Homemade Quorn Veggie Burgers

I know that you can get a lot of shop bought veggie burgers, however I wanted to be able to make my own and add my own flavours. Plus its always more fun and satisfying having made your own burgers rather than just bunged some shop bought ones in the oven.
I have never made these burgers before now so this was an experiment which turned successful, yay! I was worried it would be a flop as after doing research on the internet, most people said Quorn mince doesn't bind well as its a lot dryer than meat. Well I successfully managed to get it to bind together well and I'm so proud :-)
These burgers were really moist, not dry at all and full of flavour, I was really surprised. I'd like to see any meat eater not like these delicious burgers.

Right well here is the recipe, I must warn you though, while making it I didn't really use precise measurements. 

Ingredients (makes 2 burgers):

- Good handful of Quorn mince (defrosted)

- Half a Onion (finely chopped)

- Few Mushrooms (finely chopped)

- 1 Garlic Clove (crushed)
- Good handful of fresh Breadcrumbs

- 1 Egg
- Sprinkle of Flour

- Thyme

- Salt

- Pepper

- Cheese

- 2 Buns

1. Cook the onion in a pan with a little oil to soften on a low heat so as not to burn. Then add the mushrooms and the garlic and cook for a further few minutes till its all cooked. Remove from the heat.

2. Combine the Quorn mince, onions, mushrooms, garlic, breadcrumbs, egg, sprinkle of thyme and salt and pepper to season. The breadcrumbs and egg is what binds this all together and makes it stick into the burger shapes.

Really mix and mush it together till its a sticky paste. If its too wet then just add more breadcrumbs. 

3. Now is the messy part. Get your hands right into the bowl of mince mix and squidge balls together to form burger shapes. Really squeeze them so they stay together. Then tap them in a sprinkle of flour on both sides. 

4. Heat a little oil in a frying pan, it must be on a high heat in order to seal the burgers so that they don't fall apart. Place the burgers in the pan when its really hot. 

After about a minute or 2 turn the burgers over. 

Cook for a further few minutes until they are cooked through. 

5.Slice the buns in half. I like to put mayo on the top bun and tomato ketchup on the bottom bun as seen below. 

6. Slice up some cheese and place it on top of the burgers in the pan and then pop it under the grill until the cheese is melted. Pop the burgers onto the buns on the ketchup side. 

Put some lettuce on top of the burger and the bun on top. Serve with a side salad or chips.

Homemade Quorn Veggie Burgers served with a side salad.

Quorn Fillets with Garlic and Thyme and Oven Roasted Rosemary Balsamic New Potatoes

I got given a herb rack for my birthday by my Dad so I try to use the herbs as much as I can in my cooking. My favourite and most often used herbs has got to be Thyme and Rosemary, I just love the flavours. I'm going to cook Quorn "chicken" style fillets. On their own the fillets are quite flavourless and boring but by just adding a sprinkle of Thyme and some garlic makes them delicious and tasty, full of flavour. Along with the Quorn fillets I'm going to cook oven roasted new potatoes in olive oil and balsamic vinegar with garlic and Rosemary. The key ingrediants here is the Rosemary and balsamic vinegar that give the new potateos this beautiful sweet aromatic flavour. I'd say this is a perfect summer dish.


Ingrediants (serves only 1 person as I only cook for myself at the moment):

- 2 Quorn "chicken" style fillets
- New potatoes
- Olive Oil
- Balsamic Vinegar
- 2 Garlic cloves (I love a lot of garlic)
- Thyme
- Rosemary
- Salt
- Pepper

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 7 with a tray and a drizzle of olive oil on it in the oven heating up the oil. In order for the potatoes to roast in 20 mins I like to microwave them for 5 mins first. Once they are microwaved put them in the tray of hot oil, add one clove of crushed or chopped garlic, teaspoon of crunched Rosemary sprinkled over, salt, pepper and a splash of balsamic vinegar. The vinegar will give the potatoes great colour and a gorgous sweet taste, works wonderfully together with the perfumed flavours from the Rosemary. Bake in the oven for 20 mins.

After 20 mins they should look like the picture below, with a lovely golden brown colour.

2. 10 mins before the potatoes are ready melt a generous knob of butter in a frying pan and add the Quorn fillets, rest of the crushed or chopped garlic and a good sprinkle of Thyme. Cook on a low heat turning occasionally for about 10 mins till they are cooked through.

 

Serve on a plate with a side salad and its done. A simple, easy with minimal effort meal but very tasty and absolutely bursting with flavours.

 Roasted balsamic new potaoes

Garlic and Thyme Quorn fillets

Quorn and roasted new potatoes served with a side salad with Olive Oil and Balsamic vinegar as dressing.

Bon Appetit :-)