Broccoli burgers on the blogger-go-round

One of the things I love about Cindy and Michael's blog is their links section on the right hand side titled "Old favourites we're eating this week". Quite often, I meander off to have a look at their old recipes and was particularly interested when I saw one called broccoli burgers some time ago. This recipe was linked back to Johanna's blog where she had discovered it in an article highlighting best vegetarian burger recipes. 

It wasn't a vegan recipe but sounded like it could be made vegan pretty easily so I had a stab with a few adaptations that night and was very impressed. These burgers were really tasty! The recipe came with the bonus of being an oven-baked version which I prefer over pan-frying in batches. It gives you more time to get other components of your meal ready, less angst about breaking up burgers and you don't use as much oil so they are better for you. Win, win, win!

The first time I baked the broccoli burgers no photos were taken or notes written down on the vegan adjustments that I made. When I had a second attempt last week they turned out just as I had remembered them to be and this time I was better prepared with camera and computer. 

The initial mention of broccoli burgers did instigate a few strange looks although they have since been enjoyed by all of us. Broccoli burgers seem to go well with a variety of condiments; gravy, tomato sauce, tomato chutney and BBQ sauce have all paired nicely and I even enjoyed a couple of cold plain left-over burgers for a quick snack.   

Broccoli burgers (Adapted from Where's the Beef via Green Gourmet Giraffe and originally posted here)

1 medium-sized head broccoli
2/3 cup almonds  
2 slices of wholemeal bread
1 red onion, cut into quarters
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 tablespoon vegan worchestershire sauce
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1/3-1/2 cup water
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 200C. Chop the broccoli into large florets, place in a food processor bowl and pulse until finely chopped. Remove the broccoli and place in a large bowl. Place the almonds in the food processor and process until finely chopped. Remove and add to the bowl with the broccoli. Repeat these steps with the slices of bread and then the onion.

Add the nutritional yeast flakes to the bowl and mix thoroughly so that all ingredients are well combined. Stir the ground flaxseed together with 1/4 cup of water and reserve 1/4 cup of water for later. Drizzle the worchestershire sauce over the top of the ingredients in the bowl, then add the flaxseed/water mixture and stir thoroughly until well combined. Add the reserved water slowly, stirring through and testing every so often to determine when the mixture becomes soft enough for rolling into burgers. You don't it to get too moist so all the water may not be required.

Line a large roasting tray with baking paper and spray lightly with olive oil. Roll the mixture into balls and then flatten out into burgers. Give the tops of the burgers with a spray with olive oil and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the bottoms are browned. Flip the burgers over and bake for a further 20 minutes.