Bean Burgers, Greens, and Baby Turnips

After I made the pot full of Field Peas for one of the Dark Days Challenge meals I've been making, I had a lot of beans left over and decided to try and make Bean Burgers.  (I actually made this on December 22nd, I just forgot to post it.)

I actually got started a little late with the Dark Days Challenge, so this can be my make up recipe.  : )

This meal is also made primarily of S.O.L.E. (Sustainable, Organic, Local, Ethical) ingredients.

This is a very rough recipe because I just kept adding things until it smelled really good and it would hold together while cooking.  Here's pretty much what I did:

Bean Burgers

• 3 cups cooked beans of your choice (I used the field pea mixture I made on Dec. 20th, because that's what I had on hand.  My beans happened to have some sausage in them, but you could easily make this vegan by leaving it out.  I really didn't see where it enhanced the flavor of the beans much anyway.)
• 3 slices of frozen GF bread (I used the stray pieces of bread that were in the freezer, mostly end pieces.)
• a hand full of Greens.  (I'm not sure what kind of greens I used, I think I used Broccoli Greens.)
• 1-2 teaspoons of Cumin (I just love Cumin, but you can use your favorite flavor.  After I added some of the other ingredients, I'm really not sure I needed it.)
• About a Tablespoon of Chipotle Seasoning Mix (I used Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle Seasoning Mix.  I've heard some GF people have had reactions to Mrs. Dash seasonings, but I never have.)
• Liquid Smoke to taste (I probably used a tablespoon or so.)
• GF Worcestershire Sauce (again I probably used about a tablespoon, I just kind of dribbled it in there.)
• 2 Tablespoons of GF flour  (I put this in when the above ingredients simply wouldn't hold together and form and burger that wasn't smushy.  I'm not sure it did any good.  I tried to make another burger after adding this and it still didn't stay together very well.)
• 1 egg (when I added this the burgers started to hold together.)
• 1/4 cup flax seed meal (let this sit in 1/2 cup of warm water for a while - if your mixture is thick you can use more water, mine was too runny.  I used the flax seed meal like this to try and get more adhesiveness without adding more egg.  I think it worked, they really started to form into burgers then.)

As you can see this was a trial and error recipe.  If you eat eggs, you can probably add 2 eggs and leave out the flax, if you don't eat eggs I'm not sure if just the flax will do it, you may have to use an egg replacer.

Simply put everything in your food processor and make it into a thick mixture.  It will not form into burgers in your hands like meat does.  You will have to spoon it out onto a griddle.  (or you can bake them, I did both.)

They take a long time to cook on the griddle, and this recipe makes a lot of burgers.  So I put them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and baked them at 375F for about 15mins, or until they were a little firm.  Do not try to remove them from the parchment paper until they are cooled, they will just come apart.  I pulled the paper off on a cooling rack and let them sit.  When they were cooled they came right off of the parchment paper and they were much firmer than when I first took them out of the oven.  I froze most of these and when I use them I put them on my griddle to warm them and brown them on the outside.  The baked ones don't really look very appetizing.  You really need to either grill them or cook them on a griddle or something like that right before you serve them.

Stuart and I both liked these burgers, (he's convinced I'll never be able to make them the same again, and he's probably right, but I bet I can make some that are just as tasty.)  The Chipotle seasoning really came through. Stuart said they tasted like they were barbecued.  He's really a meat man, so this was a great complement coming from him.  He also said, this recipe was a keeper....that is if I can do it again.  : )

Here's a picture of the first one I made, I ate it simply with a little mustard, and some Homemade Sauerkraut that I made.

In the first picture we had the burgers with Stir Fried Greens and Turnips.

I'm not sure what kind of greens I used.  I think it was the rest of the Broccoli Greens.
I didn't cut them into small pieces like I usually do and they came out a little tough, actually a lot tough, but they had a good flavor.

I made the turnips first.

Baby Turnips in Butter and seasoning

• Butter - enough to cover the bottom of your pan.  I think I used almost 2 tablespoons.
• Baby turnips washed and cut into thin rounds.  (Baby turnips do not need to be peeled simply wash them and trim off the ends.)
• Garlic and Herb seasoning.  (I used a mixture I made up, Mrs. Dash makes a good Garlic and Herb seasoning, or you can just use your favorite herbs and spices.

Heat the butter in a flat sautee pan.  Melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the turnips in a single layer.  Sprinkle with seasoning.  After about 2 minutes flip all the turnips over.  You can add some more seasoning if you like.  Cook until the turnips are tender, this will depend on how thin you sliced your turnips.

Both Stuart and I loved this.  I rarely ever cook with butter but found a few recipes that used turnips and butter together and decided to give it a try.  I will probably use Earth Balance Buttery Spread next time.

Stir Fired Greens

I cooked these in the same pan I made the turnips in.  So first, remove the turnips and place aside.

• 1 bunch of greens (I used a small bunch of Broccoli Greens, at least I think they were broccoli greens, because there is just the 2 of us, and it was all I had left.)
• a little bit of wine (a couple of splashes)
• a couple of tablespoons (I didn't measure.) of Mirin (a sweet Japanese rice wine, you can usually find it in the oriental cooking section.  You could use any sweet wine, or Rice Vinegar with a little bit of sugar.)
• 2 teaspoons of minced garlic (to make this much easier, I keep a big jar of minced garlic in my refrigerator.  If I've run out of fresh garlic, or I'm simply in a hurry, I use the jarred stuff.)

Heat the pan over a medium high heat, add the garlic and start it cooking.  When the pan starts turning brown, this will probably be pretty fast, put a couple of splashes of wine in the pan and deglaze it.  (that means to scrape all the yummy good brown stuff off into your sauce.)

After deglazing the pan, add the greens.  I found there was not enough liquid so I added some Mirin.  This was a great idea because it really cut the bitterness of the greens.  (just like in the Stir Fried Collard recipe I posted a couple of days ago.  See a link to it under the recipe tab at the top.)

Mix all of this up so the greens are completely covered with the sauce.  (I used my silicone tongs for this and just keep grabbing and twisting.)  Cook until the greens are wilted and a pretty green color.  You may need to cover and let them steam a little.  I usually turn off the burner at this point.

With this recipe, I pushed all the greens to one side and added the turnips back to the pan, then covered and turned the heat off.  This warmed the turnips back up.

We were very pleased with the flavor of this whole meal.  However, I suggest cutting the greens up into small pieces before cooking.  (and always remove the stems.  If they have thin stems just cut off the bottom part, but if you are making Kale or Collards remove the stem all the way up through the leaf.  This can be a very bitter piece, and when stir frying it will not get done as fast as the leaves.)

What ingredients that I used were S.O.L.E. ingredients?
The Field Pea mixture.
The Organic Greens in the Bean Burgers and the Stir Fry (they were in my Box from Tiny Farm, located in Hillsborough, NC.  Just a few miles from where we live in Durham.)
The Organic Baby Turnips (also from my Tiny Farm box)
The egg I used in the Bean Burgers (Organic and Cage Free Eggs from Latta Farms in Hillsborough, NC)

I hope you are enjoying these S.O.L.E. food recipes as much as I'm enjoying making them.