When I have a veggie burger, I don’t want it to look and feel like meat—I want to celebrate the plant that it’s based upon. The bean burger does this perfectly, and while black beans tend to be the go-to ingredient of choice for most bean burgers, I’m going with a white bean burger that showcases the flavours of the mediterranean.
I’m basing my bean burger on this New York Times recipe, only I halved the recipe. I also made my beans from scratch, which I frequently do because it’s cheap, it’s a comforting activity, and the beans just taste better. I start with two cups of dried navy beans, poured into a large pot. Add twice the amount of cold water as there are beans. Add your aromatics, which will flavour the beans (I’m using a sprig of rosemary, a clove of garlic, two bay leaves). No salt! Salt comes at the very end. Cover this with a lid and let those beans soak overnight.
In the morning, put the bean pot on a medium-high burner and let those beans cook for about 2 hours, skimming the foam from the top to encourage a clear broth, and stirring occasionally. You’ll know the beans are ready when you can easily smash one with a spoon and the inside is nice and creamy.
Once those beans are cooled down, I pour them into mason jars and let them sit in the fridge for up to a week, to incorporate in soups, stews, dips, you name it. They’re a golden gift in your fridge awaiting your imagination.
Beans aren’t the only thing going into my burger: I’m adding 1 diced onion, 2 minced garlic cloves, about 1/2 cup shredded carrot, and the juice of half a lemon. The onions go into an oiled pan to sautee until tender, then add the carrots and garlic cloves for 1-2 minutes more, until the carrots are tender and the garlic has released its perfume.
Cut the crusts off of two pieces of stale bread, break the bread slices into chunks and give them a whirl in the food processor to make fresh breadcrumbs. Save the bread crusts to make homemade croutons—great for soups and salads.
Remove the bread crumbs from the food processor. Into the food processor go:
1-1/2 cups of cooked beans (no liquid), the lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste and blitz that until you’ve got a rustic bean puree.
Into a large mixing bowl, dump the bean puree, the breadcrumbs, sage, 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley, onion and carrot mixture, as well as half of a beaten egg. Now get in there a mix with your hands.
Once the mixture is fully incorporated, form four patties, placing them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
These are ready to go into to the fridge, tightly covered with plastic wrap, for 2 hours or even up to 24 hours. You want them good and cold before they hit the hot frying pan.
Meanwhile, let’s build some mediterranean flavours into this bean burger. The 1990s are calling and they’re asking when we get to have tomato pesto again. Well, today is that day, inspired by David Lebovitz’s version. Here’s my mise en place.
Back to the trusty food processor: blitz 1 cup of sundried tomatoes that have been packed in oil (reserve the oil), 1/4 cup of toasted walnuts, 1 tsp minced rosemary.
Add to the tomato paste: 1/2 cup of the sundried tomato oil (top it up with olive oil if you don’t have enough), 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan, 1 tsp finely minced fresh rosemary, fresh cracked pepper. Let the food processor do its magic until you have a nice paste.
That goes into a little jar that can be kept in the fridge and used with pasta or on crostini. Another flavour gift. We’ll use a generous schmear of this for our burger.
I’m topping my bean burger with sauteed shitake mushrooms that have been seasoned with salt and pepper. Simple.
Once the mushrooms are cooked, I’m ready to fry my bean burger and get this party started. I butter Martin’s potato buns. They’ll go butter side down into a medium fry pan just before plating.
Next, I take my bean burgers out of the fridge. They’ll go into a cast iron frying pan that’s glistening with olive oil on medium-high heat and cook, about 3-4 minutes per side. (Pro tip: use two spatulas to encourage a good burger flip without things falling apart).
That patty’s looking golden brown, so I get my buns down until they’re nice and golden.
Time to build my bean burger. Tomato pesto goes down on the bottom half of the bun.
Burger goes down, topped with the shitake mushrooms.
I top that with a few sprigs of sunflower sprouts that have been brightened with a lemon/olive oil dressing. And I smear a little bit of mayo on the top bun.
It’s a delicious burger, but it’s missing something. Craig to the rescue. He pulls out some aged cheddar and melts it on his version. It does the trick, but you could also opt for crumbled feta and chopped kalamata olives. I’ve also swapped the mayo for cream cheese or goat cheese and it’s equally good.
It’s a lovely veggie burger and a great excuse to do something with those sundried tomatoes that are sitting in your fridge!
— Trish Hennessy, with Craig Pickthorne’s finishing touch.
A Year in Sandwiches 