feeling all foody…

May 15th, 2009

I mentioned that I would post photos of the veggie burgers and a review of the buttery radishes from Clinton Kelly’s book, so here goes. (And this is two toward my 101 in 1001 goal of trying and reviewing new recipes.)

img_0850 I love radishes. I love that they’re spicy and crunchy. A little bit of salt & they’re perfect. And the recipe for these sounds amazing, improved by how simple they are.

Cut the top and bottom off the radishes so they’ll sit flat on the plate. Shmear butter on the tops and sprinkle with a nice, coarse salt.

I wanted to like these. I wanted to like them a lot. I didn’t like them. They weren’t bad, but they weren’t good. They were just odd, frankly. The smoothness of the butter should have been a nice compliment to the spicy radish, but it seemed more like two competing tastes in my mouth.

That said, I’ll try this again. I mean, it’s not like it’s difficult to shmear some butter and salt on top of a radish. Maybe it’s an acquired taste. I’ll keep trying, though the kids, I’m sure, won’t touch them.

img_0851The veggie burger, however, is one that we’re going to keep having. I love it. And I’m finding that as long as you use the basic recipe, you can add in whatever veggies and herbs you want to change the flavor ever so slightly.

In the burger in the picture, I used lots of shredded carrots and topped the burger with diced tomatoes. Laughing Cow swiss cheese spread on the whole wheat English muffin just adds to the creamy mouth feel of the burger (thanks to the beans).

Yum.

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Veggie Burgers… really!

March 12th, 2009

One of my goals for the 101 in 1001 Days was to serve my family one vegetarian meal per week. I haven’t been quite that consistent, but I did make some amazing veggie burgers last night. I got the recipe from the new Food Network Magazine (a subscription I got for free thanks to my Coke reward points!).

Now, I did adjust some of the recipe for us… no mushrooms. Ew. But if you like that sort of thing, saute some mushrooms in olive oil and spread over the top of the burger. The recipe also called for 1/3 cup of chopped walnuts, but given our nut allergies, we skipped that one just for kicks.

So here goes…

  • 1 15 oz can kidney beans (I used white kidney beans), drained and rinsed
  • 1 small red onion, shredded and squeezed dry
  • 1 small carrot, finely diced (I used more than this. We like our carrots.)
  • 1 cup dried breadcrumbs
  • 2 tbs parsley
  • 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • kosher salt and fresh pepper, to taste
  • English muffins

Put the beans in a bowl and mash with a fork until chunky. Put pretty much everything but the muffins in the bowl and mix. To be honest, I didn’t really measure anything. I just plopped stuff in till it looked good.I also threw in a small handful of shredded parm just for good measure.

Then, scoop out the mixture and make four burger patties. They’re delicate, so don’t try to grill them. Just put them on a hot skillet long enough to sear the sides and warm the insides.

While the burgers are warming, slice and toast the muffins. I used whole wheat muffins to give just a little extra fiber. When I took the muffins out of the toaster, I spread each side with Laughing Cow cheese (my newest favorite thing) so it got all melty.

Top with a burger pattie and mixed greens. Yummo.

On a scale of 1-5, I got a 4 from Mike and a 2.5 from Griff (though he ate the entire thing in about three bites). Eliza, of course, didn’t even try it. If it weren’t for bananas, apples and chips, that child would starve. Whatcha gonna do?

On the mama scale, it was a hit. I’ll make this one again. I loved it!

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