Greening Austin Daily

Recipe Tuesday – Black Bean Burgers

6th July, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments

Yesterday my husband tried a new recipe from Food and Wine by Laurence Jossel that turned out really well.  Check out the link for all the details as well as a sauce recipe for the burgers!

My husband followed the recipe exactly and served the burgers with lettuce (from our garden!) and tomato.  They were really delicious and worth all the prep that went into them.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/4 cups dried black beans, rinsed and picked over, then soaked for 4 hours and drained
• Kosher salt
• 3 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup farro
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup coarse fresh bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup chopped basil
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• Vegetable oil, for sautéing
• 8 toasted buns

DIRECTIONS

1. In a saucepan, cover the beans with 2 inches of water. Simmer over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 1 hour; add water as needed to keep the beans covered by 2 inches. When the beans are tender, season them with salt and let stand for 5 minutes; drain.
2. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, heat 1/2 tablespoon of the olive oil. Add the farro and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, 2 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups of water and a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until the grains are al dente, 30 minutes.
3. In a small skillet, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the diced onion and cook over moderate heat until softened. Add the crushed red pepper and garlic and cook until fragrant, 2 minutes.
4. In a food processor, pulse all but 1/2 cup of the beans to a chunky puree; transfer to a bowl. Fold in the remaining 1/2 cup of beans, the farro, the onion mixture, eggs, bread crumbs, basil, cilantro, pepper and 1 teaspoon of salt. Form the mixture into 8 patties. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. In a large, nonstick skillet, heat 1/8 inch of vegetable oil. Add the burgers and cook over moderate heat, turning once, until browned and heated through, about 6 minutes.

They didn’t stay together very easily while they were being cooked, so you have to be gentle, but he had about a 50% success rate at keeping them intact, and the ones that fell apart a little were still good.  I forgot to take a picture at dinner last night, but the pic from Food and Wine is a little more appetizing anyway: