egg, so they are quite delicate and a bit crumbly. I’ve made them a few times and find that an extra egg helps hold them together so while Luisa calls for just one, I’ve added an extra one to the recipe below. Make them on the smaller side to avoid any chance they’ll fall apart on you, and when flipping them, do so with care. I didn’t mind the slightly crumbly texture — we just slid them right into a bun and everyone was quite happy.
Another note: I happened to be out of green lentils, so I used red lentils and they turned out great. Personally, I find it a little onerous to cook up such a small amount of lentils and rice, so I made a proper pot of each and saved what I didn’t use to make grain bowls or fold into soups or salads throughout the week. Last, do know that grating the beets is a bit messy – I use a box grater and grate them directly onto a cutting board we don’t care about. Enjoy!
Smoky Beet Burgers
- Yield: 8-10 Burgers
- Prep time: 20 mins
- Cook time: 35 mins
- Inactive time: 5 mins
- Total time: 1 hr
I love serving these vibrant burgers nestled into a seedy bun with sliced avocado, a few greens, and an easy herbed yogurt sauce (rough “recipe” below). You could really take these burgers to the next level with sauteed mushrooms and melted cheese, but as Luisa mentions, you can also eat them more like latkes or falafel. The burger mix itself can be made a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator, and the cooked burgers stay good for up to four days, covered and refrigerated.
Recipe barely adapted from Louisa Shafia’s The New Persian Kitchen
Ingredients
For the Burgers:
For the Herbed Yogurt Sauce:
Instructions
Slice the onion to a thickness of 1/4 inch. In a medium skillet, saute the onions in the oil over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, until they start to darken and caramelize. Reduce the heat slightly and add the beets along with the garlic, walnuts, raisins, and paprika, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
Allow the mixture to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a food processor and pulse several times until chunky (you still want it a little chunky here). Scrape the mixture into a large bowl and fold in the lentils, salt and pepper.
Replace the food processor (no need to rinse it!), add the rice and eggs, and pulse to form a coarse puree. Scrape the rice mixture into the bowl with the onion-lentil mixture and mix well.
Lightly oil your hands and divide the dough into 8 -10 portions just under 1-inch thick.
Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat and add oil to coat the bottom. Place the burgers in the skillet and cook undisturbed for 5 minutes. Very gently flip the burgers and turn down the heat to low. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, until the burgers have a firm, brown crust.
Meanwhile in a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt, herbs and salt. Serve burgers with your favorite accompaniments – I love sliced avocado, a few greens and a generous spread of yogurt sauce.
Healthy Comfort Food
Thai Carrot, Coconut and Cauliflower Soup
People describe raising young kids as a particular season in life. I hadn't heard this until we had a baby, but it brought me a lot of comfort when I'd start to let my mind wander, late at night between feedings, to fears that we'd never travel internationally again or have a sit-down meal in our dining room. Would I ever eat a cardamom bun in Sweden? Soak in Iceland? I loved the heck out of our tiny Oliver, but man what had we done?! Friends would swoop in and reassure us that this was just a season, a blip in the big picture of it all. They promised we'd likely not even remember walking around the house in circles singing made-up songs while eating freezer burritos at odd hours of the day (or night). And it's true.
Oliver is turning two next month, and those all-encompassing baby days feel like a different time, a different Us. In many ways, dare I say it, Toddlerhood actually feels a bit harder. Lately Oliver has become extremely opinionated about what he will and will not wear -- and he enforces these opinions with fervor. Don't get near the kid with a button-down shirt. This week at least. He's obsessed with his rain boots and if it were up to him, he'd keep them on at all times, especially during meals. He insists on ketchup with everything (I created a damn monster), has learned the word "trash" and insists on throwing found items away on his own that really, truly are not trash. I came to pick him up from daycare the other day and he was randomly wearing a bike helmet -- his teacher mentioned he'd had it on most of the day and really, really didn't want to take it off. The kid has FEELINGS. I love that about him, and wouldn't want it any other way. But, man it's also exhausting.
