VEGAN, GLUTEN-FREE, NUT-FREE
Imagine a thick-cut fresh vegetable, coated in breading and baked to a golden color perfection 😇
Next imagine the crunchy vegetable slice smothered on one side with fresh pesto and other side with ketchup. Then wrapping this goodness inside of a wholesome sprouted burger bun. Throw in some optional cheese for the kids and there is one-of-a-kind burger.
Some of the vegetable crunchies are small 🤔 and not quite ready for the mighty burger bun……. Wrap these cuties in slider buns. Aah … the possibilities 😛
I used large eggplants, squash and zucchini. Since the vegetables have to shine by themselves I picked large sized ones to obtain good sized discs. Eggplants were the perfect size for Burger buns and the squash made for lovely sliders. Zucchini was the perfect size to enjoy just as by themselves!
These vegetable rounds are amazing as a snack too!
Cut the vegetables into thick rounds and soak them in water and put dry completely. Prepare a coating chickpea flour and water. Finally dredge in breadcrumbs all over.
Note – GLUTEN-FREE Option – use a mixture of cornmeal and almond flour for the final coating.
Dont get overwhelmed by the process. I started with 1 large eggplant, 2 large squashes and 2 zucchini. It took me 20 minutes to cut, bread and arrange one vegetable set. Stick it into the oven, while it is baking, I processed the next set. So in a total of 1 hour I had 3 different vegetables discs all baked to a crisp texture and enough to feed an army… well not quite 🙂 but enough to feed my brood and some extra!!!!
These discs can be made ahead of time and refrigerated. Just heat them in the oven to make them crisp again before serving.
Crispy breaded baked vegetables with pesto in Buns
Ingredients
For the Vegetable crisp discs – makes 25 discs of 3 vegetable types
- 1 large Eggplant
- 2 large Squash
- 2 large Zucchini
- 10 tbsps Chickpea flour
- 10 tbsps Breadcrumbs
- ***** Gluten-free option – almond flour + cornmeal
- 10 tsps Olive oil
For the Burgers and Sliders –
- 4 Burger buns
- 4 Slider buns
- 6 tsps Pesto
- 6 tsps Ketchup
- 4 slices Cheese optional
Instructions
For the vegetable crisp discs –
- Prepare a cookie sheet with a layer of parchment paper and set aside
- Cut the vegetables into thick slices, dip them in water and pat dry completely
- Season the chickpea paste with salt and chilly powder (optional)
- Spread the breadcrumbs on a flat plate
- Using one hand for dipping in the paste and one hand for coating the breadcrumbs, do an assembly-line processing of all the eggplant slices
- Arrange the eggplant slices in a single layer on the cookie sheet
- Drizzle a spoonful of oil on each of them
- Bake in a hot oven at 425 degrees for 10 minutes on side, carefully remove the tray and flip them over and drizzle oil; bake for another 8 minutes until golden brown
- Repeat steps 1 to 8 for the squash and zucchini
- Three types of vegetable discs are now done!
Assembling the Burgers and Sliders –
- Toast the burger buns and slider buns on a griddle
- Spread a spoonful of pesto on bottom bun, top with crispy eggplant, top with a slice of cheese (optional), finally spread ketchup and close the burger bun on top
- Repeat this process with the slider buns but using the smaller sized squash discs
- You can also serve these as open faced sandwiches and allow the guest to treat themselves to a variety of condiments – pesto, spicy mustard, ketchup etc.
