Eggplant burgers

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If Rachael Ray is the Queen of Burgers
I am the Princess of Alternative Burgers
We are always making burgers
with different varieties of food
and these 
EggPlant Burgers
are, by far,
My favorite burgers, ever!

Think you don’t like Eggplant?
Give these a try
You know I am adverse to vegetables
and not a huge eggplant fan
but these are simply delicious!
You won’t think of them as a vegetable…
We got a couple of Eggplants
in our Bountiful Basket
and I knew right away that we were
having Eggplant Burgers
Our kids LOVE them
Just don’t tell them what they are the first time
if they tend to turn their noses up at veggies
Our kids prefer these to “regular” burgers
and we get lots of “YAY”
when we say Eggplant Burgers for dinner!
Ingredients:
  • 1 Eggplant – I find 1 large Eggplant makes about 6 patties
  • 1 cup of breadcrumbs – you will need more or less depending on the water content and the size of your eggplant
  • 2-3 Green onions
  • Garlic – to your liking, 2-4 cloves
  • 1/2 – 3/4 cup shredded cheese – your preference, I used cheddar
  • 1/4 cup Corn meal to coat your patties – (optional)
  • Your favorite burger toppings – mine? some cheese, lettuce, red onion, a little mayo….
Directions:
Peel your eggplant and cut into small pieces. Saute the eggplant until softened. I personally, instead of using oil (even olive oil), I use just water in the pan, cover the pan with a lid and basically then just let the eggplant steam/saute until softened. 
Here is what it looked like in the pan before saute:

Here is what the pan looked like after the steam/saute – the eggplant is softer 
Once cooked, place the eggplant, breadcrumbs, green onion, garlic and cheese into the food processor. You will need to adjust or add more breadcrumbs to your mixture to get a thick consistency. Pulse the food processor until the mixture comes together. I used a combination of homemade breadcrumbs and Italian breadcrumbs. Should look a bit like this:
Now, it works best if you let the mixture sit for 15 or so minutes. Allows the mixture to come together. I make it in the morning or early afternoon and just pop it in the fridge for dinner later.
Shape the mixture into patties. Now, I take my patties and coat them in a bit of corn meal, to give it a nice crust. This is optional, and I have done it without the corn meal and it turns out just fine! Heat your skillet to medium high and put a little Olive Oil into the pan. Place you patties into the pan and cook until golden on one side and then flip to the other side. If you want cheese up on top, place the cheese on to melt, until the other side is golden brown. Take out of pan and put on bun – add desired toppings
Mmmmm… My favorite burger!! Enjoy!