Brown rice and mushroom "burgers"

One night while the kids were here visiting, we decided to have burgers for dinner. They made their own meat version, and I made these vegetarian patties for George and me. They are so much better than any veggie burger I've bought at the store. This recipe could also be formed into a loaf and sliced into sandwich shaped slices and frozen for future burger nights. This recipe is also used as the filling material for "Cabbage Parcels with Sweet-and-sour Sauce". I made that a couple nights later and was actually disappointed that I didn't have any more of the filling material left to just cook up and eat when I felt hungry. It's really yummy.

I made the recipe while up at Lake Tahoe, and I didn't have a food processor, so I just chopped it up after it was cooked. It didn't stick together in burgers very well. I'd like to try it again and see how much difference the food processor makes.

Ok, Let's Get Started

• You'll need to start out with 1 cup cooked brown rice. It's great to use leftover rice, but if you need to cook the rice, get it going first. Brown rice usually takes about 45 minutes to cook.
• Grate 1/2 cup cheddar cheese. Have 1/2 cup bread crumbs and 1 egg standing by for later.
• Chop an onion into fairly small dice. Have 1 t. dried sage leaves and 2 pinches of thyme standing by. (I used fresh sage and fresh thyme.)
• Heat 1 T. olive oil in a medium skillet. Add the onion and crumble the herbs on top. Cook over high heat stirring frequently, about 4 minutes.
• While that is cooking, chop 1/2 pound of mushrooms, 1/2 cup of cashews, and 1/2 cup of pecans.
• Add the mushrooms and nuts and cook, stirring frequently. The mushrooms will release their juices and then they will reabsorb back into the dish.
• Stir in 1 teaspoon tamari (or soy sauce if you don't have tamari). Season with 1/2 t. salt and pepper to taste.
• Transfer this mixture to a food processor. Add 1 cup cooked rice, 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese, 1 egg, and 1/2 cup bread crumbs.
• Pulse this mixture in the food processor until it resembles ground meat.
• Fry a dab in some olive oil to check the seasonings and correct them if needed.
• Fry up your veggie burgers by scooping 1/2 cup measures into a heated skillet coated with oil. Press down on the mixture with a spatula so that the patties are about 1/2 inch thick. Fry over medium heat until brown, 4 to 5 minutes, then turn and cook the second side.
• Serve with buns and burger fixings.

Things I'd Do Differently Next Time

I'd use a food processor to get the texture right. Even though I just chopped it all up really fine with a knife, it didn't alter the taste, and they were delicious. I'd make a whole batch of this and freeze the leftovers in pre-formed patties for later use. I might also try cooking the whole batch in a loaf pan, slicing it and freezing it to have individual patties that could be used for quick weeknight "burgers".

Cost to Prepare

1/2 cup brown rice (to make one cup cooked) - $.25

1 large onion - $.50

1 t. dried sage, 2 pinches dried thyme - negligible

1/2 pound mushrooms - $2.50 (for cremini in bulk)

1/2 cup cashews - $2.00

1/2 cup pecans - $1.50

tamari, salt, pepper - negligible

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese - $1.00

1 egg - $.50 (less if you buy conventional eggs)

1/2 cup bread crumbs - $.25

TOTAL - $8.50

This made enough for 2 burgers, plus filling for the Sweet and Sour Cabbage Parcels which I made later. If you used this just for veggie burgers it would make about 6 or 7 of them.

Curried Couscous Salad (Giada deLaurentis)

This salad sounded delicious, so I decided to give it a try. Turns out, it IS really delicious! I thought it needed more dressing. After we ate dinner, I made another batch of the dressing and added it to the salad and I like it much better. The only cashews I had in my freezer were the chili lime kind from Trader Joe's and they provided a nice kick. That's a great substitution! Also, I forgot to add the cucumber (drat, since I have about 6 cucumbers in my fridge right now). It didn't have enough time to get really cold, so we'll have some tomorrow and see how we like it after the flavors have blended more.

