Smoky Quinoa Beet Sliders

It's important to note that all of the beets I'm using are candy cane beets, which is a beautiful red and white striped beet. The only problem is that they dampen some of that beautiful, rich red color that results from using traditional beets in dishes. You can use whatever beets you'd like to use for all of these recipes, but if you're not using candy cane beets, your recipes will likely be a much darker red than mine.

Adapted from Vanilla and Bean.

Ingredients:

-1 cup quinoa, cooked

-1 cup red onion, small dice

-1/2 tablespoon olive oil

-8 oz mushrooms, destemmed and diced

-2 cloves of garlic minced

-1 tablespoons tomato paste

-1 cup of shredded beets

-1/2 cup wheat flour
-2 eggs

-2 teaspoons soy sauce

-1/2 teaspoon black peppper

-2 teaspoons paprika 

-2 teaspoons adobo sauce

-1 teaspoon cumin
-Slider buns
-Lettuce

Aioli

-1/2 cup Miracle Whip

-1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
-11/2 teaspoon garlic, minced

-3 tsp adobo sauce

-⅛ tsp salt

To make the aioli, mix together all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a small pan, add olive oil and heat. Add the onion and saute on medium heat for 5 minutes. Next add the mushrooms and garlic cooking on medium heat for an additional 6 minutes. Stir only a few times as the mushrooms should get a nice bit of caramelization on them. Stir in the tomato paste, mashing to incorporate. Remove from heat and pour into a large mixing bowl.

Add the already cooked quinoa and shredded beets. Now add the soy sauce, pepper, paprika, adobo sauce, cumin and salt. Mix everything together before adding the flour and two eggs. Thoroughly mix and then form into small burgers (larger burgers if you're not making sliders). 

In a skillet add a little more olive oil and heat. Very carefully, these burgers will be a little delicate, add a few burgers to the skillet and cook for about 4-5 minutes on each side. You really want to make sure there's a nice crust on the outside of the veggies burger, because it will help firm them for flipping.

Serve with the aioli and any other topping you'd like, I kept it simple and used a little Boston red leaf lettuce. 

These burgers were excellent. The beets and quinoa went really well together in helping to form the veggie burgers. I think the aioli was the star of this dish, the smoky spice that came from the adobo sauce paired really well with the beets. You can add toppings to these, but I don't think they need much other than the sauce.