Garden Burgers and Springtime

Spring is one of my favorite times of year.  The seeds are sprouting.  Progress has been made on our raised bed garden.  Gilbert is running around outside like a little nutter.  This weekend I got to hang out with all three of my lovely sisters and my niece and nephew. 

But telling you all about that stuff will have to wait, because today is about garden burgers.

I love burgers, but I probably should not eat them as often as I do.  So for the sake of my figure, I have accepted that sometimes a veggie/garden burger needs to be substituted.

If I'm going to miss out on red meat, the substitute better be darn good.  In this case, I think it is.

White Bean Burger

You will need:
2 cups dry white beans
1 large onion
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
1/2 cup mushrooms
1 cup corn (frozen)
2-3 tablespoons coconut oil (or frying oil of choice)
Salt/Pepper to taste

Makes 8-10 patties. 

Preparation: The night before, start the beans soaking.  If you forget, you can add water and beans, bring the beans to a boil for a few minutes, and then turn them off and let them sit for an hour before you start the burgers.  I have found that it does not make a difference either way.

Before you begin prepping the other ingredients, turn the beans on and bring them to a boil.  Make sure that there is plenty of water.  Let them simmer while you are working on the other ingredients (probably about 20 minutes).  You want the beans to be soft and edible.

I love colorful ingredients!

Step 1:  This is the step with all the chopping.  Dice up the onion.  Grate the carrots and celery using the medium size option on a standard grater.  After you are done grating, "wring out" the carrots and celery.  Take one handful of carrots/celery at a time and give them a good squeeze over the sink.

Combine carrots, onion, and celery in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Step 2: Precook the sliced mushrooms and then dice them up finely.  Pat them dry and add them to the bowl with the carrots onion and celery.

Note:  The trick with garden burgers is to avoid extra moisture that will prevent the patties from holding together and at the same time have enough moisture to hold the patty together.  You can add breadcrumbs to help soak up the extra moisture.  Personally, I don't like the texture that results from adding bread crumbs.  I have noted the steps I take to eliminate the extra moisture.  If you want to skip those and add bread crumbs instead, feel free.

Step 3: Verify that the beans are fully cooked.  Then drain the beans and add them to the mixing bowl.  The beans with the other vegetables until they form a paste that can hold up in patty form.  Salt and pepper to taste. 

I start with a masher, but find that smooshing the ingredients together with my hands works better.

Step 4: Melt a tablespoon of the coconut oil (or frying oil of choice) in a skillet on medium heat.  Roll the bean mixture into balls and press into a patty.  The size of the patty depends on the size of the buns. 

There is a joke in that statement somewhere...

Step 5: Place patties into the frying pan.  Fry until brown on each side and heated all the way through.

They should look like this:

Repeat frying as many patties as you need.

We put ours on toasted onion buns from a local bakery with mixed green and red onion, drizzled with homemade honey mustard.  

My photography does not do it justice.  It was beautiful and delicious.

I also added a slice of cheddar cheese from Greenbank Farm.  Their cheese is just about the best thing ever. 

You can add almost any variation of spices to this recipe to give it a twist.  Add mexican spices and make it a "fiesta burger".  Or add some Tabasco and cajun seasoning to make it a "kickin' cajun burger".   If you don't have white beans, I have heard chick peas will work as well.

A batch of these burgers makes more than we can eat in one dinner, so I am able to freeze the remaining (uncooked) patties and have a quick meal on hand for the future.

They really are amazing... almost as amazing as a thick, juicy patty of beef... but not quite.