Edamame Burgers with Wasabi Slaw

Green Burgers?! Yes. Edamame burgers. Yeah, I know I posted an edamame recipe last week. What can I say? I love those little green nuggets of soy joy. I have been wanting to make these burgers for some time. In fact, they are what I wanted to make last week, I just did not think far enough ahead (you need to let them firm up in the fridge for a few hours before you cook them.) I ganked this recipe from my friend Andrew Veety's blog. I knew they were going to be good because Andrew is the founder and organizer of (sometimes controversial) The Church of Burger. The dude knows burgers, so, while this is not a traditional beef hamburger (not that CoB is exclusive to beef burgers), I knew if Andrew said it was good... then it's good. And you know what? It's really really GOOD.

As a topping, I made a simple wasabi slaw. I was inspired by a burger I had in Kansas City at a place called Swagger. You see, my friend Eric might be Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives' biggest fanboi, so whenever I travel with him we end up going to places where Guy has been (see my Mid-South epic roadtrip post for example). While I don't particularly like Guy Fieri (get those effing sunglasses of the back of your damn head, dude!), he does seem to go to some good joints with big fatty delicious food. I ordered the Suribachi, which is a burger that has been tempura battered and fried and topped with wasabi slaw and Srirachi sauce:

It was damn tasty! Eric, the fanboi, got the Dead Texan, which is a bacon cheeseburger with a fried egg on it... with grilled cheese sandwiches (one with bacon, one with jalapeno) acting as buns. !!!! Not sure I am surprised, but the Dead Texan was a disappointment... not nearly the flavor explosion I expected. Definitely not worth the quadruple bypass surgery. But it was fun to look at:


Anyway, on to the edamame burgers.

Edamame Burgers
copied almost directly from Andrew Mark Veety's blog

16 oz. shelled edamame (thawed if frozen)
1 finger of ginger, about 2 inches, grated
2 cloves garlic, grated
1/4 cup of cashews, try to use unsalted or adjust your seasoning as needed.
Garlic - minced fine - to taste.
4 scallions - whites and a small part of the green. Cut super fine.
3 or 4 good shots of soy sauce.
1 egg.
Salt and pepper
Panko bread crumbs (I estimate I used about 1 1/2 cups)

Run the edamame through a food processor, pulsing several times to make a mix of smooth and chunky. Run the cashews through a food processor or give a fine chop with a chef knife. Add the Edamame, cashews, ginger, garlic, scallions, soy sauce and egg to a bowl. Use your hands to mix well. Add panko bread crumbs until the mixture comes together into something you can form a good patty out of. Form into 4 large patties, cover, and refrigerate for a few hours. Cook for a few minutes per side in oil in a "rocket-hot" skillet. Serve on a toasted bun.

Wasabi Slaw

2 teaspoons wasabi paste (or more to taste)
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 head of cabbage, sliced thin
the rest of the scallions you didn't use in the burger, sliced thin
salt and pepper

whisk together the wasabi, vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil. pour over cabbage and scallions and toss. Refrigerate until ready to use. I made this first to give the cabbage time to marinate.

peanut butter & jelly. and bacon. and edamame.

My friend Aims posted this recipe, strawberry-glazed edamame with bacon, and I was so intrigued. I never would have put these ingredients together! So I had to try it. And, wow, it works! The strawberry preserves give the dish a slight sweetness, making the bacon seem almost candied. What a discovery!

While I had the bacon going, I cooked an extra piece to make a peanut butter bacon sandwich. This was one of my favorites as a kid. At least twice a month my family had BLT night. Problem was, I didn't like tomatoes or mayo (still can't stand mayo), so my dad would make me this sandwich instead. My childhood peanut butter sandwich was just peanut butter on toast. This time I made the sandwich and cooked it in a pan with a little butter, like a grilled cheese. I also put a little honey on it. Yum. The edamame was a perfect side for it, too. What with the jelly and all :)

Strawberry-Glazed Edamame with Bacon
From Sweet & Saucy Blog(with slight adaptations)

8oz. frozen, shelled edamame
1-2 Tbsp. strawberry preserves
4 strips of bacon, coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove, grated
Freshly ground black pepper

Cook/steam edamame according to package instructions. In a skillet over medium-high heat, cook the bacon until crispy. Drain excess fat, reserving about a teaspoon of drippings. Add cooked edamame and grated garlic to skillet and stir to coat. Spoon 1-2 tablespoons of strawberry preserves into the mixture and stir well to combine. Add liberal amount of fresh ground black pepper. Serve warm.

related posts from the archive:
Edamame salad with almonds
Local band pasta salad with strawberries and asparagus
cannellini beans with bacon & fennel

old lady bruschetta

When I was at the store buying the ingredients for this dinner, I looked down into my red hand basket and thought "wow, this is all old lady food!" Smoked herring, pickled beets, prepared horseradish? I may as well have done all my cat food and yarn shopping at the same time! Well, my cat has plenty of food, I have yet to learn to learn to crochet beyond the most basic row, and my hair is not permed. (I did by pralines and cream ice cream during this trip though. not as old lady as rum raisin (mmmmm), but still).

WHATEVER. so I have reached a point in my life where I like old lady foods. I was in Wisconsin for work last week, and one of the menu items at this adorable pub was a smoked whitefish/horseradish appetizer, that I couldn't talk my colleagues into ordering. So I had to take matters into my own (not liver-spotted-yet!) hands and make a smoked fish, horseradish-involved dinner my own-dang self. And I couldn't leave out the beets. It just seemed natural... smoke fish, preserved horseradish... I needed a sweet, colorful, shelf-stable root veg to round out the equation! You see the logic... right?


WHATEVER. this was good. Smokey, fishy canned fish, zingy, nostril-tweaking horseradish, creamy...erm.. cream cheese, and sweet, earthy pickled beets. I ate this by my lonesome old-ladyish self, but this is a quick dinner party starter idea. What? You don't have a Russian-themed dinner party planned? Get on it!

Smoked Herring Horseradish Spread

1 block cream cheese
3 Tablespoons prepared horseradish
1 8 oz. can smoked herring
1 clove garlic, grated
salt
dash of white pepper
as much black pepper as you can stand to grind

Mix together. Refrigerate until use. Spread on slices of baguette that have been sprinkled with olive oil and toasted. Top with julienned pickled beets and chopped fresh chives.

bacon corn pesto with pierogies

I've been wanting to try this recipe all summer. Unfortunately, I seem to have waited too long, and just missed corn season. Frozen corn is perfectly good, though. So I decided to still make it even though it is October. It sounded good, okay? After I grabbed my frozen corn, I walked past the frozen pierogies. I turned around and got some, knowing I needed to use these instead of plain pasta. Why? They are pasta... filled with mashed potatoes. I have always mixed my corn with my mashed potatoes! It was meant to be! This turned out yummy. Creamy, sweet corn with salty bacon and pockets of potatoey goodness. It's not very photogenic, but it sure is tummy-genic!

Bacon Corn Pesto with Pierogies

4 slices of thick bacon, cut into bite-size pieces
2 16 oz. bags frozen corn
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 teaspoons dried thyme
salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup olive oil
12 pierogies

Cooke the bacon until just crisp. set aside, leaving the grease in the pan. Cook the corn in the bacon grease with some salt and the thyme for about 5 minutes. Put corn in food processor with garlic. pine nuts and cheese. Process until pureed, adding water as needed. Dribble in olive oil with processor running. Taste and season.

Boil Pierogies according to directions. Reserve some of the cooking water. Drain, add about 1 1/2 cups of the corn pesto to the pierogies, toss, and heat through. Serve topped with bacon and more Parmesan.