Wednesday, August 22, 2012

the eggplant experiment


With a perfectly picked eggplant and a few hours to kill before work I decided to throw together something I've been wanting to make for a while now--eggplant burgers! Since these little gems contain no cheese, minimal amounts of oil, and plenty of everything else I love they turned out to be a delicious and nutritious meal that will be sure to last me a few days.

Besides the fact that they look absolutely fabulous they are also super easy to make, which is always a plus.  Prep and cook times total up at a little over an hour, but 45 minutes of that is spent patiently waiting for them to bake to perfection--I took this time to shower and do some laundry so the timing worked out quite nicely.

You're going to start by preheating your oven to 450° and lining a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Slice the eggplant into quarter-inch rounds and brush each side with olive oil before sending them off to roast for 15 minutes- but be sure to flip them after 10.


While they're in the oven, dice one red onion and sauté over medium heat until soft.  
Add the onions into a large bowl with 1/4c chopped fresh parsley, 1/4c bell pepper (I used yellow since I love the sweetness), 1 T pine nuts,  1 clove of garlic (crushed), a 14 oz can of cannellini beans, 1 tsp ground cumin, sea salt, and your perfectly roasted eggplant rounds.



Give the mixture a stir to break up the eggplant before adding in 1/2c of hummus (I used garden veggie...the more, the merrier, right?) and transferring your burger base to a food processor. It should only take about 15 seconds for your veggies to smooth out--when this happens, transfer back to the bowl and work in 1c panko breadcrumbs to give it some body.  


With a fresh nonstick-spray-coated piece of foil on your cookie sheet, form 6 patties and throw them in a 400° oven for 45 minutes, flipping halfway through.  If you like them crispier don't be afraid to up the time a bit--they're still very moist and it seems as though it would take a lot to dry these bad boys out. 

While they were cooking I whipped together some tahini to top them off with.

1/3c sesame tahini, 1/3 c water, 1/4c lemon juice, salt, and 2 cloves of chopped garlic
go into a food processor until fully combined

Drizzle a bit over the top & enjoy!

 
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