Cheesy Quinoa Cauliflower Bake
I just finished washing out Oliver's lunchbox and laying it out to dry for the weekend. My favorite time of day is (finally) here: the quiet of the evening when I can actually talk to Sam about our day or sit and reflect on my own thoughts after the inevitable dance party or band practice that precedes the bedtime routine lately. Before becoming pregnant for the second time, I'd have had a glass of wine with the back door propped open right about now -- these days though, I have sparkling water or occasionally take a sip from one of Sam's hard ciders. Except now the back door's closed and we even turned on the heat for the first time yesterday. The racing to water the lawn and clean the grill have been replaced by cozier dinners at home and longer baths in the evening. You blink and it's the first day of fall.
Stuffed Shells with Fennel and Radicchio
I'd heard from many friends that buying a house wasn't for the faint of heart. But I always shrugged it off, figuring I probably kept better files or was more organized and, really, how hard could it be? Well, I've started (and stopped) writing this post a good fifteen times which may indicate something. BUT! First thing's first: we bought a house! I think! I'm pretty sure! We're still waiting for some tax transcripts to come through and barring any hiccough with that, we'll be moving out of our beloved craftsman in a few weeks and down the block to a great, brick Tudor house that we wanted the second we laid eyes on it. The only problem: it seemed everyone else in Seattle had also laid eyes on it, and wanted it equally as much. I'm not really sure why the homeowner chose us in the end. Our offer actually wasn't the highest, but apparently there were some issues with a few of them. We wrote a letter introducing ourselves and describing why we'd be the best candidates and why we were so drawn to the house; we have a really wonderful broker who pulled out all the stops, and after sifting through 10 offers and spending a number of hours deliberating, they ended up going with ours. We were at a friend's book event at the time when Sam showed me the text from our broker and I kind of just collapsed into his arms. We were both in ecstatic denial (wait, is this real?! Did we just buy a house?) and celebrated by getting chicken salad and potato salad from the neighborhood grocery store and eating it, dazed, on our living room floor. Potato salad never tasted so good.
Smoky Butternut Squash and Three Bean Chili
If your house is anything like ours, last week wasn't our most inspired in terms of cooking. We're all suffering from the post-election blues -- the sole upside being Oliver's decision to sleep-in until 7 am for the first time in many, many months; I think he's trying to tell us that pulling the covers over our heads and hibernating for awhile is ok. It's half-convincing. For much of the week, instead of cooking, there'd been takeout pizza and canned soup before, at week's end, I decided it was time to pour a glass of wine and get back into the kitchen. I was craving something hearty and comforting that we could eat for a few days. Something that wouldn't remind me too much of Thanksgiving because, frankly, I can't quite gather the steam to start planning for that yet. It was time for a big bowl of chili.
To Talk Porridge
Porridge is not the sexiest of breakfasts, it's true. It doesn't have a stylish name like strata or shakshuka, and it doesn't have perfectly domed tops like your favorite fruity muffin. It doesn't crumble into delightful bits like a good scone nor does it fall into buttery shards like a well-made croissant. But when you wake up and it's 17 degrees outside (as it has been, give or take a few, for the last week), there's nothing that satisfies like a bowl of porridge or oatmeal. It's warm and hearty and can be made sweet or savory with any number of toppings. The problem? Over the years, it's gotten a bad rap as gluey or gummy or just downright boring or dutiful -- and it's because not everyone knows the secrets to making a great pot of warm morning cereal. So let's talk porridge (also: my cookbook comes out this month! So let's take a peek inside, shall we?)
