Black Bean Burgers

Veg­e­tar­ian cook­ing can get a bad rap. For those who aren’t reg­u­larly prepar­ing meals with­out meat I think the 1970s, macrame plant holder beside the Moose­wood cook­book halo still lingers. In real­ity, veg­e­tar­i­ans have long since had a total makeover. There wouldn’t be books called Skinny Bitch in the Kitch if they hadn’t. Seri­ously, Rory Freed­man and Kim Barnouin’s recipes are great! Even though I’m com­mit­ted to cook­ing a few meat­less meals each week I do tend to think of them as the most vir­tu­ous dishes I’m going to feed my fam­ily. But what about fun stuff? Like burg­ers. I love them. So, so much. I’m the per­son who’d rather have a burger than a steak at a bar­be­cue. I like the idea of a veg­gie burger but so often I find they taste of sea­son­ing rather than beans or veg­gies and cer­tainly not like meat. I love this black bean ver­sion. They’re sat­is­fy­ingly savoury but the black beans really come through. Zesty rather than spicy, they’ve got a Latin bent. My kids are going through a stage where their spice thresh­old is extremely low. But these were win­ners with every­one. Plus, they come together quickly. And they’re fun, damn it.

pho­tos by Maya Vis­nyei