Recipes Comfort Food Burgers Vegetarian Burgers Roasted Veggie Burgers with Carrot Ketchup 2.3 (3) 2 Reviews “I hate veggie burgers with a passion,” says chef Edward Lee, of Louisville’s Whiskey Dry. Instead of creating a ground patty of beans, grains and vegetables that replicates the look and texture of meat, Lee serves this gorgeous ratatouille-inspired “burger” of colorful roasted vegetables layered with melty cheese. “It looks like a slice of a rainbow,” he says. Slideshow: More Veggie Burger Recipes By Edward Lee Edward Lee F&W Star Chef » See All F&W Chef Superstars Restaurants: 610 Magnolia, MilkWood (Louisville, KY) Experience: Chez es Saada (New York City) What’s a dish that defines you as a chef? My fried chicken and waffles. It’s a Southern dish, but we cook it in a very Asian way. The chicken is poached first in a vinegar and soy sauce blend. Then it’s cooled, dredged in buttermilk and flour and deep-fried. Who taught you how to cook? My grandmother taught me how to appreciate food and that food was more than just sustenance. She made very old-school Korean dishes, fermented chile paste and kimchi from scratch, pickles and marinated vegetables. Even as a toddler, I always wanted to spend time in the kitchen watching her. What was the first dish you ever cooked by yourself? Both my parents worked and were rarely home for dinner, so my grandmother cooked, but only Korean food. I was craving American food, so I’d steal food magazines from the Laundromat and save my lunch money to go food shopping. The first magazine recipe I really remember making was a steak dinner with roasted potatoes and a rosemary rub. I was probably 11 or 12. What’s your favorite cookbook of all time? Marco Pierre White’s White Heat. It was the first cookbook to show the life of a chef outside of the food, and outside of what the public persona of a chef was back then, which was a classic French image of being very precise and a student of the arts. For my book (Smoke and Pickles), I really wanted to show who I am and what I do. I wanted to show everything, the flaws and the perfection. Is there a type of cooking that you wish you were better at? For me there’s a mystery around Jewish cooking. I grew up in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn. I’d love to make an incredible knish one day. What’s your favorite value ingredient? A bag of pork rinds. I like to grind them up and use them anywhere you’d use bread crumbs: mac and cheese, shepherd’s pie, inside sandwiches or burgers. What’s your current food obsession? I am working with bhut jolokia peppers, the spiciest in the world. They’re grown in a little town in India, but people in America have started to grow them here. Where did you go on your last trip? I just got back from Vietnam. The street food is so cheap but also so diverse and so incredibly flavorful. I had a fish I’d never seen before, kind of like a lightly pickled herring in thin rice paper, with Thai basil, lettuce, very thin slices of pineapple and freshly grated coconut. The pineapple there is so different, incredibly musky, and the coconut is so fresh and has this sweetness to it. You can’t re-create that here, and that’s one of the reasons you travel. What’s your favorite store-bought ingredient? Red Boat fish sauce, which is really starting to take off. It takes just a few drops and it adds an entire new level of flavor. It’s as simple as adding a few drops to boiled ramen. What’s your dream restaurant project? I want to open a karaoke bar that only serves fried chicken. I have no talent for karaoke, but I do have an affinity for it. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on June 1, 2017 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Chef Edward Lee of Louisville’s Whiskey Dry isn’t a big fan of the standard veggie burger. Instead of creating a ground patty of beans, grains and vegetables that replicates the look and texture of meat, Lee serves this gorgeous ratatouille-inspired “burger” of colorful roasted vegetables layered with melty cheese. “It looks like a slice of a rainbow,” he says. Photo: © John Kernick Total Time: 1 hrs Yield: 4 Ingredients 1 medium eggplant, cut into eight 1/2-inch-thick slices 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 medium zucchini, sliced on a mandoline 1 / 8 inch thick Kosher salt Pepper 1 large red beet, peeled and sliced on a mandoline 1 / 8 inch thick 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and sliced on a mandoline 1 / 8 inch thick 4 medium carrots, thinly sliced 1/2 small onion, finely chopped 2 dried apricots, chopped 2 garlic cloves, chopped 1/4 cup dry white wine 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce 1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/4 teaspoon ground fennel 8 slices of Muenster cheese 4 poppy seed buns, split and toasted Red-leaf romaine lettuce leaves or mixed baby greens and sliced dill pickles, for serving Directions Preheat the oven to 400° and line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with foil. On opposite ends of 1 baking sheet, separately toss the eggplant with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and the zucchini with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Season the eggplant and zucchini with salt and pepper and spread each vegetable in a single layer. On opposite ends of the second baking sheet, separately toss the beet and the sweet potato each with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and spread in a single layer. Roast all of the vegetables until tender, about 10 minutes for the zucchini and about 25 minutes for the remaining vegetables; rotate the baking sheets halfway through baking. Let the vegetables cool slightly. Keep the oven on. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the carrots, onion, apricots and garlic and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until just softened, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and 3/4 cup of water and simmer over moderately low heat until the carrots are very tender, 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vinegar, fish sauce, Worcestershire, soy sauce, ground ginger and fennel. Scrape into a blender and let cool slightly. Puree until very smooth, adding water 1 tablespoon at a time to loosen the sauce, if necessary. Season the carrot ketchup with salt and pepper. On a large rimmed baking sheet lined with foil, make 4 stacks of 2 eggplant slices. Top each with 1 cheese slice, 4 to 6 slices each of the sweet potato and beet, the remaining cheese and 4 to 6 zucchini slices. Transfer to the oven and bake for 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the veggie burgers are heated through. Place the burgers on the bottom buns and top with lettuce and pickles. Spread the carrot ketchup on the top buns, close the burgers and serve. Make Ahead The carrot ketchup can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Rate it Print