eggplant and white bean burgers

Friday, August 19, 2011

eggplant and white bean burgers

These are the aforementioned veggie burgers. I didn’t realize this when I put them on the meal schedule for this week, but they’re super involved; you have to chop and prepare several sets of vegetables before you even make the patties. It’s kind of a pain, especially if you’re me, and opted to made hummus from scratch for the recipe instead of doing the smart thing and buying a container from the store. Of course, I’m also the person who spent two-and-a-half hours making hamburger buns in order to avoid a trip to the store, so this is kind of a recurring problem.

IN ANY CASE.

These veggie burgers — made from a base of roasted eggplant and cannelini beans — are time-consuming, but delicious. They are also completely vegan, since they don’t need an egg to bind the mixture.

Roasted Eggplant and White Bean Burgers

Makes four large patties

2 teaspoons olive oil, plus more to brush on eggplant before roasting
1 medium red onion, diced
1 15 oz can cannelloni beans (though, any white bean will work)
1 medium eggplant, sliced into thick rounds
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts
2 cloves garlic, crushed -1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 cup hummus of your choice
1 cup breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 450˚ degrees.

Places eggplant slices on a foil-covered cookie sheet, and brush each side with olive oil. Bake for ten minutes on one side, then flip the slices and bake for another 5 minutes.

While the eggplant is roasting, heat the 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a skillet and sauté the diced red onions for 15 minutes, stirring often, until the onions begin to caramelize. At this point, the eggplant should be done, so remove it from the oven to cool, and turn the temperature down to 400˚.

Place the eggplant, onion, beans, hummus, parsley, pine nuts, garlic, sea salt and cumin into your food processor. Pulse several times to lightly combine the mixture, and then process for about 20 seconds. Move the eggplant mixture to a large bowl, add bread crumbs, and mix until completely incorporated. Make four large patties (use your hands!) and place them on a baking sheet with aluminum foil (you should just reuse the one you used for the eggplant). Bake for 40 minutes, flipping at the halfway mark.

Serve on hamburger buns, with greek yogurt, a little hummus, lettuce and tomato. Enjoy!