Back to Burgers

During the cold winter season, I found myself making a lot of soups.... and as summer slowly approaches, I've begun my love affair with burgers. I prefer using turkey, vegetables, and beans to ground beef since they make for a lighter, but equally satisfying, patty. A while back, my sister and I came up with a recipe for a southwestern turkey burger over a corn salad.. and this week we swapped the turkey burgers for lentil vegetable burgers and gave the corn salad a different spin. The result was pretty delicious and very blog-worthy!

Ingredients for Lentil Vegetable Burger

1 lb package of french green lentils

1 48 oz carton low-sodium chicken stock

1 bay leaf

2 medium sized carrots, diced

5 stalks celery, diced

1 medium sized white onion, diced

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup bread crumbs

1 tbsp coriander

1/2 tbsp cumin

1/2 tbsp garlic powder

2 tsp celery salt

salt and pepper

olive oil for cooking

Start by pouring the package of lentils into a pan. Throw in the bay leaf and pour in enough chicken broth to just cover the lentils. Bring to a boil, then cover and allow it to sit over medium heat until the beans have absorbed all the liquid. When they have, add more liquid and repeat until you have used the entire carton. By the end, the lentils should be very soft.... if they aren't, you may want to add more stock or some water. Make sure to stir occasionally so the lentils don't burn and stick to the bottom of the pan.

While the lentils are cooking, dice the carrots, celery and onions.

Heat up some olive oil in a pan and cook the diced vegetables until they have softened, about 8 minutes or so. While cooking, add in the coriander, cumin, garlic powder, celery salt, salt and pepper.

Let both the cooked, mushy lentils and vegetables cool. Once they have, combine in a bowl with the two beaten eggs and bread crumbs.

Take large handfuls of the mixture and shape into patties. Heat a tbsp or two of oil in a pan and cook the burgers over medium-low heat for about 3 minutes on each side, until done.

My sister and I love going to NYC street fairs and trying food from a bunch of different cuisines, whether Arepas or Gyros! One thing we always love is the roasted corn ear with all of its wonderful Mexican flavors. Since eating the corn off the cob can get a little messy, why not turn it into a tasty salad to serve alongside the lentil burgers?!?

Ingredients for Mexican Street Fair Corn-Inspired Salad

2 ears of corn

juice of 1/2 lime

1/2 tsp chili powder

2 tbsp shredded cotija cheese (cow's milk cheese from Mexico, available at Whole Foods)

1 tbsp butter

salt

Start by dropping your ears of corn into boiling water and allowing them to cook for 5 minutes. Next, heat some butter in a pan and let the ears cook in the butter for a couple minutes.

Cut the corn off the cob and mix with the lime, chili powder, cheese and salt to make a really delicious street-far inspired corn salad! Serve the corn salad over some arugula, avocado and sliced hearts of palm for some nice color contrast!