The other day, we got hungry and stared at the fridge for inspiration. In the back, we saw three medium turnips, and that gave us the idea to build around those. We kicked around two ideas…the first was in the ilk of Spinach Stuffing Balls and French Onion Cauliflower Balls, and the second was a veggie burger (which as you have surmised by now was the ultimate direction we went). With the turnip and the burger decided, we went about building other flavours into our burgers, and we relied on celery and carrots (which we knew would work from my family’s traditional Thanksgiving side, Rutabaga and Carrot Mash). A few additional seasonings and some eggs and bread crumbs, and we had veggie burger patties that were light, flavourful, and held together better than we expected!
We kept our toppings simple and used simple baby romaine and made a sauce out of black currant jam and mayonnaise, but you can gt absolutely wild with toppings if you want to build out a Thanksgivingy flavour! Try sauteed spinach and cranberry sauce for dramatic effect! Or serve this overtop some Chestnut Stuffing instead of the bun!
Time: 30 Minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 Medium Turnips
- 8 Baby Carrots
- 2 Celery Stalks
- 2 Eggs
- Bread Crumbs (amount will vary)
- Diced Chives
- Parsley
- Optional Sauce: Black Currant Jam and Mayonnaise mixed together
Method:
- Dice your celery and chives, and sautee in butter until they soften.
- As your celery cooks, slice the ends off your turnips, and peel them. Then, cut them into chunks, and pulse them in your food processor with the baby carrots until everything looks like an orange/white gravel.
- Combine your turnip/carrot combo and your celery in a large mixing bowl, and add your eggs, parsley, and bread crumbs. Stir to combine, and add more bread crumbs as necessary until your mixture clumps and holds together well.
- Heat some oil on a skillet, and when it’s hot, form your burger patties, and arrange on said skillet.
- Cook for about 5 minutes, flip, and cook for another 5 minutes.
- As your burgers cook, prep your buns and your toppings.
- Plate, devour, and enjoy!
