I was so bummed yesterday afternoon when I saw (via Twitter) that Jamie’s Food Revolution wasn’t going to be on this week! All because of a two-hour Dancing With The Stars (don’t even get me started). I had been planning since last week’s episode to try to recreate his Revolution Burger. Oh well, the show must go on, even when the show isn’t going on.

First, the bun. We used thin whole wheat sandwich rounds that we buy at Costco. We usually eat our burgers without buns (smothered with sauteed onions and/or mushrooms and served with a huge salad), so I’ve reached the point where “standard” white flour buns taste like soggy sawdust to me, and high quality artisan multi-grain buns (or whatnot) just seem like too much bread. So the sandwich thins work nicely, IMO.

Then we have the smashed black beans (I think Jamie used kidney beans). I drained and rinsed a can of black beans, then simmered them in a small pot with a lid so they didn’t dry out. I added some green chili sauce, cumin and a little salt. Then I dumped about half in a small bowl and smashed it with a fork.

Next we have the rest of the fixings…and the burger itself. I chopped up half a red onion and sauteed it, then Jeff squished it up with a pound of grass-fed beef (from our annual quarter-share of steer) and some breadcrumbs. I mixed a bit of nonfat plain Greek yogurt with some cumin, green chili sauce and granulated garlic. That went on top of the burger. I took part of a roasted sweet potato and mashed it with a fork. I didn’t add anything to it. That went on the top bun. We served it with a super-quick (an impromptu) red cabbage slaw and dill pickles (canned by Jeff last summer!).

The results were tasty, although we probably put too much sweet potato on it. We LOVE sweet potato, but Jeff said it made the whole thing taste like a veggie burger, and I sort of agree. I would totally do a yogurt sauce again (and it could easily be varied with different seasonings), but I would probably use mustard and keep my sweet potato on the side.