Sunday, February 22, 2009

Black Bean Burgers with ... harissa!

Harissa being the flavor of the moment over at our house, I've been stretching my usual repertoire to include more of this beloved condiment. We've been eating blobs with roasted veggies, smearing it on sammiches, eating it with eggs, and spreading it hither and yon.

Turns out we're not the only ones enjoying harissa. A quick blog search turned up a number of posts about this delightful chile-heavy condiment.
Being in the mood for sammiches, we decided to try our hand at black bean burgers with harissa posted by Becky over at Becky and the Beanstalk. And she gets a big shout out from the both of us.

These were some of the best veggie burgers we've ever tried. In addition to being tasty, they were quite attractive, held together very well (particularly as bean burgers go), and were a cinch to throw together.
We liked the idea of serving the burgers on whole grain buns with goat cheese and avocado, but we decided to kick things up a notch by mixing together a bit of leftover harissa with the goat cheese to make a spread. OH YUM... what a discovery. Can't wait to serve this delicious spread on crackers at our next get together.
The burgers were pleasantly spicy with good texture. They held up to the whole grain buns well, and a slice or two of avocado was the perfect condiment. Absolutely lovely (and healthy) when served with a side of Blasted Broccoli. This is a vegetarian burger that even a carnivore would love.

Next time, we'll have to try out the 5 minute buns...

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19 comments:

  1. I love all the harissa ideas, keep them coming! I also love bean burgers, I usually make Mark Bittman's version.

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  2. I wish I could convince my family to try black bean burgers, but I think they all kind of throw up in their mouth even at the idea!

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  3. This looks delicious... I wish my hubby wasn't so picky when it comes to meatless meals!

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  4. For a veggie burger, you packed some good punch here...looking good!

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  5. I love black bean burgers. They're so good.

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  6. You're killing me! I have some harissa in the fridge- leftover from the orange chicken which was out of this world! I just did a post that linked your beautiful harissa story and orange chicken..Yum! Love your pics and recipies!

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  7. Wow, you are on it with this. I am truly impressed with your tenacity.

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  8. These are fun. I love your idea for a spread on top.

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  9. I haven't cooked with harissa before. You sure packed a lot of flavor in that burger. I'm drooling all over my keyboard!

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  10. This sounds like something my daughter and I will love. Thanks!

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  11. Hey,

    I'm really glad the burgers turned out for you! They are amazingly easy, aren't they? And harissa makes everything better. : ) I think I'm going to try this same veggie burger with rouille instead of harissa next -- similiar in some ways, but very different flavors.

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  12. I've been looking for a good recipe for veggie or black bean burgers...and have never tried Harissa but am intrigued to hear about it!

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  13. I've been looking for a good recipe for veggie or black bean burgers...and have never tried Harissa but am intrigued to hear about it!

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  14. It's lunch time. We'll take 2.

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  15. Looks great. I'm a little curious how you cut the avocado into rings like that? I'm assuming you cut across horizontally, but how did you get the pit out?

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  16. Marc - No big trick, actually. Just start off by cutting the avocado in half width-wise (exactly as you suspect). Pop the pit out, and gently peel the skin off. Once you do that, you have two slippery avocado halves to slice into rings.

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  17. I really have to try a veggie/black bean burger. I've been wanting to try but it keeps getting postponed. And I should spring for harissa too. Heard so many good things about it. Looks yummy!

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