Bean & Beat Burger with Portabello Buns

I actually first made this recipe many months ago... 2nd November 2016 to be exact (I can tell by my camera data!) and it's been sitting in my recipe archive folder waiting to be released to the world- amongst countless other recipes. Crazy, really how they all pile up! 

One of my missions this year is to get back into a regular blog posting schedule. To think when I began this blog in 2011 I was posting around three times a week- sometimes more, and that was when I still had my full time career as an architect. So there is really no excuse! ;-) 

I was reminded of this recipe a recently, as I was coming down from a week-long juice fast and I wanted to make a meal, to celebrate with my boyfriend, the return to normal food. I wanted it to be reasonably light, made mostly with veggies and no wheat or refined ingredients (though there was a little oil on the mushrooms caps). The result was this epic burger platter! (ok it was a little larger than I'd anticipated) ;-)

Portabello mushroom caps make amazing burger buns if you want to avoid bread, and you can really use any veggie burger mix inside. In the iphone photo above is the recipe featured below, but in the other 'pro shots' taken in 2016 I used this vegan meatball mix formed into burger patties instead of balls (both would freeze well too so you can make extra).

Then simply layer the burger up with avocado, hummus, relish, chutney, salad leaves, sprouts as tall as you like!

Recipe: Bean & Beat Burger with Portabello Buns

Serves two (makes approx 4 medium burgers)

Ingredients:

• 1 can black beans - drained and mashed with a fork

• 1/2 small beetroot

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1 onion

• 1 cup cooked quinoa or rice

• 1 cup gram flour (other flours would probably work)

• 1/2 cup ground walnut (or other ground nuts)

• 1 tbs soy sauce

• 2 heaped tbs chopped herbs (I used parsley and rosemary as I had them to hand)

• 4 large portabello mushroom caps.

• a little olive oil.

Method:

Finely chop the beetroot garlic and onion (I used a food processor for a quick blitz) and then saute for a few minutes in a medium sauce pan until softening. Meanwhile gather all remaining ingredients (other than mushrooms/oil) and then add to the pan. Turn off the heat and stir through in the pan until well mixed and the mix holds together.

Form burger patties with your hands and place on a lined baking sheet. I didn't oil them but you could if desired. Bake at 180 for approx 30 mins ensuring they don't burn.

Meanwhile, wash and pat dry the mushroom caps. Chop the stalk out (you could do this in advance and add to the burger mix to void waste). Lightly brush will oil on both sides then sprinkle with salt and paper.

Once the burgers have been baking for 15-20 mins. Place the mushrooms under a hot grill for approx 5 mins on each side until quite 'sweaty' looking.

Prepare any other toppings and a side salad. (For the 'coleslaw' style salad in the top photo I just used slightly water down hummus to coat)

Assemble the burgers in any way you wish! Enjoy immediately.

Sweet potato, orange and peanut rostis

Hot salads huh!  yep, here's another one...well maybe not so much a hot salad as hot rosti topping. Delicious!!

I was inspired by Abel and Cole with this recipe, the original recipe can be found here, I tweaked it to make it gluten free and also oven baked the rostis instead of shallow frying them. They were the perfect texture with a lovely golden coat, so I really can't see how frying could have given a better burger!

This is the second time I have made these burgers and the first time round I also added an extra handful of crushed roasted peanuts as I happened to have some to hand that I'd just roasted, however I didn't have any ready roasted this time around...feel free to through a few in if you fancy!

My salad consisted of a bed of mixed leaves, rocket and cucumber, along with some clementine segments to emphasise the citrussy flavours. I drizzled a little sweet chilli sauce over the top (I admit that part is a little naughty...oops!)

This makes a great light lunch and even a pretty substantial main meal.

For more 'burger' recipes... check these out.

Recipe: Sweet potato orange and peanut rostis

Makes approx 8 rostis

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sweet potatoes

• 2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter

• 2 tbsp soy sauce

• 2 garlic cloves- crushed

• ½ tsp ground ginger (or 1 tsp fresh grated)

• ½ tsp chili flakes (more or less to taste)

• 2 tsp freshly grated orange

• A handful of fresh coriander or basil, finely chopped

• ½ cup chickpea (gram) flour (or other GF flour)

• 1 tbs chia seeds or flax meal (optional for good measure for binding!)

Method:

Peel and halve the potatoes. Plunge into lightly salted boiling water for 5 mins. Drain and cool.

Meanwhile mix the peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic, chili, ginger and zest in a large bowl.

Coarsely grate the cooled sweet potato or squash into the mix. Add the fresh herbs, chia seeds or flax (if using) and chickpea flour and fold through until well mixed. Season to taste. The mixture should be sticky but firm enough to handle. Note: add more flour if too sticky or a little water or orange juice is too dry.

Spoon small handfuls of the mix to form patties on a flour dusted parchment lined baking sheet. Lightly glaze with a little oil if desired.

Bake at 180C for approx 25 minutes until golden. Flip over after 15 minutes.

These keep well in the fridge for a few days, I imagine they would also freeze well although I haven’t tried this.

Tomato ketchup

So, you remember this post from a couple of days ago…

Black bean beet burgers!

Well just peeking through in the corner of that photo is a little pot of tomato sauce. Homemade tomato ketchup, with a sweet  kick just like regular tomato ketchup but without all the sugar!  What provides the sweetness…plums! Helped out with a little agave syrup (you could omit this is you liked), the plums are a perfect complement to the fresh tomatoes.  I also added some ground chia seed stirred through right at the end to give a health boost and to act as a thickener. If you don’t have chia I would advise experimenting with some other form of thickener to achieve the right consistency for your sauce.

This will store in the fridge for a good for weeks and is the perfect companion for summer time. I can already picture the burgers on the BBQ now! It’s best to store this sauce for a couple of weeks before consuming as it will allow the flavour to mature…nut feel free to dip in of you can’t wait that long!

This sauce would also work well as a basic pasta sauce or base for my super- speedy GF pizza crust.

Recipe: Healthy Tomato ketchup

Makes approx. 500ml

Ingredients

• 1 large clove garlic
• 400g ripe vine tomatoes
• 120g ripe plums
• 2tbs tomato puree
• 20g agave
• 1tsp molasses- optional (gives a slightly deeper richness)
• 50g white wine vinegar
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cloves
• 1 small chilli pepper with seeds removed
• Salt to taste (I added approx. ¼ tsp)
• 3-4 tbs ground chia seed

Method

Roughly chop the garlic and add to a food processor along with the tomatoes and plums, pulse to achieve a coarse even ‘paste’.

I used my Thermomix for the entire cooking process, but for those without, transfer the tomato mixture to a medium pan, add the remaining ingredients (except chia) and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring as required to avoid sticking. Add the ground chia in the last  minute.

Remove the cloves and bay leaf (if you can find them) and then transfer the mixture to a blender (or use a stick blender in the pan) and blend until you have a smooth mixture.

Pour into a sterilised bottle or jar and store in the fridge. The flavour matures over a couple of weeks.