Lentil Almond Burgers

Lentil Almond Burgers

posted by Mel, selected from Eating Well magazine Dec 16, 2008 7:00 am

filed under: entrees, food & recipes, almonds, flaxseed, french lentils,lentils, vegetarian, veggie burger

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These vegetarian burgers are just the thing to have on hand if you’re rushing around or have company for the holidays. Keep them in the fridge or freezer, and pull them out to have on buns or on their own with sliced tomatoes and relish. Or try them with roasted potatoes and roasted broccoli.

INGREDIENTS
6 cups water
1 cup brown lentils or green French lentils (see note)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
3/4 cup finely chopped carrot
1/3 cup finely chopped shallots (about 2 medium)
1/3 cup finely chopped celery (about 1 stalk)
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten (or flaxseed substitute)
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Stir in lentils, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until very tender and beginning to break down, about 25 minutes for brown lentils or 30 minutes for green lentils. Drain in a fine-mesh sieve.

2. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add carrot, shallots and celery and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add almonds, thyme, salt and pepper; continue cooking until the almonds are lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a food processor; add 1 cup of the cooked lentils. Pulse several times, scraping down the sides once or twice, until the mixture is coarsely ground.

3. Transfer to a large bowl; stir in the remaining lentils. Let cool for 10 minutes. Mix in egg yolk (or flaxseed) and lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

4. Form the lentil mixture into 5 patties. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large non-stick skillet, preferably cast-iron, over medium-high heat. Add the patties and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Turn gently and continue to cook until lightly browned and heated through, 3 to 4 minutes more. Serve immediately, or allow to cool then freeze.

Note: French green lentils are smaller and firmer than brown lentils. They cook more quickly, too, in about 20 minutes. They can be found in natural-foods stores and some larger supermarkets.

Nutrition per serving: 228 calories; 9 g fat (1 g saturated fat, 6g mono unsaturated fat); 41 mg cholesterol; 27 g carbohydrates; 11 g protein; 7 g fiber; 276 mg sodium; 467 mg potassium.

Nutrtion Bonus: Folate (53% daily value), Vitamin A (50% dv), Fiber (40% dv), Iron (20% dv), Potassium (16% dv).

1 Carbohydrate Servings.

Exchanges: 1 1/2 starch, 1 very lean meat, 2 fat (mono).

Care2

Upside-Down Shepards Pie

Upside-Down Shepherd's Pie

                                       from My Veggie Kitchen


**WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY-SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING TO BRING YOU THE FOLLOWING LATE-BREAKING NEWS**:

My boyfriend likes to put Bac-Os on everything.
And by everything, I mean EVERYTHING.

I waggled my wtf-eyeball at him when he kept tossing them on some of the pasta dishes I'd made.

But then the one time, he shook them all over my fettucine alfreda, and I was like, Dude, not EVERYTHING needs Bac-Os. Until he convinced me to try it. And I realized that it actually DID taste good with Bac-Os. So I thought, Perhaps he's right after all.

Until this weekend.

This weekend, I made us this upside-down shepherd's pie. And seriously: It was the bomb. It's super-fricking easy, but it's totally yumtastic belly-warming winter food. He took a couple bites, and his eyes lit up. "Holy shit. This is like the best thing ever," he blurted between bites. Then 10 seconds later: the dude is totally shaking Bac-Os all over it.

Now, pasta: I can see. But shepherd's pie? That I tossed a bit of sage into to give it a kind of chicken-pot-pie flavor? AND BAC-OS?!?! I'm sorry, dude: no. That's just gross.

But I think perhaps he's becoming a bad influence. Because the day before, I totally had a hankering for Bac-Os, and I whipped up a quick pasta dish that ended up being delish (some margarine, Bac-Os, flour, veggie broth, nooch, and garlic powder, which tasted strikingly similar to a previous pasta carbonara recipe I've made before and love, but with only half the cooking time):



So: Damn the boy. And damn Bac-Os. I guess that's what I'm trying to say.

But whatever you do, don't damn this shepherd's pie recipe, 'cause it's damn motherf-ing good. No lie. And I don't even like tater tots.

**WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY-SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING**




INGREDIENTS:

• 6 c. mashed potatoes


• 1 lb tater tots (half a bag)


• 3 T. Earth Balance Margarine


• 1 small onion, chopped


• 2 cloves garlic, minced


• 2 c. broccoli florets


• 1/4 lb mushrooms, sliced


• 1/4 c. flour


• 1/2 c. frozen peas


• 1/2 c. frozen corn


• 1 can chickpeas, drained


• 2 c. vegetable broth


• 1/2 c. soy milk


• 2 T. nutritional yeast


• 1/2 t. salt


• 1/4 t. pepper


• A shake or two of sage powder (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Melt margarine in a sauce pan. Add onion and mushrooms and saute until soft. Stir in garlic and broccoli and cook until the garlic is aromatic. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly for a couple minutes longer. Add the remaining filling ingredients. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently and remove from heat and set aside. The sauce should have thickened a bit.

Spread mashed potatoes in a 9 x 13 casserole, spreading some of the potatoes up the sides. Pour in the gravy and veggies. Spread tater tots over the top. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 45-60 minutes, until the tater tots are browned and the gravy is bubbly.

COOK'S TIPS:

This can be made with any combination of veggies that you want and can be as simple as mixing a bag of frozen veggies with gravy and adding a can of beans or seitan strips. Just make sure you have five or six cups of filling. Also, I kept the nutritional yeast to a minimum at my kids' request. I ended up sprinkling some extra over the top for myself. You may just want to add some more.

(Recipe from My Veggie Kitchen)

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Chickpea Cutlets

Veganomicon's Chickpea Cutlets

So oh my god, I've been SO tired of hearing about the Veganomicon Chickpea Cutlets. (Ok, not really--but seriously: who HASN'T cooked them and blogged about them yet?!? I mean, other than me??) Which means that it was, of course, the first recipe I wanted to try when my copy of Veganomicon finally showed up in the mail. And because of all the praise they've received, I went in thinking "These things better make my fricking CLIT fall off from their tastiness if they're gonna live up to their reputation." 

So last Saturday night I scrounged together all the ingredients and whipped up the baked version. 

They were a bit flat when I removed them from the oven, so I was skeptical. They smelled scrumptious though, but still: High standards.

I had also decided to make some mashed potatoes on the side--a fairly standard recipe with some chickpeas thrown in--and I topped these with the cheezy sauce from Veganomicon as well.

Finally: Pics. Napkin. I sat down with a beer and a plate full of steaming Veganomicon grub.

One bite of the chickpea cutlets, and clunk... No no no... Plink (I don't think my clit is large enough to warrant a Clunk), there went my clit, down the inside of my pantleg and bouncing across the floor to wind up under my couch, stuck in a wad of cat hair, just SLIGHTLY out of reach of my arm. DAMN YOU, CHICKPEA CUTLETS! YOU ARE AS TASTY AS EVERYONE SAYS YOU ARE!

Truly and sincerely: these things are SO very good. Especially for having such a simple and (seemingly) bland variety of ingredients. Next time I make them, I think I'm going to try forming them into little dippable-sized chicken-nugget-type chunks, because they kind of reminded me of nuggets. 

And for those of you who haven't tried them yet: Don't mask the flavor in gravies and sauces. Just squeeze out a nice side of agave nectar and use it for dipping sauce. IT WILL FLOOR YOU. The agave nectar offers the perfect set of complimentary flavors for the cutlets. You will not be disappointed. 

*Screwing clit back on*

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 c. chickpeas 
  
• 2 T. olive oil


• 1/2 c. vital wheat gluten


• 1/2 c. plain breadcrumbs


• 1/4 c. vegetable broth or water


• 2 T. soy sauce


• 2 garlic cloves , pressed or grated


• 1/2 t. lemon zest


• 1/2 t. dried thyme


• 1/2 t. Hungarian paprika


• 1/4 t. dried rubbed sage


• to taste olive oil , for pan frying or baking

DIRECTIONS

Mash the chickpeas and oil together until no whole chickpeas remain. Add remaining ingredients and knead for 3 minutes until strings of gluten have formed. Preheat large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Divide dough into four equal pieces. Flatten each piece and stretch to roughly 4" x 6" 

PAN-FRYING: Add a thin layer of olive oil to to the pan. Place cutlets in the pan and cook on each side for 6 to 7 minute They are ready when lightly brown and firm to the touch. 

BAKING: Preheat oven to 375°F, and lightly oil baking sheet. Brush both sides of each patty with olive oil, place on baking sheet, and bake for 20 minutes. Flip patties and bake another 8 to 10 minutes until firm and golden brown.

