Gem Burger

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 500 g vegetables, leftovers from the day before, e.g. cabbage, peas, beans, carrots or fennel
• 2 eggs
• 1 roll or breadcrumbs
• some flour, maybe
• 1 onion(s)
• 2 garlic cloves, optional
• salt and pepper
• 1 pinch(s) of oregano, thyme or sage
• 1 carrot(s) (if not already present in the vegetables)

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 20 minutes

Burgers made from leftover vegetables

Put the cooked, and drained (if necessary) vegetables from the previous day into a bowl. Grate in the bread or mix in about 40g of breadcrumbs (you can also squash any pulses a little). While you peel and chop the onion, the breadcrumbs can absorb some of the water from the vegetables. Then add the onion, salt, pepper, chopped garlic and herbs to taste. Mix well with clean hands. Season to taste, then mix in the eggs. If water forms (usually with leafy vegetables or green beans), you may need a little flour at the end. Work this in small portions with your hands until the mixture is still moist but malleable and no water remains. If you don’t have any carrots in the vegetables, you can grate in a fresh carrot; this gives it a sweet taste that children of all ages love. Then take a small amount of the mixture and shape it into a small, flat burger. If you prefer something low in calories, you can test-fry a small gem burger in a preheated Teflon pan. If you’re not so keen on the lines, test-fry in butter; it will be crispier and taste better. Test-frying is important, as each vegetable reacts differently. The burger will spread a little at first, but should hold together when turned over. If the burger falls apart, knead a little more flour into the mixture and test-fry again. Then season again; the flour neutralizes the flavor of the spices. Don’t overcook it! It’s a vegetable, not meat! A tasty crust should form. We’ve found that gem burgers taste even better when cooled. So, they’re a great alternative to sweets, and even those who don’t like vegetables will enjoy them. Although they’re called burgers, ketchup doesn’t go well with them. However, yogurt sauce or sour cream sauce with fresh herbs is delicious.