STILL NEW YORK-HUNGRY

4. Pumpkin Burger 2 in 1 (Hi-Carb)

Okay, I admit it's not as novel as "3. A VERY Special Cauliflower Burger & EXTRA (Hi-Carb)"  (because easier to get), but something that was "missing" in my recipe collection for pumpkin yet.


There's an impressive amount I did with pumpkin over the last 3+ years:


– Soup "32. Pumpkin-Soup with Amerettini-Almond-Topping" ; "6. South Tirolean Pumpkin Cream Soup with Kräuterwurzn" ; "39. Sweet Pumpkin Soup" 

– Bread "41. Pumpkin Bread a.k.a. MY FIRST BREAD!" 

– Cakes "43. Pumpkin Cake a.k.a. CHRISTMAS CAKE" ; "6. Pumpkin-Nut-Cake with Lemon Frosting" ; "9. Pumpkin-Cheesecake" ; "28. Pumpkin Seed Oil Gugelhupf (= Bundt Cake)"  (even as oil!)

– Lasagna "27. Pumpkin Lasagna" 
– Gnocchi "39. Laura's Pumpkin Gnocchi in Gorgonzola Sauce " 
– Pasta "4. Pumpkin Ravioli" 
– Muffins "5. (Leftover) Pumpkin Muffins" 


A burger was only consequent... and overdue, eh?

Why are you "burgering / balling" everything recently?, I hear you ask.

Well, at the moment I'm going through some stressful times offline, and then I tend to eat shit: fries, burgers, sweets... like many of us.

When I manage to outsmart my Inner Panic Glutton by making this stuff healthier by substituting the real shit with vegs, nuts, etc. then I win twice: I had my consolation "junk" food, but it won't kill me so quickly.

Also this is something my NaNo-inspired novel series' FMC, Laura, would cook.

She and her bestie, Hatice – or Hattie, because of her foible for hats – host a YouTube channel together, called Frau Grüngemüs (A "Germanification" of Hattie's family name Güngörmüs). Also Gemüse = Vegetables in German. In that channel they show how to grow fruits and vegs in urban settings (like balconies, roofs /-terraces, even indoors!) and what to cook / bake from them.

But enough babble now – I dunno about you all, but I got fu–reaking hungry from recapping all that yummy pumpkin stuff that came before.

Off to the kitchen! You won't regret it.




Serves: 2 burgers; 3 pumpkin balls


Prep Time: 3.5 hrs / 30 minutes With the first burger the handmade mayonnaise went foul, and I tried about 2 hours to save it. Also about 40 minutes "wrangling" with, and until, the pumpkin was ready to use is included, too.


Degree of Difficulty: Overall Easy... but if you make the mayonnaise yourself: potential nightmare!




WE NEED


BURGER


Patties


400 gr / 0.9 lb pumpkin I used Hokkaido
1 small onion A red one here.
1 garlic clove Two here.
1 egg
3 tbsp flour Spelt here
parsley fresh, finely chopped
salt
pepper


Curry Mayonnaise

1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vinegar White Aceto here.
150 ml / 5 US fl.oz. plant-based oil Organic Canola oil here.
2 tsp curry powder
salt
pepper



Burger Sauce

4 tbsp apple sauce
1 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper



2 burger buns Rye / grain roll here.
2 bunches rucola I used pre-cut Italian wild herb salad.



WE DO

1. SCHNIBBELN & CO: Finely chop onion, garlic + parsley. Cave out the pumpkin and finely grate the required amount into a bowl, for which I used my food processor.


2. PUMPKIN PREP: Add a pinch of salt and let the pumpkin marinate. Then put it into a kitchen towel and squeeze out the water. If you don't, it'll become a soggy nightmare! Put the pumpkin back into its bowl and mix with onion, garlic, egg, flour + parsley. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.


3. BURGER SAUCE This was my last "achievement" before the party went south.

Stir together apple sauce, ginger powder + cayenne pepper.



4. CURRY MAYONNAISE a.k.a. The ENDGEGNER In theory, this is almost as easy as the Burger Sauce, but the Devil is in the details.

Thoroughly whisk egg yolk + vinegar. In small portions mix in the oil, and whisk as long each time until the oil has completely mixed in. When the mix has gained its mayonnaise-y texture, season with salt, pepper + curry.

So far, so good / easy, eh? BUT: I was too impatient with the oil, my additions too much at a time; no constant flow (ideally!), but more spurts. NO amount of cooling, adding extra egg yolk, oil, vinegar or lemon juice, could rescue it. And suddenly, 2 hrs had vanished, too!

It's a great vinaigrette for salad or a sauce base, though, so DON'T THROW IT AWAY, if you turn out being such a mayonnaise expert as me To get the mayonnaise needed for the recipe, I mixed the vinaigrette with Dijon mayonnaise from the local Moutarderie. Donnerlittchen, was that stuff divine!

b}That's Reason No. 1 to try and make your own: all those life-shortening, sickening chemicals the "Food" Industry mixes in, are out of the Equation.

Oh, and when you really want to rub it in, you fill the ingredients one-by-one into a measuring cup – best high & slim –, put the stick blender into the vessel and ONLY turn it on, when it's standing solidly on the vessel's floor. Let it run for 3-5 minutes, then SLOWLY pull up the hand blender – like in SLO-MO! – and you shall see – in the IDEAL case! – on the vessel's rim a mayonnaise-y quality of the cup's contents... or you f– up that, too.

It looks so easy and professional when they do it in a cooking show on TV, so I thought I'd add it. Probably, shoulda watched that video earlier, too, mind you.



5. BURGER PREP: Halve the burger buns / rolls, and roast them briefly in a pan on the cut side. Then shape the pumpkin mass into balls, press them flatt in the pan, in which you've heated a bit of plant oil – organic frying oil made of sunflower, canola + thistle, in this case – before.



6. BURGER BAUEN! My fave part! Have never f– up that before!

Spread the lower halves of the buns/rolls with the curry mayonnaise and put some rucola – or Italian wild herb salad, or whatever salad's your's – on top. Top with the pumpkin patties and spread apple sauce onto the upper halves of the buns/rolls.

From the remaining patty mass, I got a whole main course of pumpkin balls, sitting in curry mayo sauce.


The other half of the pumpkin I've used to make "40. Laura's Pumpkin Cookies"  & "38. Pumpkin Pizza (UPDATED + healthy-carbed!)" .

Pumpkin is really a sustainable veg – like the TARDIS of vegs!


And now, guys...


Guten Hunger!