Red Bean Veggie Burgers

This is a recipe I came up with last July 4th in Paris.

1 can red beans, drained (but keep the liquid)
Approx 1/2 – 1 Cup bread crumbs (about 1/3 of 4 day old baguette)
1 onion, diced
1- 4 Garlic cloves, cut up way tiny
1 small hot pepper, minced
approx 1T cumin
Salt and Pepper
Worchestershershirestershire sauce
Oil
Flour

I wanted to add egg, but they were 86ed and it turns out weren’t necessary anyway.

Take half the beans and pulse them shortly in the processor to make some chunks — don’t puree. The other half can be chopped up quite nicely with the garlic, onion and chili, cumin, adding just a tad of the bean can liquid to help things along.

Those, along with the breadcrumbs mix very quickly with a spoon in a large bowl, adding the salt and pepper, a little splash of Worchestershire and maybe a tad of olive oil. Just a little sprinkling of flour helped make it stick together a bit more.

This mixture makes about 4 or 5 patties, which you can let chill for a few minutes while getting a few other things ready.

We had a few red potatoes that looked pretty pitiful, so I made fries out of them. Hamburger buns are more readily available in Paris than, say, Dresden, but they are not very good. I used a pack of four small mini chiabata rolls, the prebaked kind. Liberally sprinkling them with milk before baking them makes them not quite as tough.  If you have time, the best buns you’ll ever have are homemade ones: use a regular bread recipe and half – half bread flour and whole wheat flour.

The patties fry on each side for maybe 6 minutes, but handle them carefully as they are somewhat fragile.  Or brush with olive oil before grilling.

We didn’t have much in the way of standard condiments, but this turned out to be a good thing. After all, no matter the recipe, veggie burgers will never be the same as real meat, so why not take it in another direction? We had them on the toasted ciabata rolls with strong mustard, sliced cornichons (there were only 3 left) and lamb’s lettuce (Mache, Feldsalat)

Mom always said I’m a bread eater.  Julie’s mom says the same thing.  But Julie isn’t a bread eater.

French baguettes are delicious, and I believe also low in fat. For this reason, they are only good for one day.  And for all the above reasons,  we tend to accumulate a lot of half-finished stale bread loaves.

Yes, I know you can order a demi-pain but don’t talk back.  This isn’t about good planning, it’s about making lemonade.  Or rather, croutons.

It’s not hard to find a good crouton recipe, but I find it rather tricky to make good croutons.  Too much oil, too much heat, too little this-or-that, and you’ll just have soggy, burnt, yet stale, chunks of bleh.  In fact, I can’t really describe my process for crouton making, as it seems always to be different each time.  Nichtdestotrotz, here goes anyway.

I prefer baguettes from a good bakery.  The ones from the supermarket will work too.  But even while the ones from the supermarket look pretty good, you’ll notice the texture of  the mie is very homogenous and when dried much like styrofoam.

The loaves are best really good and stale.  Like, several days sitting out stale.

Rubbing a clove of garlic on the outside of the load before cutting it up is easier than afterwards.  And should any of this garlic juice survive the heat of the pan later, you’ll get that nice radishy hotness long for the ride.

Make cubes out of your loaf with a serrated breadknife.  Take your time and saw, not too much pressure.

Cubes that fall on the floor go to the floor god.  What, you wanna get a tapeworm?

I don’t use the oven method.  Too easy to burn em.

Some diced garlic is gently heated with some butter, and this is tossed with the cubes.

The cubes are heated in the same pan on medium heat.  A little more butter is added when  no one is looking.  This takes a while, depending on how much bread you have and how small your pan.

When are they sauteed enough?  Hell if I know.  Some of them get a little brown on one side — the cubes will resist turning over — and some will look exactly the same.

Somewhere along the way everything gets a little salt.

The cubes are stored in an airtight container.  I suspect they are better the second day.  They keep a long time. 

You’ll know if it worked out because you’ll notice serving them with everything.  I mean, everything.  Also, the roof of the mouth tends to suffer a bit.

Good thing you asked, tubby.

Yogurt for Lower Fat Baking

Yogurt not only is a tangy dairy treat but it also serves as a great substitute for high-fat ingredients in baking. Low-fat or fat-free yogurt can be used to reduce or replace shortening, oil, butter or sour cream in baked goods. It cuts the fat and adds a creamy texture and tenderness to your recipes. Plus, it’s packed with protein and calcium.

I personally like to use yogurt in making chipatis, the Indian flatbread made in heaven.  Just some flour and yogurt, a pinch of salt.  You mix and knead it, make balls and roll them flat.  Then you heat them in an ungreased pan for about a minute.  Making them puff up is a bit tricky, but not required. Video

Cookin’ With Google

Cookin’ With Google allows you to provide a list of ingredients (what’s in the fridge?) and get back a list of recipes that Google finds for you.

Results may vary. Putting in “Jack and Shit (and we’re fresh out of Jack)” might not be helpful, although it seemed funny at the time at least.

Today marks the Epiphany, the 12th night, which commemorates when the infant Jesus was visited by Zoroastrian astronomers.

In France, it is celebrated by eating La Galette des rois, or frangipane.  It is a diddly-licious almondy cake.

The ritual goes as follows: one person, usually the youngest at the table (though last year it was me, the oldest) assigns each piece to each person.
Here’s the kicker: hidden in the cake is one small ceramic angel figurine!  Whoever gets it in his or her piece is named King or Queen.  The responsibilities of office are marginal, and pretty much the only priviledge is wearing the coveted Burger-King-like crown, which you can do for the rest of the party.  After a few bowles of cidre, you might feel tempted to wear it on the way home on the metro, but you listen to your girlfriend’s better judgement instead.

Have a look at my pictures from Xmas 2008.

Last weekend, Julie, Terry and I celebrated the 4th at a burger joint. Why not? It was great, and Julie, a vegetarian, really liked her veggie burger. She liked it so much she wanted to have another one the very next day. So, I looked ’round the pantry and here’s the recipe I came up with. (more…)