Rouses_FB_July_August_2017

the Burger issue

Crescent Dragonwagon’s Je Ne Sais Quoi Ultimate Veggie Burgers (vegan) Refried beans, walnuts and tempeh add heft and heartiness; and shiitake mushrooms double down on umami savor. These are vegan. WHAT YOU WILL NEED 1 (15.4-ounce) can vegetarian organic refried black beans, such as Amy’s ½ cup walnuts ½ cup cooked brown rice, either leftover (previously cooked), or one of the packaged pre-cooked brown rices, such as Seeds of Change® or Uncle Ben’s® 3 to 4 tablespoons mild oil, such as sunflower or canola, plus a bit for oiling a baking sheet 7 ounces smoked tempeh strips, such as Tofurky Maple Smoked Bacon or Lightlife® Fakin’ Bacon 5 ounce sliced, trimmed shiitake mushrooms 3 tablespoons cornstarch Salt and freshly cracked pepper Buns (preferably whole-grain and toasted) Any of your favorite burger fixings: mayo, ketchup, mustard, sliced red onions, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, sliced cheddar or Swiss cheese, avocado HOW TO PREP Place the refried beans in a medium-large bowl and set aside. Place the walnuts in the food processor and pulse-chop until coarsely ground (you don’t want them smooth). Add the brown rice, and pulse again several times. Transfer half of the walnut-rice mixture to the bowl with the refried beans. Leave the other half in the processor for now. Heat half the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and add the tempeh, browning for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until golden. Remove the tempeh from the skillet, blot on paper towels to remove excess oil, and let the slices cool slightly. Add remaining oil to skillet and add the shiitake mushrooms. Sauté, stirring often, until the mushrooms no longer look raw and have started to grow limp, about 3 to 5 minutes. Crumble or slice half the tempeh strips into pieces about ¼ inch wide. Add remaining tempeh to the processor. When shiitakes are done, transfer them to the processor as well, along with the cornstarch, chipotle and sauce, and parsley. Pulse-chop again, making a slightly chunky purée. Add this to the bowl with the refried beans, and combine all the ingredients, making a thick mixture. Season to taste. Form into 8 burgers, each about 3½ inches wide and 1 inch thick. Ideally, refrigerate the burgers for an hour or two before baking. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Either oil a baking sheet or line it with a non-stick silicone sheet. Place the burgers on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove pan from oven. Using a thin-bladed spatula, carefully turn over each burger. Continue baking for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until burgers are firm and a little crusty-looking on the outside. Serve hot, immediately, on buns with the fixings, or serve at room temperature. Leftovers, should there be any, are excellent cold in a next-day sandwich. NOTES: • If you wish to grill, rather than bake, these, the refrigerated rest is a must . Plus, you will need to brush each chilled burger on both sides with a little oil or melted butter before grilling. • Since you have the chipotles open, you can easily purée another one and some sauce. Stir it into a bit of mayo, for, of course, chipotle mayonnaise.

To arrive at this veggie burger perfection, I’ve found I like a smoky, grill-y element (even if I bake the burger), as well as a bit of spicy kick and just the teeniest smidgen of sweetness — not so much that you’d even register it. I also like amping up the savory umami notes, too. But there’s a problem in the search for the platonic ideal of veggie burgers, and that is that, given all this, many recipes for same wind up with an intimidatingly long ingredient list, and an overwhelming number of steps. Bon App é tit ’s recipe for “ultimate” v-burgers has 18 ingredients, while the New York Times ’ offering has 17. Each asks that you roast two separate baking sheets of various ingredients, before combining and pulse- chopping them, before their final baking or grilling as burgers. I’m sorry, that just seems ridiculous to me. Does one’s commitment to a good veggie burger have to mean every freaking dish in your house is used and half the items in your pantry are pulled out? As it turns out, no. Choose vegetarian refried beans, rather than plain old canned or cooked-from-scratch beans as a base, and from a single ingredient you have a nice, smooth, thick, hefty texture and some seasoning and aromatics. Ditto, when you use a little chipotle in adobo: a single ingredient that gives you smoky, spicy and sweet all at once.Using smoked tempeh “bacon”also adds smoky, sweet and umami for a similar complexity. So I do feel a journeyman’s satisfaction in my recipe’s mere seven ingredients, which uses only a skillet and a food processor. But my real pride is in how good the burgers are.They are … Just. So. Good. Wicked good. Now, if you plan to serve conventional burgers and vegetarians are coming to dinner too, of course it’s a kindness to offer these as an instead-of (vegetarians and vegans too often are left to pick around the vacancy created by the absence of a main course). But these would satisfy any eater on their own merits, whether as their own meal or side by side with “real” burgers. See, I like to think the table is big enough for all of us. I like to think we’re big enough to live lots of lives and eat lots of things, including some that might at first glance seem to be contradictory. Take it from a vegetarian who knows how to remove the scent glands from a squirrel.

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MY ROUSES EVERYDAY JULY | AUGUST 2017