Monday, January 19, 2009

Lentil Goat Cheese Burgers

Inspiration:
Cara's Cravings

Ingredients:
  • 1 1/4 cups water
  • 1/2 cup dried lentils
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 teaspoon olive oi
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 2 ounces goat cheese
  • 1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3/4 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
  • 1 large egg white, lightly beaten
  • whole grain rolls
  • lemon-shallot vinaigrette, or other sauce, and lettuce for serving

Instructions:
  1. Place first 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until tender; drain. Discard bay leaf. Place lentils in a large bowl; partially mash with a fork. Cool slightly.
  2. Heat oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; saute 5 minutes or until tender. Cool slightly.
  3. Add onion mixture, cheese, and remaining ingredients to lentils; stir well to combine. Cover and chill 45 minutes.
  4. Divide mixture into 3-4 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty.Heat a grill pan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Cook patties 5 minutes on each side or until done.

Notes: I *loved* these! I loved the flavor combination--thanks, Cara. Tim is not a big fan of goat cheese, so I made this for myself while he was gone. I kept half of the onion-lentil mixture out when mixing in the egg, breadcrumbs, and cheese. He ate it later as a salad and enjoyed it.

One more note: I obviously used yellow lentils. Don't be alarmed if you use green lentils and your burgers look totally different.

Liz's Rating: 9.5/10
Tim's Rating: n/a

13 comments:

HaveShoesWillTravel said...

Wow these sound really interesting. I'll have to make these sometime.

P.S. Thanks for your rec for Bangkok Air. I'd seen it before but didn't think it would work with where we are going but I didn't think to just not use the 3rd leg of the ticket.

And no chance for Hong Kong this trip. We're doing BKK, Siem Reap, Chiang Mai, and Phuket already.

Cara said...

They look delicious, glad you liked them! I was also curious about the color as I am still pretty new to lentils and haven't branched out yet :)yours are much prettier than mine!

ErinsFoodFiles said...

WOW! That looks GOOOOD!

Anonymous said...

I just might have to try these...I'm not the biggest lentil fan, but I think it might just be the particular recipes I've tried before. I LOVE goat cheese, so that part would be great. :)

Erin said...

These sound amazing. I love veggie burgers, and have been dying to make a homemade version. And the goat cheese would add great flavor... Tim doesn't know what he's missing!

Lindsay said...

These looks great - I never thought of combining lentils and goat cheese -yum!

weezermonkey said...

But...will this make me gassy? ;)

What's Cookin Chicago said...

I'm definitely keeping this in mind for a meatless meal! It looks delicious and I think the yellow lentils gave a great color!

Anonymous said...

I am going to have to try these! Yum!!

Anonymous said...

This looks and sounds AMAZINGLY delicious! And Liz, you make me so jealous with all your GORGEOUS pictures!!

Sarah said...

LOL at WeeMo. Looks great, I think I'll try it next week on one of my days off!

Unknown said...

Where did you get those rolls? Are they a brand name? I've been looking all over for whole grain rolls lately and never found anything that looks like those!

Liz said...

The rolls are from a local grocery chain, Kowalski's, in the bakery section. They're really good!