A Vegetarian Early July 4th Barbeque

I had the day off from work yesterday, obviously because of July 4th, and days off are great for cooking! Independence Day is synonymous with burgers, but rather than make another beef or turkey burger, I decided to try my hand at something different - a veggie burger! Blame California, but I love veggie burgers, though admittedly it can be hard to find really good ones. They have reputation for being dry and tasteless, and I can see why. Often veggie burgers are made with little actual vegetables and use grains as filler. But recently I've noticed more and more restaurants serving their own housemade veggie burgers with ingredients like beans, portobello mushrooms, and zucchini. A couple weeks ago, I had a great portobello and black bean burger at a pub near the Sam Adams Brewery, and it inspired me to try making my own. I found this great recipe on the Epicurious Favorite Burgers list for Black-Bean Burgers with a slight Latin flavor.

The first big plus for this recipe was the cheapness of the ingredients! Beans are such a great deal - really inexpensive but incredibly healthy and filling. I already had cumin and oregano in the pantry, and I was happy to have an excuse to buy some cayenne. This meal was also so easy to prepare. Everything goes into the food processor. My only trouble was that I have a small food processor, and I probably should have blended the bean mixture in two batches. The processor was so full and the mixture was so thick that the blade was getting stuck. A little shaking and mixing with a spoon took care of it, though. The burgers cooked up very quickly in the pan (don't try to grill these - they need a completely flat surface) and I had no problem with them staying together or flipping. The recipe suggested serving them with lettuce, sour cream, and salsa, but that didn't really appeal to me. Mexican food is a whole other animal. Instead, I made a garlic and chive mayo - mayonnaise mixed with pasted garlic, chives left over from my tortellini salad, and some lemon juice.


The mayo turned out to be all the burgers needed because they had great flavor. The cumin provides a great smoky background flavor to the beans, and I actually loved the cilantro. Yes, I liked something with cilantro in it. The only complaint I had was that the burgers were a little mushy. Although I managed to get a good crust on the outside, the burgers did sort of squish when you bit into them. I'll have to look into how to make them a little firmer. But overall, I loved the flavor and really enjoyed trying something totally new! Ken had never really had a real veggie burger and he fell in love with them. They have already gone on the "Make Again" list.


For a side dish, I made a great pasta salad based on Giada DeLaurentiis' Antipasto Salad. Her salad has meat in it, which was a little heavy for what I wanted, so I just cut that out and put in some cucumbers instead for crunch. The basil dressing was delicious! And we will be eating it for days...I made quite a bit. It was a great meal, and a fun day of cooking! A rare day of baking is coming up tomorrow, so stay tuned!