Adventures in Recipes #4

Meatless Monday
Quick Black Bean Burger (Cooking Light 11/09)

I've been wanting to try to make some homemade veggie burgers, but they always seemed like a lot of work.  I never really thought about using beans until they started to serve some black bean burgers at work (which went away with that chef... I miss them)  This recipe is really simple and is a great reason for me to use my new food processor.  You blend together garlic, oil and a can of black beans together and then mix in bread crumbs, seasonings and eggs.  One ingredient I was surprised to see but was really good in the burger was lime zest.    The mix was wetter than I thought, but firms up when you cook them, but it's a frying pan only recipe.. not firm enough to grill.

Recipe Link
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1932647


The Verdict
Make again.  I really liked them, they were easy and had a nice taste.   I may have blended the beans a bit too much, which made them a bit soft.  Blending less might have made them a bit chunkier but would give them a bit more texture.  I also would try to flatten them out a bit more so the centers firm up.  This recipe called for chili powder and lime zest, but I could see how you could change up the seasonings in a lot of different ways. They don't cook very long, so I was a bit worried about the garlic staying raw, but we didn't notice.  If  adding onion or peppers it might be a good idea to cook them a bit first before adding to the burger mix.   Brian and I didn't really talk about them, so I'm not sure what he thought... but he seemed to like them. They held up well to the leftover test the next day, so if someone wanted to make a bigger batch for a meatless addition to a BBQ, they could be made ahead of time and reheated.