Sweet potato and white bean burger

Ok, I'm starting by saying, you will love this "burger."  You may be thinking, "I don't like sweet potato!" or "Beans, yuck!" but seriously, this is so. good.  I got the base for my recipe from another blog I stumbled upon on Pinterest, but it made way too many and I made a few changes so below was my first go at these and there are only a few changes I would make, so I'll note them as I go :)

Before I even start, this got messy.  I have very few pictures of the process because I was a mess.  There was sweet potato everywhere, I used half the tools in my kitchen, and definitely got to a point where I was asking, "What have I gotten myself into?!"  But I learned a lot tonight, and I will pass along my new found wisdom, which should keep your kitchen, hands, and life a little neater, at least for this meal.

So, first you need to cook a sweet potato.  I did this by piercing the skin and roasting it at 375 for like 25 minutes.  Next time I will poke it and microwave it for sure.  Next, you need to drain and rinse a can of white beans.  Now, my first mistake was thinking, I should totally use my mini food processor!  (Mostly because I thought it would be faster, but also because it's my newest kitchen toy and I wanted to use it) but I will tell you that it wasn't going to give me the texture I wanted, so halfway through the processing, I took it out, transferred it to a bowl, and mashed it with my potato masher. (Mess #1)  So, take my advice, and just use a bowl and a masher.  

Once the sweet potato is cooked, you can put your beans and the potato (not the skin) into a bowl, add an egg, about 4 tbsp of wheat flour, salt, pepper, and I used cajun seasoning.  I wish I had used more salt and more seasoning.  I think you could use whatever seasoning you like, I thought about lemon pepper, but thought the little spice and heat would balance the sweetness of the sweet potato.  (It did!) Ok, so mash all of that together and set it aside for a minute.  Now you need to heat a large skillet over medium heat and cover the bottom in olive oil.  In a shallow dish, put about 3/4 cup of panko bread crumbs.  

Are you ready for tip for avoiding mess number two?  Ok good, it's coming up!  Once the pan/oil are hot, get your hands wet, and make a ball and then flatten it into a patty in your wet hands.  Press the patty into the bread crumbs, and CAREFULLY flip it over and get the other side.  Once they are both coated, place it into the hot pan, and if it got all screwy, you can reform it a bit with a spatula.  Repeat three more times and then let them cook a few minutes on each side.  

I served my "burger" on a toasted wheat bun with a little romaine lettuce, sliced avocado, and a little mix of brown mustard and mayo.  I also baked off some onion rings and made a little creamed spinach with red pepper flakes. 

 

This burger is crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and the only burger I have ever had that didn't need cheese.  Although, I did buy some goat cheese that I may try on one of the leftovers.  Please do yourself a favor and make these.  They are perfectly delicious.

Date Night Dinner

It's Friday night; date night!  Well, for me it's usually first a date with Wegmans, and then with my DVR, but that's the quiet life of a single lady.  Anyway, just because I don't have someone to cook for doesn't mean I don't enjoy a delicious dinner, and this certainly is one of my favorites.  Although I have never cooked this for a date with another person, I am fairly certain it would go over very well. I would date me if I made this...  Anyway, here we go.

This meal includes many foods that I have only as an adult discovered to be delicious (risotto, mushrooms, and brussel sprouts.)  If you aren't a fan, leave out the fungus, and sub in your favorite vegetables for the sprouts.  If you don't eat steak, I do something similar with chicken.  I will try to remember to blog about it soon!

So the meal is pan cooked, grass-fed beef tenderloin (a Wegmans favorite of mine), mushroom risotto, mushrooms in red wine sauce, and roasted brussel sprouts.  It is SO GOOD and pretty easy to make, you just can't walk away.  Never walk away from risotto!

First, take out your steak to rest and pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees (I used my toaster oven and it worked just fine!)  Start by dicing a small onion, and add it to 1 Tbsp. olive oil, 1 Tbsp. of butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.  Let them soften up while you prep some other ingredients.  Heat a saute pan over medium heat and add a little butter with a few turns around the pan of olive oil, then throw in your mushrooms.  I used a package of slice baby bellas, but buttons would work too.  Let them brown up before you season because the salt will draw the water out and they won't get the yummy brown color.  

Now you can add the Arborio rice to your onions and let them brown up a bit.  While that's all going, take a small sauce pan and heat your 1.5 cups of chicken stock over medium low heat.  This is what you will add to your rice.  

 Now get your sprouts groovin' by rough chopping 4 cloves of garlic, and then toss your halved and quartered brussel sprouts (I just eye-balled a serving, and Wegmans sells them this time of year all ready clean and cut, so that was awesome!  I used about half of that package) with olive oil, salt and pepper.  I just threw it all in a tupperware container and tossed them around to coat, then laid it all out in a single layer on my foil lined baking sheet and put them in the oven. my friend, Holland taught me this way, so thanks, Holland!  

Once that's in the oven, leave it be, and get back to the stove.  It's time to add about a third of the hot chicken stock to the rice and stir, stir, stir.  The stirring is what makes the rice creamy, so whenever you think of it, give it a few turns around the pan.  Your mushrooms are probably ready for salt and pepper, and a good stirring, also.  Once they are nice and brown, move them to the sides of the pan, turn up the heat, put down a little bit more olive oil, and add your steaks.  Make sure they have been salt and peppered on both sides, and are room temperature.  Let it sear on one side, then give them a flip, add about a third of a cup of good red wine, and let it simmer.

Once the stock has been absorbed by the rice, add another third of the stock, and stir some more.  Once that's been absorbed, add in half of the mushrooms, and the last of the stock, stirring some more.  Also, add some pepper, but no salt because the stock has plenty.  

When your steak is done (probably about 3 minutes on each side for medium rare) remove it from the pan and let it rest before you cut it.  When your risotto is creamy and when you taste a little it still has a tiny bite to it, but isn't crunchy or mush, take it off the heat, add a tsp. of good butter and a quarter cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. You can probably take the sprouts out now and check if they are tender. If so, leave them out, if not, give them a few more minutes. 

OH!  I almost forgot one of my favorite parts.  Now, this is absolutely not necessary, but since I had some tasty garlicky Italian bread left over from the other night, I made something my friends and I call "meat bread."  It was born at one of those restaurants where you cook your own meat, and we always throw our buttered bread down on the grill after all the meat has been cooking, and vala!  Meat bread was born.  So, for this meal, after I take the steak off, I put my mushrooms and what's left of the reduced wine and transfer them into my now empty chicken stock pan until I'm ready with them, add a little butted to the meat pan, and toast off some good bread on both sides.  

It is so good, but if you don't have bread around, trust me, it's just a bonus, you won't need it.  Now you just have to plate it all up, pour some wine and enjoy!  Whether you have a date with the person of your dreams, or your DVR, you will love this meal.