Some nights the husband works late and I decide it's time for a girly dinner. I say "girly dinner" because the husband usually likes to have some sort of meat in the meal. I'll make something vegetarian, and afterwards he might say something like "this was delicious--- but next time can we add chicken?"
I'm not against meat-- I do try and eat sustainably farmed meat-- but I also do like to eat vegetarian for dinner at least once a week and usually don't have any meat for lunch. I also have a weird thing against chicken. In college, in the house I lived in, we made meals together and I happened to live with a bunch of girls who would only eat chicken. No red meat, no pork, no fish, nothing. And let me tell you, after eating poorly prepared chicken for four years, you kind of have a problem with eating it. I've been out of college for awhile, but I still have issues with eating that bird.
So I eat a lot of other proteins-- like black beans. I'm obsessed with this one black bean burger at a local bar near our house, so I tried to recreate it and was pretty pleased with the result.
ingredients:
one can low-salt black beans, rinsed and drained
3 tbs olive oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 egg white, lightly beaten
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
red pepper to taste
3 tbs of panko bread crumsb, plus two more cups to roll the patties in
In a blender, pulse the black beans with egg, garlic and salt. Do not overblend, the bean shape should still be slightly visible. (I pulse about 20 times with my lame blender.)
Scrape the bean mixture into a bowl and stir in the spices and bread crumbs.
Form into four patties.
Heat a skillet over medium heat, and grease liberally.
Dredge the patties through the panko and cook in the pan, 10 minutes should do it.
Serve on a bun, or with a mixed green salad.
xo, erika
