Beet and Bean Burgers

I got this recipe from The Kitchn. Even though I think it has potential, I think there were a few things wrong with it. First of all, I think the beets should be roasted first, then added to the onions in a pan (instead of being cooked with the onions, which took forever and was near-impossible without burning the bottom of the pan). So I’ve changed the recipe to reflect that. Also, while the taste was good, the consistency was not. The patty was way too mushy when it was cooked; it was like eating a veggie sloppy Joe, not a burger. I’m not sure if adding more rice would help or not. The recipe on The Kitchn didn’t make any mention of this – in fact, they loved the consistency of their patty. I did substitute red beans for the black beans, since I couldn’t find any, but I doubt that alone would explain it.




What I loved about this meal was the buns, though. The Engineer made (I was the sous-chef) these light brioche buns from Smitten Kitchen, and that recipe is a definite keeper (though we used out KitchenAid stand mixer for step 2).

Here is the recipe for the patties. Until I figure out how to solve the consistency issue, though, I’d recommend them more as a main course to be served with a side like a salad, or perhaps as a sandwich spread.

1/2 cup brown rice (doubled if you like more rice)
1 onion, diced small
3 large red beets (about 1 pound), roasted, peeled and diced small
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
juice from ½ lemon
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp parsley, minced
1 tsp coriander
½ tsp thyme
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
salt and pepper
thin slices of provolone, sharp cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese (optional)



Bring a large amount of water to a boil. Add some salt and the rice, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook the rice until it's a little beyond al dente. You want it a little over-cooked, but still firm. This should take about 35-40 minutes. Drain the rice and set it aside.




Heat some oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, reduce the heat to medium, and cook until the onions are translucent and softened. Stir in the beets. Add the garlic and cook until it is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Deglaze the pan using the cider vinegar.



Empty the black beans into a large bowl and use a fork to mash them up a bit.




Add the cooked rice, the beet and onion mixture, the lemon juice, the olive oil, and all the spices. Stir to combine and then taste for seasonings. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once it tastes the way you like it, add the flour and stir until you see no more dry flour.




Heat a cast-iron skillet over the highest heat. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil - the oil should completely coat the bottom of the pan. When you see the oil shimmer and it flows easily, the pan is ready.

Using your hands, scoop up about a cup of the burger mixture and shape it into a patty between your palms. Set it in the pan, where it should begin to sizzle immediately. Shape and add as many more patties as will fit in your pan.



Cook the patties for 2 minutes, then flip them to the other side. You should see a nice crust on the cooked side. If they break apart a little when you flipped them, just reshape them with the spatula - they'll hold together once the second side is cooked. If you're adding cheese, lay a slice over the burgers now. Cook the second side for another 2 minutes.



Serve the veggie burgers on soft burger buns or lightly toasted sandwich bread along with some fresh greens. Cooked burgers should be eaten that same day. You can also save leftover mix in the fridge for up to a week and cook just one or two burgers as you want them.

Thumbprints with Pumpkin Marmalade

The Engineer made a pumpkin pie last weekend. It was quite good, if a little too lactose-heavy for me.



Of course, the pie recipe didn’t use the whole can of pumpkin purée, so I was wondering what to do with the rest. I looked through the long list of recipes I want to try, but most of them seemed to be for yet another pumpkin pie, or even a pumpkin layer cake. Then, I found a link on The Kitchn for thumbprint cookies with pumpkin marmalade: I had just the right amount of pumpkin purée left over, and I could use up the rest of the orange marmalade from this recipe. It was easy to make them, and they were very good, satisfying my sweet tooth without really being that sweet. I like thumbprint cookies, and they are very versatile, too. The pumpkin marmalade was a nice discovery, and the leftovers will be served with sharp cheese and crackers alongside a bowl of soup quite soon.

This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies. Originally, I set the oven to 300 °F, as the recipe said, but it wasn’t enough; I used 325 °F for the second batch, which is the temperature I give in this recipe, but if I had had another batch to try, I would have set the temperature to 350 °F. If you know your oven well enough, you could do it that way and check on them a bit sooner than is called for. The cookies were crispier (and better) when the oven was warmer.

Pumpkin Marmalade (from Better Homes and Gardens)
2 cups pumpkin purée
1 cup orange marmalade
1 tsp fresh grated ginger (or minced)
2 Tbsp lemon juice



In a medium saucepan, combine pumpkin purée, marmalade and ginger.



Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon juice. Transfer to a serving bowl and let cool.



Thumbprints (adapted from Mrs. Field’s recipe)
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 cup butter (softened) or lactose-free margarine
¾ cup white sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin marmalade (or other jam)

Preheat oven to 325 °F.

In a medium bowl, combine flour and baking powder with a wire whisk. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and beat on medium until smooth.




Add the flour mixture and blend at low speed until thoroughly combined. Dough will be firm.



Scoop tablespoonfuls of dough, roll into 1-inch-diameter balls and place on ungreased baking sheets, 1 inch apart.



Using your thumb, make an indentation on top of each cookie (I used the large end of a pestle after a suggestion from the blog on which I got this recipe).



Place 1 tsp of jam in the center of each dough ball.




Bake 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown. Transfer to a cool, flat surface.

