The "Garden" Burger

These things are at least 1/2 to 3/4 lb burgers that are 3/4" thick and don't shrink when cooked!

“Garden” Burgers

from Veggie Burgers Every Which Way, by Lukas Volger

Makes six 4-inch burgers

Ingredients:

1 medium zucchini, grated

1-1/4 tsp salt, divided

½ cup Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)

½ cup hot water

3 TBL olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

8 cremini mushrooms (like the white ones which we used, only brownish colored), thinly sliced

1 TBL tomato paste

2 TBL balsamic vinegar

1-1/2 cups of cooked brown rice

2 eggs, beaten

1-1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (or dump garbanzo beans from can and rinse thoroughly)

2 TBL roughly chopped fresh parsley

¼ tsp ground black pepper

1 cup toasted bread crumbs (or rolled oats whizzed into 1 cup flour)

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 375°F

2.  Toss the zucchini and ½ tsp of the salt in a colander and let sit for 10 minutes.  Squeeze out as much liquid as possible.

3.  Combine the TVP and hot water in a small bowl.  Let stand for 10 minutes.

4.  In a medium skillet, heat 1 TBL of the oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook until it just begins to soften, about 5 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring periodically, until softened and browned, 8 to 10 minutes.  Add the tomato paste, quickly stirring to combine, and then the zucchini.  Cook until the zucchini is slightly softened and dried out, 3 to 5 minutes.  Add the vinegar and deglaze, scraping up browned bits with a wooden spoon or spatula.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

5.  Combine the cooked vegetables, chickpeas, and eggs in a food processor and pulse until uniformly blitzed, though not completely puréed – you want the vegetables to be somewhat recognizable.  Transfer to a mixing bowl and fold in the reconstituted TVP, rice, parsley, pepper, and remaining ¾ tsp salt.  Fold in the bread crumbs (oat flour).  Adjust seasonings to taste.  Shape into 6 patties (you might want to slightly oil hands before making patties -- so it doesn't stick so much to you).

6.  In an oven safe skillet, heat the remaining oil over medium-high heat.  When hot, add the patties and cook until browned on both sides, 6 to 10 minutes total.  Transfer the pan to the oven (or place the patties on a cookie sheet lightly sprayed with oil), put it on the middle rack and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the burgers are firm and cooked through.  or ... These burgers could be grilled on the BBQ.

Prep and cooking time: 30 minutes (my wife says it was definitely longer than ½ hr, but faster than the previous veggie burgers we made.)

Next time we will make the Southwest Black Bean Burgers!  :-)