Monday 4 September 2017

Beetroot Rye Burger


Rye bread is essential part of Finnish food palette. When Finnish voted for national food rye bread got the first place. I tend to eat about 1-2 slices of rye bread every day and I seldom choose white bread from the store. It is just something I learned from home. One of my favorite evening snacks is rye bread with hummus, it keeps hunger and tastes great. Now that we are heading towards the colder days fulfilling foods like rye bread, roots and spices begin to feel like a good idea. Stores start to fill with colorful roots, berries and sweet apples. One eats with their eyes. I browsed Pinterest for Autumn home decor inspiration and saw quite a few pumpkin related displays, cups of tea and deep warm colors. I got hungry. I created a picture of myself sitting inside, under a blanket, reading a book, rain pouring towards the windows and some sweet pumpkin cake almost ready in the oven spreading it's rich spicy scent. Can not wait that pumpkins come to the stores! While having pumpkin orange dreams I turn to roots that offer equally as great opportunities for cooking and baking.

Sometimes we tend to see cooking too complicated when with great ingredients it is actually simple. Vegetarian patties and steaks can be made with very different methods. Today, because it is Monday, we are going to make the most simple version of vegetarian steaks. This means we just slice fresh beetroot, dip in egg and breadcrumbs, fry in oil and sprinkle little salt on top. Quite many veggies can be prepared this way to create simple and quick steaks. Sweet hummus and fennel add taste to this dish. Potatoes take care of them selves in the oven. Tasty Monday luxury in it's best. Because I think when ever there is a home cooked dinner made from healthy ingredients, it is luxury in this fast food filled world.


Beetroot steaks, paprika hummus, fried fennel, green salad, pickles and radish form a great burger between rye bread. Potato wedges make the dish complete. Actually, now I have to take a lunch break and reheat some leftovers from yesterday.. yummy!


***
Back to business. First we make the hummus because it can stay in the fridge when potatoes, steaks and fennel are prepared. 

Sweet Paprika Hummus:
230 g cooked chickpeas (one can when water is poured out))
1/2 paprika
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt
cayenne pepper
chili


Step 1. Mince and sweat onion and paprika in veg.oil.


Step 2. Put chickpeas, minced garlic, 1 tbsp olive oil and lemon juice to a bowl. Mash with hand mixer.


Step 3. Put in onion and paprika and stir with mixer (leave a bit rough). Mix in spices (salt, cayenne pepper and chili) according to taste. Put to fridge.


Potato Wedges:
potatoes
veg. oil
salt

Preheat oven for 200 Celsius degrees. Slice the potatoes. Massage potatoes with oil and salt. Bake in the oven until soft and a bit golden.

Fried Fennel:
fennel
veg. oil
salt
black pepper

Cut and open the fennel to get smaller pieces. Fry on a pan in veg. oil until it gets a bit color. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on top.  


Beetroot Steaks
beetroot
1 egg
breadcrumbs
salt
veg. oil

Peel and slice the beetroots. Dip one at the time to egg and then to breadcrumbs. Fry on a pan in veg. oil on both sides until the surface is golden brown. Sprinkle some salt on top. Beetroot steaks are supposed to be left al dente inside.


Make the burger:
Spread some hummus to the rye bread, put in salad, radish, pickles, fennel and beetroot steaks. Serve warm with potato wedges.

***


I bought a bag of beetroots so I am already thinking about making borscht from the rest. It is also great with rye bread. Although at the moment I don't remember any dish that would not benefit from rye bread :)

Have an inspiring start for the new week!

Sannu

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