Tag Archives: black bean burgers

Awesome Black Bean, Black Olive, and Couscous Burgers (baked, freezeable)

10 Aug

We love a good Black Bean Burger around here, seven-year-old boy included. I make many variations and make bigger batches than I need so I can freeze them. Usually I bake first then freeze, but with this one I am experimenting with freezing uncooked. So far so good; I took two out today and baked them and we loved them!

Froze them on wax paper and then when set, I put them in a freezer bag with was paper separating them

Froze them on wax paper and then when set, I put them in a freezer bag with wax paper separating them

I haven’t yet told the little man that there were olives in his burger. Maybe I won’t tell him at all; kids are funny and he might decide he didn’t like them after all, or become suspicious of everything I put in front of him. Hmmm. Anyhoo, these were really delicious and filling and I am glad to have another six in the freezer for a rainy day!

Oh yes! Black Bean Burliness!

Oh yes! Black Bean Burliness!

Black Bean Burgers with Couscous and Black Olives

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1/2 Cup onion, chopped fine

¼ Cup green cubanelle (Italian cooking) pepper, diced

3-4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 Tbs cumin powder

1 Tbs Adobo powder

20 pitted black olives, chopped

2 Cups beans (soaked) or 2- 15 oz. cans, rinsed and drained

½ tsp salt

1/2 Cup fine (not Israeli) couscous (you could use two Cups prepared quinoa instead)

2 eggs

(optional ¼ Cup white flour)

Preheat oven to 375°. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and grease lightly.

Warm oil in a large skillet at medium-high until rippling. Add onion and coat, then lower heat to medium, add green pepper, and sauté until translucent and tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté another minute, followed by cumin and cook another minute.

You may want to add beans to skillet for further cooking and softening (add ¼ Cup water at a time for greater tenderness).

In a bowl, mash beans into a thick paste (use a fork, potato masher or ricer). Add cooked vegetables, egg, couscous, and olives and season with salt (and pepper if desired). Shape into four generous burgers (or eight small ones) with your hands (don’t mess with it too much). If you find it much too wet, mix in the optional flour and then place on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes on one side, 10 on the other and then a five on the first side. Serve with thinly sliced red onion, sliced avocado, sliced tomato and Sweet Roasted Red Pepper Dipping Sauce,  and Hot, Cheap & Easy’s number one post ever: Sauteed Onions and Mushrooms Burger Topper Extraordinaire if desired.

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Getting Better All the Time: Black Bean Burgers with Black Quinoa…Baked!

20 Feb

I am always tinkering with my black bean burger recipes – at under a dollar per pound of dried beans that end up being at least 1.5 quarts once soaked – almost everyone can afford to play with beans in the kitchen. My six-year-old likes them most of the time (we’ve had a few failures of seasoning and of texture along the way, before developing and settling on this recipe) and they freeze well, so I can throw them from the freezer into my lunch bag and heat them up satisfactorily in the office microwave.

Getting beans ready for the mashing

Getting beans ready for the mashing

I generally start soaking my beans by rinsing and picking through. I put them overnight in a big bowl covered by at least 3″ of water. In the morning, I drain and rinse, then put them in the slow cooker (crockpot)with a teaspoon or so of salt, switch them on low, cover and go to work. By the evening they are usually done; there is a “beany” smell that tells you it’s time to check for tenderness. Good cooks engage all their senses to the task; the more you cook, the more likely you are to raise your nose from the computer suddenly, like a mystic having a vision, and say solemnly: “The beans are ready” or “The rice is done.” The less you cook, the more likely you are to look up from the computer with streaming eyes and cough “Oh s**t, dinner is burning!” Continue reading →

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Black Bean and Quinoa Burgers (Baked!)

20 Jan

In my other life I am a full-time college professor teaching intensive academic English to immigrants and foreign students who need a bit more English to be able to make it in the mainstream of our local community college.

I don’t make a whole lot of money (although there are other perks to living the higher education life!) and until my son enters kindergarten, I have a big fat daycare bill every month, so I am not dropping $10 a day on going out to lunch. No WAY.

I try, as much as possible, to prepare three wholesome, homemade meals a day for me and my son (and they are not always the same meal  — my kingdom for a dishwasher….) and do it on the cheap. I triple recipes and freeze portions for greater efficiency. And I am always searching for new takes on standard ingredients.

So here is a new recipe for black bean burgers, inspired by Vegetarian Times. This addition of quinoa — a super-grain that is super-easy to prepare — creates a phenomenal texture and you can really substitute whichever spices you like; here I used adobo powder to good effect. ATTENTION VEGANS: the quinoa holds everything together, so there are NO EGGS needed!

You can also freeze the extra; a great plus. I did them from dry beans, soaked overnight with a bit of salt, then simmered for a couple of hours, but I include the measurements for using canned beans too.

Full disclosure: Leandro loved the texture and did not like the taste AT ALL. So I will get to pack them for my lunches for the next few weeks and next time I make these, I will fiddle around with flavors. VegTimes suggests steak seasoning (which is vegetarian) so maybe I will go that route.

