Black Bean Burgers - FTW!

I admit, I was pretty apprehensive about trying any sort of veggie burger. I don't honestly want a substitute that tastes like meat. I am developing a pretty honest to goodness dislike for meat these days, I'm certainly not missing it.

But I do miss the burgerness of a bun with lettuce, tomato, cheese, etc. and I figured, why not find something to go on there with it? Not everything that goes nicely on a bun has to taste like animals.

So yesterday, I got to feeling pretty brave and since black beans are my favorite, favorites, I looked for a basic black bean burger recipe. Most seemed bland, others had all sorts of things included that I didn't want - like corn. Nah thank you. So I took a basic formula, but tweaked it to the flavors that I personally like. You know what? I was totally shocked at how well black bean patties go on a bun with cheese, lettuce tomato and a little bit of onion and mayonnaise. It was almost burrito-esque, but burger-esque at the same time. I was glad I made four patties and froze the other three, I'm sure they won't be in the freezer very long! Here's my recipe:

Keep in mind that black beans do not have as strong of flavor as meat, so be careful not to over season.

1/2 lbs. black beans, drained rinsed and cooked
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. onion flakes
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 cup fine toast crumbs
1 egg
1 tbs. oil

After cooking and cooling your beans, mash them up. I used a potato masher, because I wanted some beans left whole and a somewhat chunky consistency. Mince the garlic finely and add it and the other seasonings, toast crumbs and egg. Mix thoroughly.

In a small skillet, heat up the oil. My mixture was not shapable, but I used a spoon to smash some into a patty form in the skillet. After 2 minutes, I very carefully turned with a spatula. After another two minutes, I removed from the pan and placed onto a cookie sheet while I fried the rest of the patties. The frying was never mentioned in the other recipes and I don't think it is necessary, but I wanted a bit of "grease" flavor in my burger so I did it.
After all of the patties (this recipe yields 4) were fried and laid out on a cookie sheet, I placed them in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. The patties that came out were solid and held together well - oh, and I might have mentioned this already - they were delicious!