A Delicious Abomination

While I was tweetstalking @DomesticVegan late last month, another of her gorgeous tweets crossed my voyeuristic Twitter client:

Need a new dinner idea? How about #vegan Wild Rice Pub Burgers? http://bit.ly/ckEc6W

"Hell, yeah, I need a new dinner idea," I exclaimed. "In fact, I need 22 ideas for the impending VeganMoFo."  Add the fact that I like pubs and burgers, and that I already had the side of beer on hand, this idea was what middle management would call  a "non brain."

So while I was making last night's red lentil stew I also prepared the rice for this recipe. (Let me add, parenthetically, that I had never before planned a meal this far in advance.) Having that squared away made preparing the burgers ridiculously easy.

But there's a catch.  After forming 6 relatively perfect patties, I realized that I had enough material to make 7 1/2.  Rather than let the remaining 1/2 burger go to waste, I made a one-and-a-half burger.  It was huge.  When the bun saw me plop that monster down on the grill pan (I don't have a non-stick pan), it was like, "Aw, shit." And then there's the grill pan.  I think that these burgers would benefit from the surface area and sizzling oil of a frying pan, especially when they're embarrassingly large.  This big boy tasted incredible, but was lacking the cohesive texture that a pan or skillet would have promoted. Fortunately, I have 6 normal-sized patties sitting in the freezer, eager to be used as directed.

Thanks for the excellent recipe, Jess!  I promise that this is the last of my VeganMoFo harassment.