southwest veggie burgers

So the plan is to start cooking new things. I picked out five new recipes and hit the grocery store. Project Try New Things! started off on a high note for sure! I picked out some delicious multigrain rolls from Breadsmith (also apparently following my trend of lavender-flavored baked goods! I was cool before they were cool! Harrumph. Also, why must they share a space with Jamba Juice? C'mon! Too irresistible! Double harrumph.) specifically to motivate myself to make this. 

No doubt, homemade veggie burgers aren't new around our place. We make a mean curry tofu burger. Alas, not terribly photogenic, so not yet incorporated into this here blog. This one, however, was unbelievable. And so very easy too! Another win for new recipes in our usual rotation, and another win for food52 stealing my heart.

I did tweak this recipe a bit, so here's the rundown:

Southwestern Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers 

(mildly adapted after MadisonMayberry's recipe on food52.com)

**makes 6 meal-sized burgers**

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1 (15-oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (8.5-oz) whole kernel corn, rinsed and drained (frozen is okay too, thaw first)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 tsp. packed fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp. chipotle Tabasco 
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

• 1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
  2. Microwave the sweet potato for 5 minutes. Remove from microwave, split in half and scoop out the flesh. Discard the skin. Place the flesh in the bowl of your food processor along with half the black beans, half the corn, and then all of the flour, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, coriander, paprika, chili powder, and cilantro.
  3. Process until almost completely smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Transfer blended mixture to a bowl and add in the remaining beans, corn, and the crumbled feta cheese.
  4. Form mixture into six patties (mixture will be soft) on the prepared baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes, flipping gently half way through baking and adding grated Parmesan cheese on top if desired. Remove from oven and allow to cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes. 

We served our burgers with baby spinach on top. I liked mine with lebni on the bun. If you are lucky enough to own a toaster oven, do toast the buns before serving. A good chipotle salsa would also be tasty. And, as it is a burger, a good beer goes well with this. I really like dark beer, so Abita's Turbodog was just perfect to me.