Lunch « (y)our food choices™

All the flavor without the guilt.

To paraphrase the 80’s hit, “Turning Japanese,” I think we’re turning vegetarian. Yes, we do eat meat and fish, but for the last few weeks, ever since our first juice fast, we have eaten so little meat, fish, and dairy, that multiple days have gone by without any animal products showing up in our meals, and without either one of us conscience of our eating habits until days later. It’s been such an unusual change in our dietary habits that we’ve even started eating at vegan restaurants and, gasp, liking it!

In the midst of all that juicing and fasting, our thoughts drifted to daydreams of big juicy burgers. A trip to [your favorite burger shop] was tempting but we knew that if we were to succumb to the temptation we’d regret it.

Now, veggie burgers are not the sort of thing that either one of us likes to eat – usually – but after purchasing a big container of crimini mushrooms, Jason’s thoughts turned to creating the meatiest, meatless burger he could muster. Using a basic veggie burger recipe from a Vegetarian Times he swiped from the laundromat as a template, an idea began to take shape. The burger that was created has a similar taste and texture to ground beef but without the meat. Mushrooms, miso, and soy sauce gives the burgers the umami that many veggie burgers lack.

For those of you who are die hard carnivores, and aren’t willing to exchange a veggie based patty with your beloved beef, nothing we say is going to make you want to try our burgers. But if you’re willing to try something different, or if you’re looking for a hearty but easier to digest fast breaker, we suggest you break one of these burgers. It will help you ease back into the meat world and you won’t feel guilty for breaking your fast with that greasy cheese burger.

From beans to burger.

Black Bean, Mushroom & Quinoa Burgers

½ cup quinoa
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 ounces Crimini mushrooms
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup Miso
1-2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
2 cup cooked black beans (1 15 ounce canned rinsed and drained)
Salt & pepper

Rinse quinoa in several changes of water. In a small saucepan, add rinsed quinoa with 1 ¼ cups water with 1/8 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for 20 minutes (all the liquid should be absorbed when the quinoa is fully cooked). You should have about 1 ½ cups cooked quinoa.

Peel and rough chop the onion and add it to a food processor. Clean the mushrooms and add them to the food processor. Pulse the processor 5-10 times or until the onion and mushroom mixture comes to a small rough consistency.

Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the mushroom onion mixture and a pinch of salt, to draw out the moisture in the vegetables, and sauté until the mushrooms and onions are dry, 5-10 minutes. Add the soy sauce and miso and mix together. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

In the food processor, add the black beans, quinoa, and mushroom mixture. Pulse about 10-15 times or until thoroughly mixed together. Taste and season with salt and pepper or more soy sauce to taste.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. With about ½-3/4 cup of the bean mixture, form the patties. You should get about 8. Place the patties on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the patties are crisp on top, then flip the burgers. Bake for 10-15 minutes more, or until the other side is also crisp.

Serve on top of a bun with all the usual “burger” condiments or on a bed of lettuce with a crumble of goat or feta cheese.

Note: The bean patties can be frozen after shaping. Add 10-15 minutes to the baking time for frozen patties.

An olive oil fried egg sits atop the delicious le tourin.

Jason’s exquisite wild yeast bread seems so precious a resource that wasting even a crumb is criminal. Stale bread is a marvel of versatility as an ingredient. Dry crunchy old bread can be transformed quickly into crumbs and used as a coating for pan fried chops, as a topping for gratin or a as thickener of sauces. Large pieces of stale crusty bread are refreshed when tossed with chopped ripe, in-season tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and fresh herbs. We toast slices of fresh country bread and set them in the bottom of large soup bowls where they absorb the rich vegetable broth that is Lidia Bastianich’s Acquacotta. Chad Robertson’s Le Tourin recipe makes use of days-old bread as an absorbent sponge in a hearty vegetable soup topped with a creamy yolked fried egg reminiscent of the Acquacotta. In fact, the simple principle of soaking hard old pieces of bread in a richly flavored broth or sauce to create a meal is universal, born of necessity in less prosperous times.

The simple makings for a wonderful soup.

The next time you hesitate to buy the baguette you know you’ll love, or the big round of crusty bread that looks and smells too good to be true, simply because you don’t think you’ll eat it all, remember that the bread you buy today will age into a delicious, nutritious and inexpensive ingredient tomorrow. Breakfast, lunch or dinner, days-old bread and vegetable soup never disappoints. This recipe is a general guide, a statement of technique. You should use whatever veggies you have on hand as well as whatever broth you like. Water works just as well if seasoned properly. Fried eggs are great, but you could also poach eggs in the soup before spooning the broth over the bread.

The drizzle of red wine vinegar over the egg in this dish adds a little zip to an otherwise earthy soup. We used peppery “wild” arugula in place of the kale, but just about any flavorful green will do (beet, chard, collard). I like to flavor the soup with whole sprigs of fresh herbs that are plucked out of the pot just before serving. Fresh thyme is a favorite. In summer, peeled diced fresh tomato would make a perfect addition as would thin strips of fresh basil scattered over the top after plating. If you want to guild the lily, a fine dusting of grated hard cheese adds a lot of rich flavor to the final dish. A final drizzle of extra virgin olive oil never hurts either!

Le Tourin Recipe

(Source: Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson)

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 medium carrots, peeled and quartered lengthwise, cut into 2 inch lengths

1 large yellow onion, cut into half inch wedges

1 bunch kale, stems removed

4-6 cups stock or water

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Red wine vinegar

3 slices day-old bread, whole-wheat or country, torn into chunks

Heat oil in large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add carrots and onion wedges, cut-side down. Reduce heat to medium and cook without stirring until veggies begin to caramelize, about 5 minutes. Turn to brown the other side and cook an additional 5 minutes. Add greens and broth to the pan, bring to a simmer and cook 10 minutes.

Divide pieces of broken bread between two large soup bowls. Spoon veggies over the top of the bread and then ladle broth over the bread. Top with fried or poached egg and drizzle a teaspoon or so of the red wine vinegar over the egg. Dust with freshly grated black pepper and serve.