SRC: Arborio Burger with Spicy Vanilla BBQ Sauce

I'm writing this post in the darkness of a hotel room in Redmond, Wa. My girls are asleep in the next bed and my hubby is sitting in a chair. We are traveling for a soccer tournament and I almost hyperventilated when I realized my daughter had a game at 8:00 on Monday morning and I would NOT be back in time to link up. I have NEVER been late. Boohoo....BUT the amazing April volunteered to link up for me...yay, thank you April!


This month for my Secret Recipe Club Assignment I was assigned the blog Farmgirl Gourmet. Heather is the author of the blog and you really should go read her About Me page. She is a wife and mom who lives in my neck of the woods....kind of...same state but on the East side, while I'm on the west side. She loves to spend time in her kitchen cooking up yummy dishes with local, sustainable ingredients.


I really enjoyed browsing the myriad of recipes she had. Since I'm always looking for new, healthy things to make I finally settled on the the Arborio Veggie Burger. I really wanted to make her broccoli beef, chickpea tacos and Tuscan White bean soup with Broccoli Rabe,  and they're all marked for a later date.


I will admit this was the first recipe that I procrastinated and waited till the end to make. But it was fast and easy and turned out really good. Life has been a whirlwind here, summer soccer tournaments have begun, high school summer soccer has begun, and, well, things slipped my mind. But not entirely....it would pop back in just enough to keep me on my toes. 


This recipe did not take long to make and if you use leftovers it will take even less time. These burgers held together fairly well, though I didn't eat them as a burger. I set them on top of a bed of lettuce and ate just like that. Yum!!


I didn't have all the ingredients for the BBQ sauce so I just winged it. Plus, we don't really like super spicy so I left those spicier ingredients out. The base of the recipe was what I typically put in my own homemade BBQ sauce with just a few added things so I was comfortable playing around with things.


Here is the recipe, but please make sure you head over and show Heather some love!


Arborio Veggie Burger with Spicy Vanilla BBQ sauce

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups arborio/nano rice, cooked ( I used arborio because I have no clue what the other one is)

1 1/2 cups quinoa, cooked

1 1/2 cups mushrooms, chopped (any variety)

2 puya chiles, reconstituted with boiling water and chopped fine (I did not have these and like I said we aren't into spicy so I didn't replace it with anything)

1/2 cup green pepper, finely diced (I used red pepper)

2 tablespoons chili powder

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup water

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions:

1.  In a large bowl combine the precooked arborio rice (leftovers work great), quinoa, mushrooms, chiles, green pepper, chili powder, salt and pepper and flour.  Mix well to combine.  Add the water, oil and breadcrumbs and stir just until combined.

2. Heat a skillet over medium high heat and spray with cooking spray.  Using damp hands, mold about 1 1/2 cups of mixture into a patty and place in the frying pan.  Try not to crowd.  Get a good crisp on the first side before flipping, about 3 minutes. This is really important because they will try to fall apart otherwise. Flip the burger and repeat on the other side.  Repeat with remaining burgers.  

Serve with lettuce, tomato and Spicy Vanilla BBQ sauce (recipe follows).

Spicy Vanilla BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 white distilled vinegar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

3 tablespoons grainy dijon mustard

1 teaspoon hot sauce, like Tabasco

2 teaspoons Sriracha sauce ( I did not use this because it typically contains an ingredient I don't care to use)

1 1/2 teaspoons Hickory Liquid Smoke (I didn't have this)

1/2 vanilla bean, slip lengthwise, seeds scraped (again, I didn't have this but just for the heck of it used a few splashes of real vanilla..made by a friend...and it was good)

Kosher salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer 10-15 minutes.  Put leftover bbq sauce in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

The Secret Recipe Club is such a fun group to be a part of. I love meeting new bloggers, finding new recipes and being challenged to make something new each month.


With Joy UNquenchable,