chickpea burgers with red pepper-feta spread and spicy-preserved-lemon-mayo

Summer is for burgers, and burgers are for barbecues and barbecues are for people who have a yard or a balcony or an outdoor space of some kind. I do not, in my current apartment, have any sort of outdoor space and so no barbecue and so not very many burgers. I do make them on the stove top occasionally, but it's not the same as barbecuing, it just doesn't seem quite right. Sometimes I think crazy thoughts like, "Maybe if I open ALL the windows, it would be fine to use a little barbecue inside..." and that kind of thinking is how bad decisions get made. I really need to move to somewhere with a yard so I can barbecue without risking gassing myself. 

So I made these chickpea burgers in the oven, and then I reheated them in a grill pan to make them look barbecued so I can pretend I am living a life that involves real barbecuing. The grilling part is optional, you can use them straight out of the oven if you want to. Extras freeze really well and you can thaw them and reheat them in the oven or in a grill pan, or on the barbecue if you are blessed with a yard. 

Veggie burgers can be great, they can also be really boring and sad and I feel like the toppings often make or break the veggie burger. They tend to be on the bland side and are therefore excellent vehicles for tasty spreads and crispy greens. I made two spreads for these burgers; a roasted red pepper feta spread (which I make quite a bit to eat on slices of cucumbers and carrots) and mayo with preserved lemons and chilies. The mild nuttiness of chickpeas is an excellent canvass for these bold flavours. 

chickpea burgers:

• one tin chickpeas
• 1/4-1/2 cup chickpea flour, and a little extra for dredging 
• one egg
• one shallot or small yellow onion
• one clove garlic
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• salt and pepper

Blend everything together in a food processor, adjusting the chickpea flour until a very thick paste is formed. Scoop out 1/4 cups of the mixture and coat them in extra chickpea flour. An ice cream scoop with a release mechanism works great for the scooping because the mixture is very sticky. Place the scoops onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and flatten into 4 inch rounds. Bake patties at 350 for 10 minutes, until they are browned on the bottom, flip over and bake for 5-10 more minutes, until set and brown on both sides. If you want to, grill them on a barbecue or grill pan until nice grill marks appear. 

red pepper feta spread:

• 1/2 cup feta, crumbled
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 3-4 pieces of jarred roasted red pepper
• 1 clove garlic
• lots of fresh ground pepper

Blend everything together in a food processor until it forms a paste. 

spicy preserved lemon mayo:

•  1/4 a preserved lemon and a small fresh red chili, roughly chopped together
• 1 large or extra large egg (medium eggs or smaller will need two)
• 1 cup light, neutral oil, almond works well

Immersion blender method: in a pint size mason jar with a wide mouth opening (or similarly shaped container) that fits the immersion blender, place an egg and a cup of oil. Place the immersion blender all the way into the jar and blend, holding the blender still until the mayo becomes very thick. Add the preserved lemon and blend until incorporated. 

Food processor method: Put the egg in the food processor and, with the machine running, add oil in a slow stream. Once emulsified, add preserved lemon and chile and blend until incorporated. 

assembly: 

I put spinach, pea shoots and avocado on these burgers, and lots of feta pepper spread and lemon mayo. 

Photo credit: Tyrel Hiebert

lacto fermented dill pickles

Lacto fermentation might sound complicated or strange, but it's quite likely you are already familiar with it and you may have eaten some lacto fermented foods recently.  Sauerkraut, kimchi, sourdough bread and yogurt are all made by lacto fermentation; they all harness bacteria that eat various sugars and turn them into lactic acid and help to produce a variety of tasty, tangy, healthful foods. Lacto fermented pickles are a little sour; the flavour is distinct from vinegar pickled things. 

They are also another way to incorporate more possibly beneficial bacteria into my diet. I like this because I have made an effort to try to consume the food versions of certain supplements I used to take. Instead of taking probiotics; I am trying to eat more kimchi, kefir and pickles. 

It's easy for me to eat more pickles for their bacterial benefits because l absolutely love pickles. When I was little I liked salty foods even more than sweets-I used to sneak pickles out of the fridge like other children dipped secretly into the cookie jar. I loved olives and crackers and cheese and especially pickles. Not that I didn't eat cookies and sweets, but I loved salty snacks more. 

For these pickles I used some lovely pale yellow cucumbers from my CSA box and some regular green pickling cucumbers, but any firm vegetables work well, I like to use carrots, green beans and cauliflower too. It's important to use non-idodized salt for this recipe to allow the bacteria to thrive. 

lacto fermented dill pickles: 

adapted from The Urban Homestead

• a quantity of vegetables to pickle, cleaned and cut down into the shapes of your choosing

• non-iodized salt

• lots of dill, a big handful per jar

• one clove of garlic per jar

• mustard seeds, whole chilies, or chili flakes, whole black peppercorns, celery seed or whatever other spices you like

Place the prepared vegetables into clean jars and pack with your chosen spices. Fill the jars with water, making sure to measure the water you pour into each jar. Add salt to each jar in a measure of 0.75 parts salt to 10 parts water; so that one cup of water needs 2.4 tbs salt, for example. 

Make sure that brine is covering all the vegetables; using a smaller jar or drinking glass to push everything under the surface works well. Anything poking through the brine is likely to mould. If mould does form, just skim it off the surface, or chop off the mouldy end of the vegetable. Everything under the brine should be ok. 

Leave the jars out at room temperature, covered by cheesecloth to keep insects out, for at least three days. The length of time varies; quicker in hot weather, slower when it's cool. The pickles are ready for refrigeration when they slightly sour, the brine may be almost fizzy, when they are clearly transformed. Then they can be refrigerated with lids on. This will enormously slow fermentation. but it still carries on in the fridge somewhat so they will continue to change as they sit. 

Photo credits: Tyrel Hiebert