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Larger Loser Recipes!
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Last night I made spicy beanburgers for dinner and they were delicious, so I thought I'd share my recipe.
Makes 6 x 130g beanburgers
Ingredients:
1 x 400g can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 x 400g can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
100g bread (ideally wholemeal)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
100g carrot, finely chopped
150g onion, finely chopped
1 large red chilli, finely chopped (I kept the seeds in because I like it spicy)
2 cloves garlic, minced
15mls olive, rapeseed or sunflower oil (+ a couple of extra mls for frying the burgers)
A spice blend made with:
0.5 tsp hot chilli powder
2 tsps ground cumin
0.5 tsp paprika
0.25 tsp garlic powder
0.25 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp sea salt
Method:
Lightly fry the celery, carrot, onion, garlic and chilli in the oil until soft but not browned (about 10 mins). Take off the heat and allow to cool.
Meanwhile, blitz the bread into fine crumbs in a food processor. Add the drained cannellini beans and pulse until the mixture is a thick pastry-like texture. Add the kidney beans and pulse until they're chopped to your satisfaction.
Tip into a large bowl, add your onion mixture, your spice blend and the egg. Mix thoroughly.
Wet your hands and shape into patties.
Chill on a plate in the fridge for at least 30 mins (or pop in the freezer for 10 mins if short of time). This chilling helps them to retain their shape when they're fried.
Fry for about 5 minutes each side in a couple of mls of olive/sunflower/rapeseed oil....or place on baking parchment and air-fry...or you could probably oven bake them if you want to be ultra healthy.
Then serve as you would a regular burger...with lots of sriracha!
These are them in their raw form - the photo doesn't do them justice!
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There was some talk of pies the other day, so here is one of my grandmothers best recipes for extra quick στριφτή σπανακόπιτα (feta spinach pie). I'm translating from Greek so some of the names might be wrong.
The really important part here is not to make it soggy, while maintaining the juiciness.
for 6-8 people.
250gr of this VVV (no idea how its called in english, filo crust? ..hope the image helps).
Its really good for those that don't know (or don't bother to learn) how to make the crust themselves. Grandmother would disapprove but a>she is dead so no harm done and b>I don't know how to make filo on my own...anyway..
800gr spinach (washed and cleaned)
2 cups of fresh fennel (finely chopped) ~ substitute with other aromatic herbs if you like like leek, dill etc.
4 spring onions (the leaves).
1 large shallot (red onion bulb), grated thin.
350-400gr of feta cheese. Its important to have that coarsely chopped.
1tb spoon of virgin olive oil
salt
pepper
ok.
sauté in a large pan the fresh onions and the shallot with a little olive oil.
Cut the feta into coarse pieces and the spinach into large pieces. Throw them in the pan.
Stir until the spinach reduces in size appropriately. Add a little water if you see the mix drying entirely.
Season with salt and pepper.
Take the pan out of the fire and let the temperature come down (not completely).
Add the fennel (or other herbs) and stir so that they mix well. Let the mixture cool.
Take a tray and rub some olive oil on it.
Take a sheet of filo, rub/spray some olive oil on it, and with a spoon add the mixture on one end in a 5-7cm thick line. Then gently wrap the sheet around the mixture until you have a cylinder, and then bend and twist lightly the cylinder until you get something resembling the picture shown above (or a pile of circular dog poop, you get the gist).
Remember to pinch the cylinder ends slightly together, so that the mixture does not come out.
Repeat until all the mixture is expended. If done correctly, you should have about 6-8 wrapped pies.
Put them in the oiled tray, and spray/sprinkle some oil and water on them so that they don't burn.
Cook for about 20' on 180 degrees celcius, until the crust has browned and become crunchy.
Its a pretty easy recipe, and the results can be surprisingly good with some practice. The goal here is to get the exterior crunchy and the interior moist. The strategy we use is the following :
1. The mixture expands when cooking, so don't wrap it too tight in the first place or the crust will break.
2. If you don't wrap it too tight, the individual sheets of crust will not merge, thus reserving their crunchiness in levels.
3. Pinching the ends of the cylinder helps with keeping the mixture contained and moist.
4. The end result is that the mixture soaks and permeates the inner part of the crust sheet, making it juicy. At the same time, the outer part that faces the heat becomes crunchy and crisp. So, you get the best of both worlds with a single bite.
hope that helps. C:2 -
I believe it’s called phyllo dough in the US. But I’ve seen filo too. It’s in the freezer section of the grocery.4
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That looks amazing!2
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What Connie said!
