Veggie Patties with Beef

Veggie patties

Are you looking for another way to use all of the zucchini from your garden? Once your garden starts producing zucchini, you typically end up with more than you know what to do with and can only eat so much zucchini. Veggie patties are a great way to use your zucchini, without the dish tasting too much like zucchini, in an easy to make meal.

Ingredients:

·         1 lb ground beef (or your preferred ground meat)

·         3 medium zucchini squash, grated

·         1 carrot, peeled and grated

·         1 cup chopped baby greens

·         1 egg

·         1 tsp garlic powder

·         1 tsp onion powder

·         ½ tsp mustard powder

·         ½ tsp dried parsley, or 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

·         ¼ tsp cayenne pepper, or 1 tsp chili powder

·         Salt and pepper

·         Butter

Combine all of the above ingredients (minus the butter) in a large mixing bowl. Use your hands to mix everything well. The mixture will look like the photo on the right.

You can use an ice cream scoop to make even size balls to form into patties. Having each patty the same size allows for more even cooking. If you don’t have an ice cream scoop (or don’t like the idea of your scooper touching meat), then just use your hands to form patties. Make sure to make the center of the patty thinner than edges to allow for even cooking. You don’t want a raw center! With the vegetables in the mix, this will make 12-15 patties depending on the size (instead of the four hamburger patties you would usually get out of 1 lb of ground meat).

There are two ways to cook these. You can cook them on the stove in a buttered pan (a cast iron skillet is best to get nice browning on each side) over medium-high heat until cooked through, about 4-5 minutes on each side. You can also broil them in the oven. To broil them, cover a large baking sheet with foil, spray it with non-cook spray to avoid the patties sticking, and then place your patties on the baking sheet. You can top each patty with a small piece of butter to add moisture and encourage browning. (You don’t need to allow for much space between patties as meat and veggies decrease in size as they cook.) Broil on high for 12-15 minutes, flipping the patties half-way through. Cooking these on the stovetop or broiling will allow each side of the patty to get a nice dark brown finish which adds to the flavor.

Serve with fry sauce (see below) and homemade fries or your favorite veggie side for a fun and healthy! summer meal.

For the fry sauce, mix 2 tbsp ketchup, 1 tbsp mayonnaise, and 1 tsp of yellow mustard.