Butternut Squash and Bean Burgers

You know sometimes you see something in a shop and you think "you know what? I deserve this." Well, I had one of those moments this week. For most people my age it's a thought that's probably prompted by a new dress or some shoes, or maybe even a nice bag.. Oh man, it's been ages since I had a new bag.. I'd love a new bag.. Oops! Sorry, sidetracked by the thought of fresh leather and shiny buckles.. Mmm...

Anyway, for me, the main weakness at the moment is recipes. I can spend hours (and by that I mean like, almost entire days) just trawling the internet and my mums old cook books looking for new experiments. So when I spotted Lorraine Pascale's book 'The Lighter Way to Bake' on sale for £7 rather than £20, I needed absolutely no convincing. That baby was mine.

It's a beautiful book, full of recipes, mouthwatering photos and even inspirational quotes - which is a touch that I love, good thinking Lorraine! Something else that it does is give you the nutritional information per serving of the food in each dish, which means you can easily work out how healthy your meal will be without having to do any maths yourself. This was perfect for when I was searching for meal inspiration on my last 5:2 day (see my post on 5:2 friendly fish goujons to hear all about how that works!). By Lorraine's maths, the recipe for Butternut Squash and Bean Burgers comes in at only 188 calories per burger, which meant that it could be accompanied by salad and was perfect for a summer fast day. The original recipe also comes with an apple, mango and chili salsa, but we were sadly lacking 2 out of 3 of the main ingredients so I gave that one a miss for the day. (This also brought the sugar content of the meal right down, making it even better for the fasters in the building!)

The burgers however we were fully prepared for, and they turned out to be an absolute doddle to make - much to my surprise! I've done a lot of bean burger type recipes before and often found them particularly fiddly and a bit of a faff, even if the end result was worth it. These produce a wetter mixture, but handled right were much faster than any I've done before!

Ingredients

For the burger mixture
- 200g of butternut squash, peeled and cut into small cubes (the smaller they're cut initially, the easier the rest of the process will be)
- Oil (Lorraine advises a spray, but I used regular bottled olive and was fine)
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 chili, chopped
- 2 teaspoons of paprika
- A small handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
- 400g tin of kidney beans, drained
- 400g tin of cannelini beans, drained (I'm sure you could use other bean varieties instead if they were all you had or you fancied a change - chick peas would also be fine)
- 1 egg white, lightly whisked until just bubbly (if you're not doing this as a fasting recipe feel free to use the whole egg)
- Zest of 1 lime, grated
- Salt and pepper (this is to taste - I slightly under seasoned mine, so make sure you're not afraid to add slightly more than you think you need)

For the burger coating
- Breadcrumbs (we always keep some in the freezer, but if you're making fresh ones then toast your bread before you blitz it as this will give you much drier, crisper crumbs to work with)
- 1 egg white, lightly whisked until just bubbly (again, if you're not fasting use the whole egg)

Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (200 if you're not using a fan oven)
- Line a baking tray with grease-proof paper
- Cook the cubed butternut squash in a pan of lightly salted boiling water for 3-4 minutes until it's just tender. Once it's cooked drain it really well and put it to one side.

(I get a little OCD with the piles..)

- Heat a little oil in a pan and cook the onion until it's soft and a little brown
- Meanwhile, prepare the burger coating by putting the breadcrumbs in one large, shallow bowl, and the lightly beaten egg in another
- Once the onions are cooked, add the garlic, chili, paprika and coriander
- Cook for a further minute and then remove from the heat
- Tip the kidney and cannellini beans into a large bowl and crush them with a potato masher (or a fork if you don't have a masher handy)
- Once they're smoother, tip in the onion mixture, egg white, lime zest, butternut squash, salt and pepper, and stir until evenly combined. It may not look that promising now, but don't worry - it'll taste amazing!

- Using two tablespoons, get a scoop of the bean mixture and shape it to be vaguely burger-y (you can use your hands, but I found them mixture to be quite wet, and the spoons gave a much more even shape)
- When you're happy with the shape, dip the burgers into the egg white and make sure the whole thing is covered
- Dip the pre-coated burger into the dry breadcrumbs until it's completely covered
- Repeat the process again with the rest of the mixture, putting them straight onto the grease-proof paper as you go

- Sprinkle olive oil on the top of each burger and then put them in the oven for 25 minutes until they're crisp and golden brown!!

They also keep really well - we popped the left overs in the freezer, and because the middles are so smooth, they're just as yummy once they're defrosted! 

So cook away, and let me know what you think!