Recipe: Zucchini Mushroom Patties

Post by Paula Jahn, Co-owner and Registered Dietitian at Nourish Northwest

 

I can’t escape from my love of veggie burgers. There are SO MANY caveats to that statement, so let me explain. I was introduced to veggie burgers at my college’s “grill” in the cafeteria. They were  the Original Gardenburgers and I liked them as an alternative to ground beef patties. Sometime around then, I also tried a popular vegetarian burger that was full of soy products, artificial flavors, and suspiciously the color of cooked beef. Gross.

Fifteen years later, I define veggie burgers in a very different way. To me, it almost always means a homemade mush of vegetables, grains, beans, seeds, nuts, and spices. This whole foods savory “dough” then gets formed into patties and fried in my beloved cast iron skillet. In our popular vegan cooking classes, we have made beet burgers, chickpea lentil burgers, black bean patties, asparagus risotto patties, etc. I’ve seen restaurants get pretty creative with the meat-based burger, but nothing beats the versatility of the vegetarian patty. They adapt to all seasons. This is summer, and I have a garden that looks like this:

 

So, it never hurts to have as many uses for this prolific vegetable as you can. Enter the zucchini mushroom patty! I have made a dozen variations on a zucchini patty/fritter. These are unique. They blend the best parts of my favorite mushroom burger (note: future blog post) with lots of shredded zucchini. And, the can hold their shape almost just as well in the vegan version. That is not normal!

I’ve made these patties several times both with eggs and wheat flour and with vegan and gluten-free substitutions. It is difficult to decide which I like better. Below is the recipe with substitutions in parentheses.

Zucchini Mushroom Patties

(Adapted from Sunset Magazine, July 2015)

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

2 medium (2 1/2 cups) zucchini, shredded

1 tsp sea salt, divided

4 Tbs olive oil, divided

1 cup mushrooms, chopped

1/4 cup shallot, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 cup flour (all purpose or gluten free)

1/4 cup dry roasted almonds

1 1/3 cup brown rice, cooked and cooled

2 large eggs (or 2 flax eggs= 2 Tbs ground flax + 6 Tbs water, let sit for 10 min)

Preparation

1. Toss shredded zucchini in a colander with 1/2 tsp salt and let sit and drain for 10 minutes.

2. Heat 2 Tbs oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, shallot, and garlic and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add cumin and saute for another 2 minutes, until fragrant.

3. Pulse almonds in a food processor until they resemble a coarse sand. Add eggs or flax eggs, flour, and rice and pulse until rice looks chopped.

4. Add almond-egg mixture to mushroom mixture and stir in a medium bowl.

5. Press zucchini in colander until most of the juices are released. Add to bowl and stir. Season with 1/2 tsp salt.

6. Heat 2 Tbs olive oil in a nonstick or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Form 5-6 patties out of mixture. Fry until golden on one side, about 6 minutes. Flip and cook another 5 minutes, until deeply golden on both sides.

7. Serve with sliced avocado and mayonnaise (or vegannaise) on toasted sourdough (optional) bread.