Adventourous Black Bean Burger

As you know, I've been chronicling my year of learning to cook and experimenting with new recipes. Up until the other day, however,there hasn't really been a lot of experimenting going on. I've been following recipes carefully and closely, always careful not to wander too far off the beaten path least disaster follow. With my cooking confidence at an all time high after my foray into the ice cream cake relm, I decided I was ready to go rouge (well,somewhat). 


Ever since the weather has gotten warmer, my appetite has begun to make its transition from craving warm comfort foods, to colder, lighter foods. I've been on a fruit and veggie kick (more so than usual if that's possible), but since I still need to make sure I'm getting enough protein, I had to get a little creative...hello black bean burger! I've been wanting to try making my own veggie burger patties for a while now and with the summer grilling season quickly approaching, there seemed like no better time than the present to give it a whirl. Since I had about a cup of already cooked black beans that I broke out of the freezer before heading to work that morning, I just has to find a  base recipe to guide me. Then the experimental alterations began. As I mentioned earlier, I wasn't totally rouge since I used a recipe to set up the foundation for which the finished product was born; but after this creation I am definitely in ridding a bike with only one training wheel territory :)


Veggie Black Bean Burger
(original recipe found on a blog with a similar name)


Ingredients

• 1 cup black beans (cooked)
• 1/4 T ground flax seed + 3/4 T water
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 T tomato sauce
• 1/8 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 cup veggies (blended in food processor...I probably used a little more for fun)

Preparation

1. Peel garlic, chop in food processor on high
2. Add black beans, cumin, and salt to processor. Pulse until mixture resembles a chunky black bean dip
3. In a small bowl, mix together ground flax and water. Let stand for 5 minutes
4. Transfer mixture from food processor to large bowl, stir in bread crumbs, tomato sauce, flax and veggie mixture
5. Cook--either on grill or frying pan. I ended up doing both because the grill pan I was using wasn't conducive to the burger's delicate structure and it kept breaking apart in the slats. Live and learn. It was still delish!