(Recipe from Veganomicon, posted at RECIPEZAAR)

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Plunkett Burritos

Delectable Plunkett Burritos

It's been one of those weeks. One of those irritating irritating weeks. So I've been trying to work up the energy to post. And then I realized that this recipe was actually sitting in my inbox, so I figured I'd keep it short and sweet.

Last week a friend of a friend of a friend (who is also the son of a son of a mother--you following?) cooked dinner for several of us when he was in town. The sweet perk about the fact that he cooked dinner for us is that he's a chef (is/was--not sure if you can ever RETIRE that position, even if you DO move on to a differesnt type of job). So dinner wasn't just good, it was sweet-good-god-tasty like something you'd get at a real restaurant.

Thankfully he was kind enough to jot down the recipe, and I must say: if you have time to whip these up, they are WELL worth it. Wonderfully simple ingredients and yet chock full of a variety of crisp and spicy flavors. I liked it so much that I ate two huge burritos, and I had a grand ol' stomachache the rest of the night, but it was well worth it. So, thanks, RP. =)



TOFU AND MARINADE

INGREDIENTS:

• juice of 2 fresh limes or one lime juice squeezed


• .25 medium red onion rough chopped


• 2 T. agave nectar


• 1/2 t. cumin


• 1 t. salt


• 1 t. pepper


• 1/2 c. canola oil


• .25 bunch of cilantro

DIRECTIONS

mix together and taste for salt pepper and if needs more lime juice or oil. put 1/2 oil in then add rest because I am not sure that it is to much or to little.

cut tofu in desired size I think longer thinner strips might be better the second time around.

put in zip lock bag.

let sit over night.

Bread the tofu with whole wheat flour, cayenne pepper, and salt and pepper.




AVOCADO TOMATO SALAD

INGREDIENTS:

• three avocados


• 1/2 red onion


• three tomatoes


dressing:


• 1 Clementine


• fresh or 1 squeezed lime juice


• 1/2 bunch of cilantro


• 1/2 t. cumin


• 1/2 t. cayenne pepper


• 1 T. agave nectar


• salt pepper to taste


• 1/2 c. canola oil

DIRECTIONS

add together and stir up well again add oil slowly all measurements are not exact. make sure it has enough salt.




SLAW TOPPING

INGREDIENTS:

• julienne cabbage


• Chipotle Tabasco


• salt

DIRECTIONS:

Mix together to taste. Don't be afraid of the salt 



ALTOGETHER NOW:

fry up tofu, drain well, and enjoy. dont forget to warm up your tortillas.

(We assembled our burritos by taking a warm tortilla, filling it up with the tofu and avocado tomato salad, and topping it off with the slaw.)

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Strawberry Asparagus Salad

Strawberry Asparagus Salad

I cooked for my friend Mo this weekend, a fierce feast of asparagus and pasta.

This asparagus dish is based off of a recipe from this vegetarian fusiony cookbook I have at home (whose name is eluding me right now), and it's one that I've always drooled over (since it sounds so unusual) but never got around to making. However, since I have a fiendish hatred of buying ingredients that I'll never use again, which just seems so wasteful (in this case, strawberry vinegar), I made a few alterations to the original recipe.

The end result was surprisingly scrumptious. I suppose I shouldn't be shocked that strawberries and asparagus taste so good together, but I am. I AM!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb. fresh asparagus


• 1 pint fresh strawberries


• 1 T. vegetable oil


• 6 T. apple cider vinegar


• 2 T. water


• Sugar

DIRECTIONS

Fill a smaller-size sauce pan with cold water, a pinch or two of sugar, and 5 T. apple cider vinegar. Bring to a boil. Add asparagus and cook until just tender.

Drain asparagus and place in a bowl. Drizzle 1 T. veggie oil, 1 T. apple cider vinegar, and 2 T. water over the asparagus and mix it up a bit. Let it sit in this marinade while you fiddle with your strawberries.

Take 7 of your not-quite-so-attractive strawberries and set them aside. Slice up your remaining strawberries into quarters. Place them in a bowl, and sprinkle a t. or so of sugar on them to draw out the juices.

Cut off the tops of your 7 strawberries and toss into a food processer. Blend until smooth.

After your asparagus has marinated for about 30 minutes or so, add your strawberries and mix around. Serve topped with some of your strawberry dressing.

Makes about 2 salads.