Cara Gilbert-Au
Megan,
I love reading your posts! You're insightful and reflective, and always seem to touch on topics that resonate with my life right now. I'm sure, largely in part that our lives are paralleled with raising toddlers. I love this idea of "pause". We spend so much time planning for the day, week, and month, that we forget to to pause and relish in that pause. I'm going to pause with intention more...and surely whip up, or attempt to whip up these tasty sounding burgers as well. Thank you.
megang
Oh thank you, Cara! I'm so glad you enjoyed the post and that it resonated. There is SO much planning to keep things running smoothly, isn't there? Like minor household stuff ... and I find myself go, go, going but looking to do a little less of that, I suppose. I hope you like the burgers if you attempt. They are a little crumbly so be sure to make them small and flip gently (and text with questions :)
Andrea
These look quite lovely! I have seen lots of different veggie burgers but none with beets! The flavor profile looks warm and delicious.
megang
Thanks, Andrea! They're really delicious - as good on top of a salad as on a bun. If you end up trying them, let me know what you think!
Pavla
Doing something just for the joy of it? That's revolutionary! I have a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old and my time is so largely spoken for that I feel the need to squeeze the most productivity out of moments I have without the kids. I loved this post and will be back to your blog soon! Thanks :)
megang
Pavla, you have your hands full! I hear you on trying to get as much done as you can in your free moments. For me, that usually doesn't include something just for the joy of it - but trying to change that. Thanks for your sweet comment.
Rebeca
Someone told me about that book two days ago and it made me realise there isn't much play in my life. I don't have kids, but I'm self-employed, so I find it hard to disconnect from work when I get home. Here's to making a conscious effort to change that!
The burgers look delicious! I'll be trying them soon, only without raisins because I'm not a fan of them.
megang
The book is so good, Rebecca. I hope you like it. And gosh, being self employed can be so tough in regards to taking advantage of down time. My husband and I both work for ourselves and try really hard to draw boundaries at home ... but it always seeps in somehow. I think the burgers will be just fine without raisins. I hope you enjoy them!
Rebeca
The struggle is real, huh? Working for yourself can be so liberating in many ways, but after almost 3 years I'm still working on finding some sort of balance.
And I made the burgers today! They were lovely, such a great combination of flavours. And leftovers. Always happy about leftovers.
Callum
A very creative recipe I would never have thought of using beets to make a burger. Callum.
Jess
Advice on baking the burgers, rather than cooking stovetop?
megang
Great question, Jess! I haven't tried it, but I'd really like to as I think they tend to crumble the most in the flipping process on the stove. If I were you, I'd lay tin foil down on a baking sheet and oil it well so they don't stick. I'd start at 325 and bake for 15 minutes, then flip. I'd continue baking until they cooked all the way through and browned on both sides. I have a hunch this will probably take 30 minutes or so. 'll try baking them next time, so I can respond more definitively. If you try it first, let me know! Enjoy.
Jess
Baking time and temp worked great. We tried not stovetop and oven and I preferred the oven! Thanks!!
Brooke
This speaks to me so much - I have two small kids (9 months and 3.5) and recently started freelancing full-time. I want to spend more time enjoying, but instead, I spend most of my time doing. When I try to relax and just be, I can never shake the feeling that I'm slacking and wasting time. On another, note, I'm really looking forward to making these. I ate unbelievable beet burgers at a restaurant, years ago, and have spent as much time trying to recreate them. I think the raisins might be a clue as to what I was missing.
megang
Hi, Brooke. TWO little ones! You have your hands full. It is definitely tough juggling the freelance thing with little ones at home. I guess, like anything, there's pros and cons for sure - hopefully you're able to sneak out of the house every once in awhile to get some concentrated work time. If you get around to making the burgers, I hope you like them! Good luck with your new freelancing venture!
Andi
I was never convinced about beet burgers until I try two different ones while working in San Francisco. They really can be hardy! I've never thought about making them at home, but these sound fantastic. My word of the year is DISCOVER. I'm in a position to discover a lot of new things this year!
megang
Love it, Andi! Great word of the year. If you end up giving these a try, I hope you like them.