Here’s to a delicious and healthy Spring Semester, starting now at a college near me!

Black Bean and Quinoa Burgers

1.5 Cups cooked quinoa (prepared according to package directions)

1 small onion, chopped fine (about 1 Cup)

6 sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained indifferently and finely chopped

1.5 Cups cooked black beans (or 15 oz. can black beans rinsed and drained, divided in half)

3 cloves garlic, minced (about 3 Tbs)

2 Tbs adobo

(Optional: Burger fixings – buns, sliced onion, cheese, mustard, ketchup, sliced avocado, etc)

Saute onion and tomatoes in a large nonstick skillet and cook over medium heat (you probably won’t need additional oil as the tomatoes will have enough).  Cook 5 minutes, until onion is well-softened. Stir in black beans (half if using canned), garlic, adobo and 1.5 Cups water and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated and the beans are softened (you may need more water if using beans from dry). Season with salt and pepper if necessary and allow to cool.

Transfer bean mixture to food processor. Add half the quinoa and process until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl and mix in the remaining quinoa (and remaining beans if using canned).

Preheat oven to 350°F and coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Shape bean mixture into ½ Cup patties (8-9) and place on baking sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes on each side until both sides are crisp and brown and serve with fixings of your choice.

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Black Bean Burgers: all the burliness, none of the beef

26 Apr
So much easier than I expected!

I’m pretty pleased with myself, because finally, FINALLY, I soaked beans from dry and was very happy with the results!

I’ve never had that happen before; every other time I have tried, the texture has always been grainy and awful and not worth the trouble. This time, I rinsed a pound of beans (from a store that seems to move a lot of dried beans – one of the problems is that if the beans are old, they will never soften up nicely), soaked them in two quarts water overnight. Changed the water and went to work. After work I simmered them for two hours and holy legumes, Batman, I had 1.5 quarts of beans to play with.

And talk about cheap: a pound of dried beans costs about the same as a 15.5 oz can of them and you choose how much sodium you want with it.

I did my usual black beans and rice and black bean nachos (loads of cheddar/Monterey Jack cheese), but with two cups I made black bean burgers! They were tasty hot out of the oven and tasty (and not messy!) again at a picnic at the zoo the next day at room temperature. You definitely want to dress them up with creamy avocado and/or another creamy condiment-y sauce (try my Sweet Roasted Red Pepper Dipping Sauce https://hotcheapeasy.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/roasted-asparagus-and-sweet-red-pepper-dipping-sauce/) and all the trimmings!

 

Black Bean Burgers

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 stalk celery, minced (about 2 Tbs)

1 onion, peeled and finely minced (about ¾ Cup)

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

2 cups black beans

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 Tbs ground cumin

1 Tbs oregano

½ Cup plain bread crumbs

½ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375°. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and grease lightly.

Warm oil in a large skillet at medium-high until rippling. Add celery and onion and coat, then lower heat to medium and sauté until translucent and tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté another minute.

In a bowl, mash beans into a thick paste (use a fork, potato masher or ricer). Add cooked vegetables, egg, cumin, oregano and breadcrumbs and season with salt (and pepper if desired). Shape into four generous burgers with your hands (don’t mess with it too much) and then place on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes on one side, 10 on the other and then a five on the first side. Serve with thinly sliced red onion, sliced avocado, sliced tomato and Sweet Roasted Red Pepper Dipping Sauce, if desired. https://hotcheapeasy.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/roasted-asparagus-and-sweet-red-pepper-dipping-sauce/

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Roasted Asparagus and Sweet Red Pepper Dipping Sauce

23 Apr
Simple and beautiful spring fare

I have been experimenting with my new fancy Breville toaster oven and it’s been a life-changer! I don’t always want to turn the regular oven on for a small dish, so this new tabletop oven has widened my options.

One example is asparagus, coming soon into season and one of my favorite things to eat. It roasts very nicely and quickly with no fuss. I just eat the spears with my fingers right off the plate.
I decided to jazz it up (and in the process use up some sweet roasted red pepper that I had taking up space in the fridge). This took a jiffy and was a bright relish-y sort of taste (note that I used SWEET roasted red pepper). I later whipped some up as a dressing for black bean burgers (recipe to come in the next couple of days).
 

Zesty Dipping Sauce for Roasted Asparagus

3 Tbs mayonnaise

1-2 Tbs plain nonfat yogurt

2 Tbs roasted sweet red pepper, diced fine

Mix all ingredients together. Serve as a dipping sauce or as relish for black bean burgers or other sandwich fillings.

 

Roasted Asparagus

1 lb asparagus (the fat kind preferred), washed and bottoms snapped off (reserve to make broth for another recipe)

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt or coarse kosher salt for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350°. Rub olive oil over asparagus spears and place on rimmed baking sheet, foil or, ideally, broiler-type rack. Cook for 15 minutes, sprinkle with salt and serve with dipping sauce.

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