Summer in April: Bittman’s Black Bean Burgers and Oven Fries

In his forthcoming diet/cookbook, Vegan Before 6 (VB6), Mark Bittman has a recipe for bean burgers that far outshines the recipes for bean burgers in his cookbook How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. These are positively loaded with yumminess and flavor.

He lets you choose your beans. I went with 2 cans of black beans. And you’ll need a small onion, roughly chopped; 1 tbs of chopped garlic; 1/2 cup rolled oats; 1 1/2 cups of shredded carrots (he says 4, but I had big carrots and only needed 2); 1/4 cup fresh parsley or cilantro (I used both!); 1 tbs chili powder or other spice mix you like; 1 tsp salt and black pepper (I think I forgot the pepper).

First, I used my food processor to grate my carrots. I had to take them out to measure them, but then they went right back in there after I changed blades. I put everything in with the carrots.

And yes, it’s too full, but it looked pretty! So this is what happened: I had trouble processing it and it came close to being over-processed, but for me, that was not a problem because it makes the burgers lighter and fluffier when you fry them. After processing, the mix went in the fridge for awhile. I took them out when I was ready to form the patties, and then the patties went back in the fridge. I think I let them sit for about half an hour. His recipe says it makes 4 patties, but I ended up making five. Either my hands are small, or they would have been huge burgers.

While the patties were resting in the fridge, I preheated the oven to 425-degrees and cut up four potatoes into fry shapes and tossed them with some olive oil and kosher salt and pepper.

I spread them on a cookie sheet in a single layer and let them bake for about 20 minutes, then I turned them. Be careful not to slice them too thin, or they will shrivel up and get stuck on the cookie sheet. Then they baked for a further 15 minutes while I heated up oil in my frying pan for the burgers.

Because I had over-processed them, I coated the patties in bread crumbs before frying to help them stay together. Each side needed about a 5 minute fry, so everything coincided nicely, so we got a meal that tasted about ten times better than this looks. I am excited about eating the three patties in my fridge…

Oh and we skipped the rolls this time. But you can and probably should eat these with rolls, lettuce leaves, red onion slices, tomatoes, whatever you like on your burgers!