I had intended to make a red bean stew for dinner last night, but I forgot to get it started in the morning and, since it takes a minimum of six hours in the slow cooker, not getting it started before noon made it a write-off for yesterday. Instead I had to scramble to come up with an alternative dinner option. There were a few possibilities, but I ultimately went with these chickpea burgers paired with a cucumber salad because I felt our meals had been a bit lacking in vegetables lately. These two recipes also had the benefit of using up a lot of leftover bits of ingredients that were hanging out in the fridge and pantry and needed to be used sooner rather than later. Perfect!

These burgers are nice, with some flavourful seasonings mixed in, but the toppings are really what make them in my opinion. The recipe calls for making a simple paprika mayonnaise and suggests topping them with thinly sliced red onion and lettuce. I had a small jar of quick-pickled red onions in the fridge, so I used those for my burgers and also added some thinly sliced tomatoes along with the lettuce, mayo, and onions. I think dill pickles would have been a great addition, but we'd just used up the last of my mom's homemade pickles and I haven't had a chance to restock yet.

Chickpea and Roasted Red Pepper Burgers

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Paprika Mayonnaise

• 5 Tbsp. mayonnaise
• 1 tsp. hot Spanish paprika
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 drops liquid smoke

Burgers

• 1 small potato
• 1 can (~2 c.) chickpeas
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. minced pickled jalapeño
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/4 tsp. chili powder
• 1 roasted red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 eggs
• 5 Tbsp. panko
• 2 Tbsp. minced flat-leaf parsley

Assembly

• 6 burger buns
• lettuce
• 1-2 tomatoes, sliced
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced or pickled
• dill pickles, sliced (optional)
• 6 slices Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese (optional)

Directions

1. Combine the mayo, paprika, lemon juice, and liquid smoke. Mix well and set aside.
2. Bring a small pot of water to a boil, cut the potato in quarters, add to the pot, and boil until fork tender (~10 minutes).
3. Meanwhile, finely chop the chickpeas in a food processor¹. Do not purée!
4. Drain the potato and either cut it into small dice and mix it into the chickpeas or mash it in with a potato masher.
5. Heat 1 Tbsp. of the oil over medium heat.
6. Add the garlic and jalapeño and cook for 1-2 minutes.
7. Add the cumin, salt, pepper, and chili powder and cook for another 30-60 seconds.
8. Stir the garlic mixture into the chickpea mixture.
9. Add the roasted red pepper, eggs, panko, and parsley and stir to combine.
10. Form the chickpea mixture into 6 patties.
11. Heat 1 Tbsp. of the remaining oil over medium-low heat.
12. Add three of the patties to the pan and cook until golden brown on both sides, carefully flipping once (~5 minutes per side).
13. Split the burger buns and spread some mayo inside.
14. Add some lettuce and top with a cooked patty and whatever other toppings you want (tomatoes, pickles, etc.).

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¹ I used the "food chop" setting on my blender. That usually does a pretty well at standing in for a food processor. In this case, it got me most of the way there and I just finished the job off with a potato masher. Possibly I could've just gotten out the masher from the get-go and skipped the blender altogether. Might be something to try next time... ^Back