"Garden" Burgers Again

     That recipe makes 6 burgers at a time.  We ate 2 and put the other 4 in the freezer.  Well, they are all gone now.  So my wife was insistent that we make more today.  This time she varied the recipe by putting Italian Seasonings and Garlic into the burgers.  Very tasty.  We ate 2 and put 4 into the freezer.  My wife tells me that as soon as those are gone, we WILL be making more. 
     I think that next time I want to try making the Chipotle Black Bean burgers.  Go for some variety with a little spiciness. 
     These lowfat, low cholesterol foods are going to be good for us ... besides, you know the Doctor is insisting that we do something about reducing cholesterol, triglycerides, etc.   It doesn't hurt that they taste good and are very filling.  They are 4 inches across and 3/4" thick.  Little hamburger buns just aren't big enough.  We are putting them between slices of bread (I like my bread toasted so it isn't so mushy).  Although I'd also like to try the burgers in pita bread with some Pico de Gaiyo (?) and some Bufalo chipotle hot sauce or something.
     We took Nannette shopping this morning.  I took meds for back pain and a little nap (until I heard the lawnmower).  The landlord mowed the yard this evening. The wife is back Indexing because she wants to break 62,000 today.  I did 1325 last month ... which is more than I did the entire last year.  Needless to say, I don't have a big total and we've run out of the 1940 Census.  That leaves strange things to work on ... sigh.

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!  :-)

Thai Carrot Veggie Burgers

I got this inexpensive book for the Kindle today ... Veggie-Burgers-Every-Which-Way by Lukas Volger which motivated us to try making one of the recipes.  Arline decided we'd try the Thai Carrot Veggie Burger first.  We had everything but Tumeric.  So, a trip to WalMart ...

Anyway, here's the recipe:

Thai Carrot Veggie Burger

Makes 4 Large burgers

Ingredients:
2 Tbl olive, grapeseed or Canola oil, divided in half

1 bunch scallions, sliced thinly, one inch into the dark green part

1/2 cup cilantro, rough chopped (ours was dead and slimy in the refrigerator door, so we used parsley instead)

3 cloves garlic, minced

2-inch piece fresh ginger, grated

1 Serrano pepper, chopped up finely, seeded or not, depending on your personal heat threshold
 (we didn’t put any seeds in and couldn’t taste the pepper)
4 cups grated carrots (from about 8 medium size carrots)

3/4 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp salt

juice of 1/2 lime
(maybe of a whole lime)
2 egg whites

2 Tbl natural peanut butter
(or three of regular peanut butter ... the heaping kind)
1/4 cup toasted bread crumbs (or rolled oats whizzed into flour)

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

NOW Cut up, grate, and measure everything first. 

THEN Heat a large frying pan (which has a lid) over medium heat.  Add 1 Tbl of the oil, and when hot, add the scallions. Cook for about two minutes, just until they begin to soften, and then add the garlic, ginger, and pepper. Stir for 30 seconds, until fragrant, and then stir in the carrots, spices, and salt. Cover and let cook for six or eight minutes, until soft but not mushy (stir and flip occasionally until not so orangish).  You want to soften the carrots but not turn them to mush.  But you want to retain their integrity so they will help tie things together. (kind of like straw in adobe)

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg whites (we used the whole eggs), peanut butter, and lime juice. Fold in the carrot mixture, making sure that everything is well combined, and then fold in the bread crumbs (or oat flour). Let sit for about ten minutes, allowing the bread crumbs to absorb some of the liquid. Adjust seasonings—particularly the salt and lime juice. Shape into 4 large patties, pressing them to compact and hold shape.

Heat remaining 1 Tbl of oil in an oven-safe skillet or frying pan over high heat. When hot, add the burgers, in batches if necessary, cooking until browned each side—it will only take a minute or a minute-and-a-half per side). Transfer the pan (we put them on a cookie sheet that we had sprayed with oil) into the oven for fifteen minutes, where the burgers will finish cooking.

The last minute or less, we topped them with a slice of cheese.

Make your dressing and fixings however you want.  We toasted two slices of bread, added Mayo, ketchup, raw onion slices (Vidalia), slices of dill pickle, and some lettuce.  DELICIOUS!