chicago diner burgers with red pepper aioli

Wow, is that a beautiful burger, or what? Here's the recipe for the burger, and here's the recipe for the red pepper aioli that goes with it. This burger has an oatmeal base with onions, celery, mushrooms, and some seasonings. I was very impressed- it was really good! You couldn't really taste the oatmeal. I didn't get out the grill to make one burger, so I broiled it in the oven for a while, which got the outside nice and crispy. However, it did lack that good smoky taste that other burgers have, obviously since I didn't grill it.

The one odd thing I noticed about this recipe is that the onions and celery are boiled in water, then the other ingredients are added. Next time I will definitely caramelize the onions beyond recognition in order to deepen the flavor. I might even add more onion, garlic, or whatever I find. I bet teriyaki sauce in place of part of the water would be good.

Now on to the red pepper aioli. This was the most amazing three-ingredient dish I've ever had (I left out the olive oil). Someone told me once- was it you?- that the best way to make roasted red peppers was to wrap them in foil and put directly over a flame. I don't know if this would work on an electric range, but it's worth a try. I cut off about 1/3 of the pepper, wrapped in foil, and put the skin side down. After a few minutes, smoke was seeping out of the foil. The skin blackened nicely, and the smoky flavor permeated the pepper. I'll never buy the jarred peppers again- this method is the best. It takes a while to get done after it becomes smoky, so be patient. You can open it up to make sure it's done, but wrap it up tight again to let it cool. I made the sauce with Miracle Whip, and it was so, so, so amazing. Three thumbs up.

The burger with a whole wheat bun and sauce (w/out oil) was only 7 WW points.

I have everything I need to make more of these except the mushrooms, so bring some over and we'll break out the grill. Really!