Pam's Artichoke, Eggplant, & Portabella Veggie Burgers

A colleague of mine and I got talking about veggie burgers, and how neither of us can find a commercial one that we find appealing.  My friend Pam is Italian, and is used to cooking from scratch for her family (three boys!).  She came up with a veggie burger recipe of her own from scratch, and offered to come over to teach me how to make it.  I was ecstatic!  A private cooking class in my own home--it was like it was my birthday.  We had so much fun chatting while we cooked, even maneuvering in my tiny kitchen. 

We started with some beautiful produce from Melissa's Produce.  The eggplant and mushrooms from Melissa's, along with some frozen artichoke hearts, made up the bulk of Pam's burger. 

The main ingredients are diced and sauteed in onion, garlic, and olive oil till they are soft and mushy.  It took about as long to cut up all the veggies as it did to sautee, cooking for maybe 20 minutes. 

After the sautee, grated parmesean, egg whites, and enough Panko bread crumbs are added along with spices (parsley, salt, pepper).  The ingredients are best mixed by hand, as this will give you a good idea of the firmness of the mixture.

The "batter" is formed into patties by hand that are about the size of your palm, then coated on the outside with another layer of egg white and Panko.  At this stage, the patties can be laid onto a baking sheet and frozen.  Once frozen, then remove the patties into gallon bags, or vacuum seal.  The sealer can't be used unless frozen through hard, as they will not hold their shape when first made.

I prefer to bake the patties from frozen, in my toaster oven, at about 325 for 20 mins or so.  Alternately, you can pan fry the patties.  Or form the mixture into balls rather than patties, to be served on pasta or in a sub.  

Pam's full recipe is below, as she sent it to me, and published with her permission.  But we did a lot of substituting and cooked by eye during our "class" rather than measuring the ingredients out, as she's quite familiar with this dish.  One obvious substitution is that we used frozen artichoke hearts, rather than boiling fresh artichokes.  Much easier, time saving and still delicious - I don't think we would have noticed a difference had we stuck to her recipe.

Veggie Burgers
by Pam Altieri Paterra
Ingredients:
2 medium eggplant, peeled and diced 2 large artichokes
2 cups portabella mushrooms, diced 1/2 cup diced onion
Optional: zucchini can also be added to the veggie mix 6 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 cup egg whites, plus more for coating
1 cup panko bread crumbs (more if needed)
olive oil
parsley, chopped salt & pepper grated parmesan 

Cut 1/2 to 1 inch off tops of the artichokes and trim the tips of the leaves. Place artichokes in a deep pot and add water until they are 3/4 covered. Spread out the leaves and stuff a clove of minced garlic in each artichoke, getting it in all the layers. Do the same with parsley. Sprinkle with parm, salt and pepper. Drizzle about 2 tbsp of olive oil over them. Get some of the oil and seasonings in the water, too. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Let simmer for about an hour, until the hearts are tender. Remove all of the leaves and inedible spines to get to the heart. Place hearts in a medium sized bowl to cool. 

Over medium heat, saute diced eggplant, onion, mushroom, zucchini (if using), and remaining garlic in olive oil until tender and mushy. Add this mixture to the artichoke hearts and mash together. Let the mixture cool for a little bit. If it's too hot it might cook the egg whites. 

Stir in 1/3 cup egg whites and enough panko crumbs to make the consistency thick enough to hold shape. Form mixture into patties. Lightly coat with panko crumbs and egg whites. Place on waxed paper or parchment paper. Cover with another sheet of paper. Place in a baggie and refrigerate for an hour before cooking or freeze patties for future use. 

Place patties in a hot skillet with one Tbsp of olive oil and sautee until browned on both sides and heated through. 

Makes approx 10 three inch patties or 30 medium sized balls. 

Serving Suggestions:

Top with a slice of tomato and a slice of melted cheese and serve in between two street taco sized tortillas. Mixture can also be formed into balls, sauteed, and served over pasta or in a sub.

Notes:

When I first came up with this recipe, I tried to make them vegan so I didn't use egg whites. They tasted great but they didn't really hold together that well. I added the egg whites to the 2n​ d​ batch and that helped but still wasn't quite enough. I also added parm, since they were not vegan anyway. For the third batch, I lightly coated them with panko bread crumbs and egg whites and that did the trick. So, they are no longer vegan, until I figure out a good way to bind them without eggs or cheese. 

Once the patties are frozen I use the food saver to seal them. If you try to vacuum seal them before they are frozen they will not hold their shape.