- Makes 6 large burgers (enough for 6 lunches or dinners) - Takes 1 hour -
Gather together…
1 tbsp rapeseed oil or olive oil.
2 onions, very thinly sliced and diced (to save time day-to-day, I keep a big box of onions I've chopped ahead-of-time, in the freezer, so I throw in 4 handfuls of those).
1 (peeled and chopped) garlic clove (or 1 tsp lazy garlic).
200g (4 big handfuls) of frozen spinach leaves (crushed up by hand whilst still frozen and added whilst still frozen) or use fresh spinach leaves - wash the fresh leaves, chop them up with scissors and wilt the fresh leaves in the microwave for 1 minute on HIGH (the water on the leaves from washing will be enough to steam them in).
1 cup (125g when weighed on the scales) shop bought breadcrumbs (or 5 slices of bread well-toasted, left to cool in the toaster and then crumbled and whizzed in a food processor).
50g (1/4 jar) pesto - choose your pesto carefully, some brands have 3% salt, aim for 1% salt (1g per 100g), usually the supermarket own brands have a lower salt content.
150g (2 handfuls) cheese - if you use Wensleydale you can just crumble it in by hand, or grate in some Cheddar.
Pinch ground black pepper.
2 eggs.
1 tbsp plain flour (for coating burgers in).
Get cooking...
1. In a large casserole dish on the hob, heat the 1 tbsp of oil and gently fry the two sliced onions and the garlic clove for 5 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 220 C (200 C fan) or Gas 7.
3. REMOVE the casserole dish from the heat and turn off the hob. Add the 4 big handfuls of crushed frozen spinach / chopped fresh spinach (microwave-wilted) to the casserole dish. Then add the 1 cup of breadcrumbs, the 1/4 a jar of pesto, the two handfuls of grated / crumbled cheese and the pinch of ground pepper.
4. Break the 2 eggs into the casserole dish and mix well.
5. Put the tbsp of flour into a shallow soup-style bowl (you will use this flour to coat the burgers).
6. Flour your hands and divide the spinach mixture into 6 lumps, ideally using a ½ cup (125g) scoop to measure how much mixture to use in each burger. Roll each lump of mixture into a ball so that it sticks together and then flatten slightly to make a burger shape.
7. Dip the burgers in the flour to coat all over. Brush / shake off the excess flour.
8. Put the burgers onto a baking tray in the oven. There is no need to line or oil the tray. Bake at the top of the oven for 25 minutes at 220 C (200 C fan) or Gas 7.
9. Cool the burgers before chopping and serving them / freezing them.
Adapted from a BBC Good Food recipe called 'Green Burgers'.