Jamaican Black Bean Burgers | Cook-Outs, Moose Sightings, Nudist..it was a good weekend

Ok. So I'm a little tardy on posting the events of our Memorial Day Weekend in VT. I'm also sucking bad at posting anything in general even though I've been cooking up a veritable storm lately.


Let's just say that you know it's going to be an exciting weekend when it starts off this way:

For 10 years we have been travelling to VT. The streets along the way to out house are littered with signs screaming "Moose Next 10 Miles" and every time we drive by the signs I exclaim, "bullshit"; as we have never seen a moose on the road, ever. We'll I can no longer call bullshit on the moose sign because this baby moose caused a whole lot of ruckus on the road until it figured out it should be back in the woods. Our friends were with us for this trip and we felt we had to tell them that they were very special because this shit doesn't happen everyday.


The weekend going forward was awesome, but essentially non eventful unless you count the rousing game of boys versus girls trivial pursuit where dwarf tossing was an actual answer to a question that caused us all to roll on the floor laughing, that was until the Monday morning when we decided to take out friends on a short hike to the watering hole and waterfall not far from our house. The four of us were enjoying the watering hole just talking amongst ourselves about what a great weekend it had been, and how great the scenery was in Vermont. Interesting because your "scenery" will inevitably change when an older couple joins you at the watering hole, and this older couple are nudist and proceed to take off all their clothes and sit spread eagle on the rocks in front of the waterfall. I must say, I stared, I laughed and I apologized to our friends with a simple shrug of the shoulders saying, "that's Vermont for you."


So, two firsts of the weekend, the moose and the nudists, "that's Vermont for you."


Ok, ok ok. The recipe, so so so good, but only if you like ginger, and allspice because you really do taste it in every bite. I served these topped with spicy mango salsa and they were really really good. The recipe made enough for us to have two each and freeze three for future use, although I probably made them thinner than most people would so you may only get 4 patties out of the recipe if you make them big.


Jamaican Burgers | Vegetable Planet
4 slices stale or toasted sandwich bread (I used bread crumbs)
2 tbs canola or corn oil
1 1/2 C chopped onion
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tbs minced fresh ginger
1/2 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 (15oz) can black beans drained and rinsed
1 1/2 C cooked rice (I used brown rice)
1 jalapeno seeded and minced
salt and pepper to taste


1. Break the bread into pieces and grind them in a food processor. Transfer the crumbs to a large bowl.


2. In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp of the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, and saute them, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until they soften. Add the garlic, ginger, allspice and nutmeg, and saute for exactly 2 minutes more. Put the mixture into a food processor. Add the black beans, rice, and chopped chili peppers. Running the machine into quick spurts, chop the ingredients. Transfer the mixture to a bowl.


3. Add the salt, pepper and bread crumbs to the bowl, and stir well with a large spoon. If the mixture is too wet to form patties add more bread crumbs. 


4. Form into 4 patties, in a large non stick skillet cook over medium heat for four minutes each side.


Rating = So Damn Good