Black Bean and Mushroom Cakes

Everyone loves a crab cake right?  No, I'm asking... I've never had one but I've heard that they're pretty darn tasty.  This has nothing to do with crab cakes... 

Oh, and before you read on, I'm becoming a better foodie... I remembered to take pictures this time!

I wanted to make my own veggie burgers tonight but then I realized that I had no interest in eating the bun... hard to have a burger with no bun (hard, not impossible!).

So I thought long and hard and came up with a better way to have the 'burger' part that I wanted without worrying about condiments and bun.  I give you:

Black Bean and Mushroom Cakes

Chop up approximately 8-12 medium sized Crimini Mushrooms (the brown ones).  Once you slice them, go at them with a knife until they're slivers and small chunks.

Finely chop 1-2 cloves of garlic (I used Russian Red and boy did that smell good cooking!)

Saute mushrooms and garlic until browned.

Rinse one large can of black beans.  You MUST rinse them.... dump from can into a strainer and shower with water until there's none of that horrid waxy goop left... (THAT is what gives you gas!)

Take a fork and smash up the beans a bit... you want about 3/4 smashed and 1/4 not so much smashed.

Mix your saute'd mushrooms, one egg, less than 1/4c of breadcrumbs, around 1 tbsp of mustard powder and salt and pepper into the beans.  (if I had had fresh rosemary, I would have chopped that up into the mixture)

Now, with slightly damp fingers (and keep dampening them during this process), make small patties, about 1.5-2" across.

Heat up your olive oil in a pan (I used the same pan as the mushrooms... didn't even wash it!) and gently lay the cakes into the pan.  Cook until browned on the first side, flip and cook until browned on the second side and hot in the middle.

Serve with crumbled goat cheese and a kale salad.