Warning: This recipe makes enough for about 10 people. This would be perfect to take to a potluck. Very colorful, tasty, and interesting. This would also make a great Thanksgiving dish.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/curried-couscous-salad-recipe/index.html

Star Anise Glazed Tempeh

January 9th, 2010

I am largely unfamiliar with tempeh as an ingredient. I've used it a few times, but not enough to regularly put it on my shopping list. Wikipedia tells me that tempeh is a soybean cake made by fermenting cooked soybeans, which are formed into a firm, dense, chewy cake with a yeasty, nutty flavor. My tempeh was called "5 grain" which makes me wonder if it was made out of other grains. In any case, it is high in protein and pretty good for you if you get organic tempeh.

I chose this recipe because it had a really pretty picture. As it turns out, this would be a nice dish to make for company - it is super yummy and very pretty. I'm sure you meat eaters could substitute chicken or something for the tempeh.

This is basically a stir fry, served over rice. I used basmati rice (because I already had it in my pantry), but Deborah suggests black rice, also known as forbidden rice. I would like to try that next time.

This dish is pretty easy - though it still took me almost an hour start to finish, including setting the table. First you start the rice. Then you make a marinade of 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup mirin (Japanese cooking wine), 2 T. brown sugar, 1 T. maple syrup, 1 cinnamon stick, and 2 star anise. You cook this mixture "at a lively pace" for 4 minutes. I assumed this meant that you bring it to a boil, but not a big boil and let it cook for a couple minutes at the little boil stage. Not sure if that was right, but it seemed to work out.

While the marinade is coming up to temperature, I cut the tempeh slab into 4 quarters, and then cut each of those in half diagonally to make 8 triangles. (Next time I would cut the big slab in half lengthwise so it isn't so thick and so you get more delicious little tempeh pieces on your plate.)

You turn off the heat to the marinade and put the tempeh triangles in to soak. Meanwhile, you chop up 1 garlic clove, 1 bunch of scallions (slivered diagonally), a handful of cilantro, and you grate 1 T. fresh ginger. I found out that if you grate ginger on a microplane grater, it turns into a thick liquid - not what you want for this recipe. The regular large grater you use for cheese works much better. Then you slice (not dice) 4+ cups red cabbage, 1 red pepper, and 1 yellow pepper. I'm glad I used the red and yellow, because the red, yellow, purple cabbage color combination is really pretty.

Remove the tempeh from the marinade. She says it only needs 4 minutes of soaking, turning once in the middle of the soaking time. I left it for the length of time it took me to chop the other ingredients. Heat up some oil in a wok or skillet (I used peanut oil, which was a perfect flavor combination with the rest of the dish), and cook the tempeh triangles about a minute on each side. Then add a few tablespoons of the marinade and let it glaze the tempeh. Set aside the tempeh and wipe out the pan.

Heat up some more oil and stir fry the garlic, ginger and scallions for 30 seconds or so. Add the veggies, season with salt & pepper, and stir fry until just wilted. Reserve about half a cup of marinade for serving at the table, and pour the rest over the veggies and add the chopped cilantro. Cook for 30 seconds or so.

Mound rice on plate, top with tempeh triangles, add stir fry over top, and top with roasted cashews. I bought raw cashews and had to toast them myself. I had forgotten that they went in this dish at all, so my serving was delayed by toasting the cashews.

This dish is gorgeous, super-yummy, and nice enough for company. I will make this many more times. The wine pairing suggestion was a Mendocino sparkling rose. I found a French sparkling rose, but it was a little too intense for the dish. I think a light pinot might work well, too.

What I'd do differently next time: I'd toast the cashews toward the beginning and have them standing by, or I would buy roasted cashews. I would cut the tempeh slab in half lengthwise to make it less thick. I would store the leftover rice separately from the leftover veggies, tempeh, and cashews. The rice absorbed all the juices and got too soggy.

Approximate Cost to prepare:

Tempeh - $2.80

Cabbage - $.85

Cilantro - $.20

Red & yellow bell pepper - $2.95

Scallions - $.50

Ginger - $.15

Cashew - $1.00 (I used more than was called for)

Rice - $.50

Marinade - unknown. I had all the ingredients in my pantry. Maybe $1.00?

Garlic, oil, salt, pepper - negligible

TOTAL without wine - $9.95

Sparkling wine - $8.99

This served 2 people, with enough leftovers for another meal.