Risotto de Paul

Croyez-moi, croyez-moi pas, mais j’ai pris cette recette de Paul dans le métro. Il s’agit d’un risotto pour 6 personnes. J’ai changé quelques quantités : j’ai mis 2 oignons au lieu de 3. Je pense aussi que 3 tasses de bouillon de bœuf, ce serait en masse (dans la recette d’origine, il en fallait 2 boîtes; mes boîtes sont grosses, par contre, 900 mL, et j’avais environ 1 tasse de bouillon de trop, alors je recommande 3 tasses, quitte à en enlever un peu à la fin). Ce n’est pas un vrai risotto, c’est plus un riz gratiné, mais c’était bon quand même. C’est toutefois un peu monochrome, alors la prochaine fois, j’ajouterai peut-être des poivrons ou des tomates. J’avoue aussi que j’ai pris des saucisses de Toulouse au lieu des saucisses italiennes, mais ces dernières auraient été meilleures. Et mon épicerie n’avait pas de porc haché, alors j’ai pris un mélange bœuf-porc-veau qui était bien d’adon. J’ai aussi négligé de transvaser le mélange dans un pyrex et d’attendre que le tout refroidisse, parce que l’Ingénieur et moi avions faim, alors j’ai fait gratiner le riz directement dans mon Le Creuset, à découvert.

2 oignons, hachés
3 gousses d’ail, hachées
1 paquet de champignons, tranchés
1 lb porc haché
1 lb saucisses italiennes douces, hachées
thym, laurier, poivre (pas de sel)
1 tasse de riz Uncle Ben’s
3 tasses de bouillon de bœuf
1 petite boîte de V-8 (ou une partie d’une cannette)
400 g d’emmental (sans lactose), râpé






Faire revenir oignons, ail et champignons dans de l’huile.



Ajouter le porc et la saucisse. Assaisonner de thym, de feuilles de laurier et de poivre.




Lorsque tout est cuit, ajouter le riz.



Bien mélanger et ajouter le bouillon et le V-8.



Laisser mijoter à feu doux, à découvert, 30 minutes ou jusqu’à ce que le liquide soit presque évaporé.



Ajouter une petite poignée d’emmental râpé. Bien mélanger et transvaser dans un pyrex.




Préchauffer le four à 350 °F. Attendre que le riz refroidisse et couvrir du reste de l’emmental. Faire cuire au four 20 minutes et gratiner. Servir avec une salade verte.

Chocolat Bleu Lavande

J’ai goûté récemment au chocolat à la lavande de Bleu Lavande et je l’ai beaucoup aimé. C’est un chocolat noir à 58 % de cacao, moulé en barre puis parsemé de fleurs de lavande comestibles. J’ai toujours aimé la lavande, et ce mélange est particulièrement bien réussi. La seule petite amélioration potentielle serait de broyer les fleurs avant de les ajouter au chocolat, car si on le laisse fondre en bouche, il reste des fleurs à mâcher à la fin (remarquez que si vous mâchez le chocolat dès le départ, il n’y a pas de problème). De plus, il n’y a aucune mise en garde contre la présence possible de gluten, de noix ou d’arachides, et il se trouve que ce chocolat est végétalien. Goûtez-y, ne serait-ce que pour encourager le seul producteur de lavande du Canada!

Chocolate Featherweight Cookies with Nuts and Cocoa Nibs

I found this recipe on Orangette and was totally inspired, in part because I love cocoa nibs and in part because here was a cookie recipe that was not only gluten-free, but also lactose-free (there’s no butter). Eggs are used to form a meringue base. There are a lot of nuts in there, though, and the Engineer and I usually aren’t that fond of nuts in cookies. But I’m not sure you could just remove them from the recipe altogether, because these cookies need something for consistency, and the cocoa nibs may not be enough. I might try them again with no nuts, more nibs, and make smaller cookies – but I’m not sure how that would turn out. The other problem is that they don’t stay fresh very long. They were delicious and chewy when they were still warm, but they turned rubbery-chewy by the next day. A hermetically-sealed container for storage is a must, and don’t make them too big (the recipe I give here makes about 15 large cookies, but smaller cookies might be better if they won’t be eaten right away).





I didn’t have enough walnuts, so I used almonds too. And I used cocoa nibs that I *finally* found at the Jean Talon market. Unfortunately, they only had two tiny boxes, which I bought, and there’s only about ¼ cup per box. So I used one for this recipe, but there are so many recipes that I want to make with cocoa nibs that it’ll be hard to decide where to allocate the rest. I hope the store at JTM restocks soon! Otherwise, if any of you know where I can get a decent amount of them (like by the pound, seriously), please share. I also tried this brand of vanilla I happened to find on one of my exceedingly rare trips to Costco – it was ridiculously cheap (just a smidgen more expensive than the little bottle pictured next to it), but is real vanilla extract made with beans from Madagascar, and the vanilla comes before the alcohol in the ingredient list!



¾ cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa
2 ½ cups powdered sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 ¾ cups walnuts (or other nuts), coarsely chopped
¼ cup cocoa nibs

Preheat the oven to 350 °F and set a rack to the middle position. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (do not grease the sheet, do not use a silpat).

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, sugar, and salt, taking care that there are no lumps.



Combine the vanilla and egg whites in a measuring cup or mug, and slowly add them to the cocoa mixture, beating at low speed.



When you have added all the liquid, continue to beat at medium speed for about 2 minutes, until the batter is glossy and smooth. It will be fairly thin but quite viscous.



Stir in the walnuts and cocoa nibs.



Using a medium (roughly 2 Tbsp) ice cream scoop, place 5 mounds of batter about 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. The batter will spread.



Slide the pan into the oven, reduce the heat to 325 °F, and bake the cookies until small, thin cracks appear on their surface, about 14-17 minutes. Remove them from the oven, and cool them completely on a rack.



When they are cool, peel them gently from the parchment paper. Repeat the process with the remaining batter, increasing the oven temperature to 350 °F before each round. It should take three rounds total to use all the batter. (You can also use two different baking sheets and rotate them to go faster.)