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Southwestern Black Bean Potato Salad

Southwestern Black Bean Potato Salad

I cooked out this weekend for the 4th of July. And because I am patriotic, I did so while wearing a large man-diaper made out of an American flag and a necklace sculpted from the bones of Iraqi terrorists. It was quite a sight to behold. Patriotism at its best, one might say.

Between stereotyping anyone with dark skin as a potential terrorist, pasting my new I HEART GEORGE W. sticker on my car, and ripping off the head of a chicken with my bare teeth, I *ALSO* found time to whip up some of Susan V's delicious numblies, and damn if they weren't good!

If potato salad were a lover, and I was going to make sweet sweet love to it, I'd want it dressed in exactly this potato-y lingerie. Fiery red tomato bustier. Black bean pasties. Garters held up by golden gems of corn. And a sweet damp moistness, trickling its way down the side of its bowl. 

Hot sexy patriotic potatoes at their motherf-ing best, my friends.

Oh, and not only does it LOOK sexy, it tastes sexy too, with just the right amount of chipotle to get you a little bit sweaty.

Because as you know and as I know, 4th of July is *ALL* about sweet hot patriotic potato sex.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 egg's worth of egg replacer (prepared according to the box's directions)


• 2 pounds small red potatoes


• 1 c. fresh, frozen, or canned corn kernels


• 1/2 c. finely chopped red pepper


• 1/2 c. chopped green onions


• Two 15-oz. cans black beans, rinsed and drained (3 cups cooked beans)


• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped


• 1 large tomato, chopped


• 1 -2 T. chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped


• 1/4 c. fresh lime juice


• 1 clove garlic, pressed or minced


• 3/4 t. salt


• 1/2 t. ground cumin


• 1/4 t. chili powder


• 1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Whip up your egg replacer according to the directions on the box--whip with a whisk until frothy and set aside.

Place potatoes in a saucepan, and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 20 minutes or until tender. Drain; cool. Cut potatoes into 3/4-inch cubes. Place potatoes in a large bowl. Add corn, red pepper, onions, black beans (rinsed and drained very thoroughly), jalapeño pepper, and tomatoes and mix well.

Remove 1 chipotle chile from can. Chop chile to measure 1 to 2 tablespoons. (Reserve remaining chiles and adobo sauce for another use--I like to mince them and freeze them in ice cube trays.) Combine chopped chipotle chile, egg replacer, lime juice, garlic, salt, cumin, chili powder, and black pepper, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle the lime juice mixture over potato mixture, and toss gently. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour, stirring every now and then. Taste and add more lime juice as needed before serving atop mixed greens, if desired.

(Obviously the only thing I changed on the recipe was the flax-seed/water mixture, since I didn't have flax seed. I subbed in 1 egg's worth of egg-replacer instead.)

(about 5-6 servings)

(Recipe from the FatFree Vegan Kitchen)

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Falafel in Pita with Yogurt Sauce

Recipe courtesy Guy Fieri, 2008

Show: Guy's Big Bite Episode: Middle East Feast

• Cook Time

  20 min

• Level

  Easy

• Yield

  4 servings

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Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons canola oil, plus extra for frying
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 (14-ounce) cans chick peas, drained
• 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 5 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups freshly chopped parsley leaves
• 3/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro leaves
• Pitas, for sandwich
• Toppings: shredded lettuce and chopped tomato, sliced cucumbers
• Yogurt Dipping Sauce, recipe follows

Directions

In medium skillet over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons oil and sweat onion and peppers 2 to 3 minutes then garlic and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.

In a food processor, pulse together chick peas, red chili flakes, ground cumin, the egg, salt and black pepper to form a coarse consistency. Then add flour, parsley, and cilantro. Pulse until mixture starts pulling from the sides of the food processor.

Remove mixture to a large bowl and mix in the onion mixture. Chill falafel until ready to cook.

Roll falafel dough into 1-inch rounds. Then form rounds into an oblong quenelle shape, like a football.

In a thick-bottomed skillet heat 1/2 inch of canola oil over medium heat to 350 degrees F. Cook falafel balls a few at a time, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Be sure to turn them so they do not burn or stick to the bottom of the pan. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt while still hot.

Open the pita bread to make pockets. Place 3 to 4 falafels inside. Stuff with lettuce tomato and cucumbers and drizzle sauce generously on the inside. Serve immediately.

Yogurt Dipping Sauce:

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon freshly chopped cilantro leaves
• 2 teaspoons freshly chopped parsley leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Mix ingredients together in a small bowl and chill until ready to use.

Yield: 1 cup