Filo pastry …..3 -
Oh my goodness @Dante_80 that looks good! Yep, Filo pastry here in the UK.4
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These I love too - but don't feel so compelled to make them myself because I can find premade ones - delicious and handmade if not homemade in local restaurants/take out shops. And they are already vegetarian so nothing "special." They will be a nice treat when I tire of the food stowed in the freezer.
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Krinos offers frozen phylo/Filo pastry in Canada. Frozen chopped spinach extremely well drained may help. The feta is an issue as most/many places offer a crappy feta with a bitter after taste which is certainly not present in the original. also cow milk feta... isn't. Sometimes Bulgarian feta is available in cans (brine and all, the cheese is taken out of the bribe and is actually a tasty hard feta. (Feta comes in creamier versions too)4
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I’ve made this crustless quiche often. Make sure to squeeze out water from spinach. I also put cottage cheese in a sieve to drain. Low-fat ricotta can substitute for cottage cheese. The key is to remove excess water. Mushrooms, cooked onions or other veggies can be used instead of red peppers. Various herbs can be used to taste. 1/8 of the quiche is 160 calories.
https://www.myfoodandfamily.com/recipe/053813/quick-italian-spinach-pie3 -
Here’s one for the spicy hot lovers. 🥵 It’s a wilted cabbage salad with sambal. You can cut some calories using more water instead of oil to wilt the cabbage. And use as much sambal or harissa as you like. I’ve used prepackaged Cole slaw mix but prefer the fresher ingredients. You can make a lot and refrigerate- it just gets more wilted.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sunny-anderson/sunnys-quick-cabbage-sauteed-salad-96081082 -
Thank you that looks interesting... for my coleslaw mix!!!
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Xtreme Wellness 10” flour tortillas are low carb and only 50 calories. You can wrap a boatload of veggies or whatever. Target, Walmart and Sams Club has them. I think other companies like Ole that make similar product. One giant tortilla is half the calories of a traditional 8” flour tortilla and doesn’t taste half bad.2 -
Saw some oat hull fiber tortillas on amazon a while back... they weren't half bad. sounds like something worth exploring. No Targets in Canada but Wally is around!
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The Xtreme tortillas come in “flavors” also. There’s a tomato something and spinach. Tried them both but neither had a flavor worth bothering with. Easier to get plain flour and doctor them up yourself.2
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One of my favourite snacks whenever I'm in italy is a 'telefonino' (a.k.a. supplì or arancini). They're deep-fried rice croquettes, with crisp breadcrumbs hiding a filling made from arborio rice and a tomato/beef ragu, with a heart of melted mozzarella. They're sold everywhere in Rome (and Sicily) and they're delicious, but highly calorific.
Today I had a bash at making a less calorie-dense version. I cooked up some arborio rice and mixed it with a minced beef ragu (whih I made from 5% fat beef mince, onions, celery, carrot, tinned Marzano tomatoes, tomato puree, garlic, seasoning and a dash of red wine, cooked slowly for 2 hours). When the ragu had cooled a little, I mixed it with the cooked arborio rice and formed it into balls, then I pushed a small cube of mozzarella into the centre. Then I rolled each ball in a little beaten egg, and rolled it in stale bread that I'd blitzed into very fine breadcrumbs.
Traditional supplì/arancini are deep fried. I wondered how they'd fare if I oven-baked them, or fried them without fat in the air fryer. In the end, I tried both methods. And both methods produced delectable - if inauthentic - supplì, with beautifully melted cheese centres inside the lovely rice/meat/tomato ball. Though less greasy than the originals, and perhaps a little drier, they were no less delicious. I had some homemade tomato sauce left over from a different dish, so I reduced it down until it was the consistency of a thick puree, mixed in a little freshly grated parmesan and served it as a dipping sauce on the side.
A definite winner.
Here's a picture of the authentic version, followed by my homemade baked version. Mine is shown on a dinner plate, so I made them super-large (about fist sized)!
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Wow - they are delicious little beasties for sure - yours looks equally inviting!1
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Wow, BELLA!
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Here's how you make authentic British Toad in the Hole
Good quality pork sausages (2 or 3 per person, depending on the size of their appetite and the size of your pan!)
