Black Bean Burgers

I've made many bean burgers over the years, but I've never cooked one on a barbecue because I feared they would fall apart.

Last Friday, continuing the expanding of my horizons inspired by Elizabeth Orsini's book From Garden to Grill, I made these black bean burgers and handed them to Larry to cook over the coals. He was dubious at first, but they did cook up beautifully.

Orsini says that the key to a making a veggie burger hold together is squeezing the vegetables dry before you add the beans: too much moisture and they fall apart. It seems quite obvious once she's said it, but since I spent my life trying to make burgers that were moist on the inside, it never occurred to me.

These burgers did hold together well on the grill, but I thought they were dry on the inside. Larry didn't. (He put our homemade salsa on his burger — maybe that's the secret.)

We didn't use buns. Instead we saved room for the sides: grilled shisito peppers, green beans from our garden, and a great salad of grilled corn and tomatoes also inspired by From Garden to Grill.

We only grilled two of the four burgers this recipe makes. We kept the others in the fridge to eat at another barbecue Sunday night. There's nothing like eating outside on summer evenings.

Black Bean Burgers
2/3 cup black beans (or 1 14-oz can)
1 stick celery
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 eggs
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
1 cup bread crumbs

Rinse the black beans and cook until tender (about 20 minutes in the pressure cooker or 90 minutes simmering on the stove). Make sure they're soft before you drain them. Drain the beans and pour them onto a kitchen towel. Roll them up and press gently to dry them.

Use a food processor to chop the celery, red onion and garlic very fine. Pour them into a strainer and squeeze out the excess water (your plants will enjoy the water).

Put the beans in a large bowl and mash with a potato masher until only a few lumps remain. Stir in the drained vegetables.

Whisk the eggs with the cumin and chili powder. Stir into the bean mixture. Stir in the bread crumbs. The mixture should hold together well.

Divide the mixture into 4 and shape into patties. Put on a plate, cover with wax paper, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes (or up to a couple of days) until ready to cook on the grill.

Grill over high heat (hand can be held over the rack for 4 seconds) for about 8 minutes per side.

Serve with salsa or ketchup. Avocado would be great too.

Serves 4.