Black Bean and Walnut Burgers

201843_124755460

Life being what it is, and my lack of motivation for blog posting, here’s a simple recipe for some burgers.  They’re easy.  All you need is a food processor, a mixing bowl, spatula, baking sheet, and that’s pretty much it.  Measuring spoons, too, if you’re in the mood for precise measurements.

Black Bean and Walnut Burgers 

1 cup walnuts, lightly toasted (you don’t want them completely raw, but not completely toasted either)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup quinoa, cooked
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs (the can I have isn’t vegan, which makes me wonder why milk is sneaked into everything like it knows the deal)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 heaping tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 heaping tsp smoked paprika (optional, but it adds in that nice kind of charred taste you get from a grill without having a grill)
1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flaxmeal, 3 tbsp water, mix and set aside for two minutes)

In your food processor, mix together all of the ingredients aside from the bread crumbs and quinoa.  You want it to resemble a wet dough almost.  Scrape sides if you’ve got some errant spices (my paprika likes to cling to the sides). Some chunks are okay.  Texture and whatnot.

After this, add the mixture to a mixing bowl and add in the quinoa and bread crumbs.  Mix together pretty well.  You don’t want to have bread crumbs hanging out.

Scoop out 1/3 cup of the mixture and press into a patty shape.  You get about six patties out of this mixture.  You can bake them at 375* F for 15-18 minutes, flipping halfway, or you can pan fry them for 2-3 minutes a side.  I didn’t have time to babysit a pan today, so I made mine in the oven.  They freeze spectacularly well, and work well as ground “beef” crumbles in spaghetti sauce.

Fair warning, they do dry out a little in the oven, so pan frying is recommended, but if you’re okay with dousing things in barbecue sauce like I am, then you’ll be fine with oven baked.

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Sorry there’s no photo with this one.  Melted cheese is hard to photograph before it turns kind of gloppy, and people wanted to eat right away.  Next time, though!

25 ounce can hominy, drained and rinsed
15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 pint of mushrooms, sliced thin
1 mango, small dice
1/2 cup onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup vegetable stock
8 ounces shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
vegetable oil, as needed
5-8 poblano peppers

Heat the oven to 375 F, and line a sheet pan with either foil or parchment paper.  Rub the peppers with oil until coated, then place on the sheet pan.  Roast for about half an hour, or until the skins start to blister.  Remove the peppers from the oven and place in a large bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat about 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat, and then combine the hominy, black beans, mushrooms, mango, onion, garlic, and the spices.  Cook for about three minutes, and then add in the vegetable stock.  Cover and let cook for three more minutes, and then remove the cover.  Continue cooking until there is very little liquid left in the pan, and the onions and mango are soft.

Remove the peppers from the bowl and peel the skins off.  Cut a slit along one side and open carefully.  Remove the seeds and the core.  Once the peppers are all deseeded and peeled, spoon some of the filling onto the inside of the pepper, and top with some cheese, about a tablespoon.  Fold over the sides so the filling is tucked in, and top with more cheese.  Do this for all of the peppers.  (You may have leftover filling, but that’s okay, this makes a great burrito or taco filling as well.)

Bake the peppers at 375 for about ten minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.