For the batter:
2 large eggs
100g plain (all purpose) flour
150 - 200mls mls milk (or thereabouts)
Pinch of salt
Freshly ground black peppter
Whisk the eggs and flour together until you have a stiff roux with no lumps. If it's too sticky to mix easily (i.e. because your eggs are on the small side), add a couple of tbsps of milk. When the roux is fully mixed, whisk in milk until you have a batter the consistency of single cream. I won't give exact milk measurements because it depends on the size of the eggs, but it'll be around 200mls....Season with the salt and pepper, and allow to rest for 15-30 minutes.
While the batter's resting, brown the sausages in an air-fryer or in the oven. If browning in the oven, they'll benefit from a little oil so they don't stick. A metal roasting pan about 2 inches deep is the ideal vessel, and better than a ceramic dish for conducting heat.
When the sausages are browned, add some fat to the pan (either 10g lard or 15mls of sunflower oil) and make sure that it's screaming hot (i.e. turn your oven up to about 220 degrees). When it's smoking hot remove from the oven and pour the batter over the sausages. Return quickly to the oven and lower the temperature to 190 degrees. Cook for around 30 - 40 minutes, until well risen and beautifully golden brown. Don't be tempted to open the oven door for a closer peep untl at least 30 minutes have passed, because if the air hits it before it's cooked it'll collapse faster than Prince Andrew's credibility.
Remove from the oven and serve immediately with a nice thick onion gravy and lots of veggies.
Hopefully it'll turn out something like this:
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Thanks! Will give it a try once the weather cools a bit more. Still running the air conditioning.1
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Nice recipe Bella… is that a Norfolk version? Up here, we’d use 1/2 milk, 1/2 water for a crisper finish & use beef dripping or lard, as opposed to veg oil!2
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I’d always use lard or beef dripping too, but given some folks’ aversion to saturated fat I thought I’d give an unsaturated fat version too.
Agreed half water makes a crispier Yorkshire - so automatic to mix milk with water I didn’t mention it in the method. Doh!2 -
Ah! I thought might be a varient! Looks wonderful! Not had a toad for along time!1
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So this is Yorkshire pudding with a snausage inside?
What happens if you only leave the pan with an initial pam spray plus the fat rendered from the sausagess and do not add extra?
British snausages vs Johnsonville available in a grocery store near me... what kind of snausage should I buy if I were to try this????2 -
I don’t think you’d get a rise on your pud / hole! You’d get a toad on a pancake/ lily pad!3
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You ideally want a traditional pork sausage - i.e. one with a high pork content ( ideally above 97% minced pork) and just lightly seasoned, nothing too herby or spicy. The sausage needs to be rather plain and unshowy so that it doesn't overwhelm the flavour of the Yorkshire pud, so nothing too highly flavoured. If deviating from a traditional plain pork sausage, a Cumberland or Lincolnshire sausage would be acceptable. As for sausage shape, personally I like a nice plump juicy sausage rather than a long skinny chipolata, but some would disagree.
As for the fat, @Janatki may have a different view, but I don't think a light spray of oil would work. The batter needs to hit the hot fat with an audible sizzle in order to rise - so a certain amount of fat is necessary. I think you can get away with 5g lard/dripping, but it's definitely a case that more is better. Many recipes call for 3 tbsps lard or beef dripping to 6 sausages and this quantity of batter. I never use that much, but my mom definitely would've used that amount of fat.
As for the liquid - just milk makes for a softer, doughier Yorkshire pudding - adding water is the magic ingredient, which makes the Yorkshire lovely and crispy.2 -
I agree with Bella high pork content sausage - better quality, tastier toad!2
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Pork content is not an issue, most are 100%
fat content may be.
Normally get smoked Polish or double smoked farmer. They're pre cooked and maybe that would be wrong based on discussion!1 -
Definitely avoid pre-cooked - you need soft juicy uncooked plump sausages - like these ones...
Avoid low-fat sausages if you want a really good toad - this is not a dish where low fat is your priority! And avoid smoked sausages - they wouldn't go so well with onion gravy and the smoked flavour would upset the balance of the dish...
For people trying to lose or maintain weight, a toad is a treat, not an every day dish.
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Plump 😝😘1
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Can't beat a nice plump snorker....2
