Wednesday 24 March 2010

Foodie update

I seem to remember I promised to report back on the new-recipe-a-week I so foolishly committed to a few months ago. Well, I have sort of kept my promise although I didn't keep many notes. (Come on - coming up with a nightly meal bores me rigid, so the thought of actually cataloging the burden was never going to appeal to me now was it?)

One of the first things I tried was a vegetarian beanburger, which should have had a red flag and one of these on the page. What was I thinking? Actually I'll tell you my rationale. The Queenager is a red meat vegetarian. I know, I know. What the hell is that? She knows she needs protein till she's grown up (and beyond) so she's eating chicken for now, but will give that up in the near future.I keep telling her "you can't just give up meat. You need to get your protein from elsewhere" blah, blah, so the idea behind the burgers was to start introducing non-meat dishes in the house. ("What a superb, nurturing, caring mother", I hear you saying.) I did however, overlook the fact that to the Man-child veggies are torture, only one grade below water-boarding. Furthermore, both teens have never been able to tolerate the texture of anything remotely bean-ish, declaring it "fuzzy" and almost gagging in unison at the mere sniff. (Little guy was practically brought up on my split pea soup, which when thick, made perfect baby food.)

So, the burgers consist of kidney beans, butter beans, onion, garlic, dried thyme, breadcrumbs, soy sauce and lemon juice. (If anyone is really interested I can give you the measurements, but I fear most of my readers will either glaze over or die of shock if I post them here.) You basically thrown them all in a pan of olive oil for a while, shove them through the blender, shape them into burgers and fry again in the oil. (Aren't we supposed to say "saute" these days, instead of "fry"?)

After all this, the burgers were still the texture of very soggy Weetabix. Not good when you're a burger, so I bunged them in the over for a while to try to harden them up. Ignoring the impending failure, they were duly sandwiched and served with small roast (or "roasted" as they say here) potatoes. Even though I loved the taste, I have to say, as a burger, it was a rather horriying experience - the contents of the bun oozed out of all sides when the teeth dug in. All three kids reeled back in horror, looked up at me then we all burst out laughing.

I think I re-pure'ed them and used them as a dip.

Oh well. Rip that one out of the recipe binder. And buy myself one of these t-shirts (available from Razzle.com)

('Fessing time - I haven't bought one yet, nor was I approached by the company at all to mention this product. I just thought it suited me to a tee!)

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10 comments:

  1. The repercussions of beans are just too numerous to count. I do, however, admire your courage. I have 2 words for you - salmon burgers. Google them or go to foodtv.com. Carol and I refer to the aquatic alternative to red meat as f**king fish so there is no great love here. But these are actually edible to the point of satisfying.

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  2. Hahahaha! Oh dear... (wiping tears from my eyes) I too experiment with new dishes to please the varied crowd in my house because as militant as I like to say I am about 'everyone must eat whats given to them!' I still try hard to create cuisine that pleases all from 12-46. I'll give that bean burger recipe in my 'recipes to try' folder a miss, then.

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  3. The picture of them all staring in horror at the ingredients oozing out - it did make me giggle.

    I am not a big fan of beans myself although will eat kidney beans in chilli. It's one reason I could never go veggie...

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  4. Red meat vegetarian? Hmmm, I like that. At various times I've been one myself. Could never give up meat entirely I'm afraid. I have to have my protein and while I love beans I couldn't hack them for every meal.

    I've given those veggie burgers a try several times and didn't care for them. Then I found a sun-dried tomato veggie burger that is awesome. Totally delish! Even the Meanager likes them.

    Tee hee, like the mousepad.


    When you get a chance Toni stop in and read the comments on my latest post about the BBC America shop. You'll see what I mean when you get there. :-)

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  5. Wow; major props for going through all that! My growing-up food experiences have been on the other side of the spectrum, where I either had to eat what I was given (be it bitter-gourd melon soup, cow tongue stew, or pig-intestine porridge), or eat nothing at all.

    But then again, I guess the saying is true: cantonese people eat anything... lol

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  6. Oh dear is right. I know at least one of my daughters is soon gong to announce she is a vegetarian. I'm dreading it.

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  7. You know how to write a cookery post. Mouthwatering, intriguing, tempting. Ever thought of starting a diet blog? People would be so put off by food... :)

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  8. No pun intended presumably.....suited me to a 'tee'? I LOVE that t shirt! The recipe slightly less so, but the post was great. Gd bog fodder, food flops!

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  9. oops, now that was a bad slip given the beans theme.I meant to say BLOG fodder

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  10. remember, beans+rice=perfect protein! although the sloppy joe bean burger experience sounds...quite simpley gross!

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