Most children turn their noses up at anything with green bits or visible onions and it can be a real struggle to get them to eat their veggies. For some time, I have been working on developing the ultimate vegetable burger and the recipe below should convert even confirmed vegetable haters. I make them often for my children and the whole family loves them. It is a good idea to make extra and once they are cooked and cool, you can freeze them on an open tray and when frozen you can transfer them to a plastic container and separate the layers with greaseproof paper.
Makes eight burgers
Ingredients
● 350g medium potatoes skin on
● 1½ tbsp olive oil
● 150g finely chopped red onion,
● 150g small leek, chopped
● 150g grated carrot
● 100g brown cap mushrooms, diced
● 1 garlic clove, crushed
● 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
● 1 tbsp soy sauce
● 40g gruyere cheese, grated
● 75g fresh breadcrumbs
● 2 tsp clear honey
● 1 egg yolk
● Flour for dusting
● Sunflower oil for frying
● Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
● Prick the potatoes. Cook in the microwave on high at 800W for about 10 minutes until soft.
● Alternatively boil the potatoes with the skin on in a pan of water for 30 minutes with the skin on.
● Allow the potatoes to cool.
● Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and sauté the onion, leek, carrot, mushrooms, garlic and thyme for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are soft.
● Make sure the mixture is quite dry and leave to become cold.
● Peel the potatoes and lightly mash. Add the cold vegetables and remaining ingredients except the oil and flour.
● Mix together and season well.
● Shape into 8 burgers. You will find the mixture is quite soft as I did not want to make it stodgy by packing it out with breadcrumbs.
● Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
● Lightly flour both sides, then fry in a little sunflower oil for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side until golden and cooked through.
Annabel's latest book, 100 Family Meals, is published in January. It is one of a series of seven books called My Kitchen Table written by top chefs including Rick Stein, Antonio Carluccio and Madhur Jaffrey. Each book is a collection of 100 favourite meals with colour photos of all recipes and is available in bookshops at £7.99 or at Amazon.co.uk
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