Subscription anxiety and bean burgers

I should buy Gourmet Magazine more often. If it wasn’t for the cheque addressed to the New Yorker (eep!) that I just dropped in the mail, I would be getting a subscription to Gourmet, definitely. You can't have everything, they say.

But, as a treat, I bought a copy this weekend and spent an entire evening folding the corners of pages that had especially nice recipes. That was Saturday. Today is Thursday, and I am making my third recipe from the February issue already. And it’s still January.

First, there was Paprika roast chicken with sweet onion, on Sunday night. It was amazing. Then, on Monday, there were the Black-bean burgers, which were ridiculously satisfying in that pasty beanie sort of way. I love these burgers, which is why I’m sharing the recipe with you, below. And finally, tonight, in the oven at this very moment, are Gourmet’s Buttermilk fantails, a fancy looking dinner roll. They may or may not work out. But the way things are smelling in this apartment, I think they’re working out.

Black-bean burgers
adapted from Gourmet Magazine (by Gina Marie Miraglia Eriquez), February 2009 issue

2 (14-oz) cans of black beans
3 tbsp mayonnaise
1/3 cup dry bread crumbs or crushed crackers
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dry cayenne
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
salt and pepper
3 tbsp frying oil ( I used olive)

4 hamburger buns

guacamole, salsa and sour cream as garnish

Rinse and drain 1 can of beans. Purée in a blender or food processor, along with mayonnaise, bread crumbs, cumin, oregano, cayenne and salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl and mix cilantro and second can of whole beans (rinsed and drained). Form into patties and cook at medium-high heat in an oiled frying pan, on both sides until crispy-brown on the outside.

Serve on hamburger buns. I made a coarse, tomatoey guacamole to heap on top of the patty.