chickpea veggie burgers with cucumber red pepper salsa & rosemary fries

Finally!!!! Spring has arrived!!!! At least for today and tomorrow. Today was absolutely gorgeous - sun shining, birds chirping, not a cloud in the sky - almost makes you forget that we just had to endure 3 months of subzero temps! With the beautiful spring-like day, I decided we had to celebrate with one of our favorite summer meals - burgers and fries!

Burgers:
1 C chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 C cooked brown rice
2 T. dried whole wheat bread crumbs
1 large carrot, peeled
1 medium scallion
1 T. cilantro, fresh, chopped
1 t. lemon zest
1 t. ground coriander
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper
1 large egg white
1 garlic clove minced

Salsa
1/2 C cucumber, diced
1/4 C sweet red pepper, diced
2 T. red onion, thinly slivered
1/4 C grape tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes, quartered
3 T. fresh lemon juice
1 T. olive oil
1/4 t. table salt
1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

To make burgers, place chickpeas in bowl of a food processor; pulse for 10 second intervals until a course texture is reached, about 20 to 30 seconds total. Add rice, carrots & scallion and pulse again to combine, about 10 seconds more.
Spoon chickpea-rice mixture into a large bowl. Add bread crumbs, cilantro, lemon zest, coriander, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper; mix to combine. Add egg white and garlic mix again to combine; refrigerate for a minimum of 10 minutes and up to overnight.

To make salad, combine salad ingredients in a medium bowl; toss to combine and refrigerate until bugers are ready.

Off heat, coat a grill rack or grill pan with cooking spray; heat grill or grill pan over medium-high heat.
Form chickpea-rice mixture into 4 burgers using about 1/2 cup of mixture for each.
Grill burgers, without moving them, until golden brown and crispy, about 6 to 8 minutes. Carefully flip burgers and cook until golden brown and crispy on other side, about 6 to 8 minutes more. Serve burgers with salad.

Rosemary Fries:

3 red skinned potatoes

1 T. olive oil

1/2 t. rosemary

sea salt

Preheat oven to 400. Slice potatoes into 1/2 inch strips. Place in bowl and toss with olive oil and rosemary. Spread potatoes on greased cookie sheet in a flat layer. Sprinkle with sea salt to your liking. Bake for 30 minutes (stirring every ten minutes or so) or until potatoes are browned.