Week 2: Spicy Black Bean Burgers

We're in week 2 of trying new foods made with real food. Last week we had some yummy stuff (the soup definitely still wins) and some slightly questionable combinations - "shepherd's pie" made with broccoli, cheesy sauce and sweet potatoes... an interesting combination of flavours that are unlikely to be repeated!

Black beans are really healthy so tonight I had a go at homemade black bean burgers. I found the recipe here. One of the fun things is that Fiona likes to help, so she will sit in the high chair and stir things and add ingredients to the bowl. Here are most of the ingredients we used tonight...

Fiona helped to mash up the beans and then Daddy came home so she took a break.

After everything was mixed together I had a mushy pungent mixture. I was a little concerned about the amount of spice the recipe called for - I've never added a tablespoon of cumin to anything before, so I didn't add quite the whole tablespoon of that or the chili powder.

I didn't have any breadcrumbs and didn't feel like making any, so I used panko. I don't have a food processer to finely chop things, so I just chopped it pretty small with my knife. I used a lot less breadcrumbs than the recipe specified to try to keep the burgers moist, but patted some on the outside to make them easier to handle. Here they are, ready to go in the oven...

I made a kind of dodgy packet of pasta/veggie/cheesy thing to go with them. I would have liked salad, but I'm trying to avoid buying any groceries since we're leaving for 2 weeks on Friday and our fridge is pretty bare. Ben gave the side dish a 2/10, and I agree, it was bad.

However, the burgers were great! After they were cooked I topped them with blue cheese and broiled them for a minute along with some bread (since I didn't have burger buns). I may have also added mayo to mine...

Mmmm. They were moist and flavourous. Definitely not over spiced (next time I'd use the whole tablespoonfuls, and a little more salt). Next time I'd add some corn too, I think that would be good. Ben gave the burgers a 7 or 8, but thought the blue cheese was too intense. I have 2 left so we'll have them with cheddar tomorrow).

Using my scientific scale (disaster, questionable, good, repeat, make for company) they are a 'repeat, with further modifications'. And they were really quick to make, so that gives them extra points too.