Black Bean Cakes

Instructions

For the fire roasted red pepper and jalapeño cream sauces, roast the red pepper and jalapeño peppers over an open flame until blistered and charred, turning frequently. Place the peppers into a small brown paper bag, folding the top over twice to seal in the heat. Let the peppers rest in the bag for 5 minutes. After resting, wipe the exterior of each pepper with a crumpled sheet of paper towel to remove most of the blackened bits of char. Remove the stem and seed of the red pepper, and dice enough to equal 1/2 cup. Set the diced red pepper aside. Remove the stems only on the jalapeño peppers. Dice the jalapeños, seeds included, to equal 1/4 cup.

Purée the diced fire roasted red peppers, heavy whipping cream, water, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and cayenne pepper with a blender. Transfer the roasted red pepper cream to a lidded container and refrigerate until serving. Next, purée the jalapeño peppers, heavy whipping cream, water, and salt with the blender. Transfer the jalapeño cream to a lidded container and refrigerate until serving.

Place the rinsed and drained canned black beans into the large work bowl of a food processor. Add the cumin, salt, cayenne, oregano, onion, garlic, Worcestershire, egg, and fine breadcrumbs. Pulse the mixture until smooth. Use a medium scoop to portion the mixture into twenty 2-ounce balls. Pour the Panko breadcrumbs into a shallow pie plate. Lightly press each ball of the black bean mixture onto the Panko to thinly coat on both sides. Set the Panko crusted black bean cakes onto a clean plate and continue with the remaining mixture.

Once the black bean cakes have been assembled, heat half of the butter and half of the olive oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Working in batches so as not to crowd the pan, sauté the black bean cakes until browned on both sides--about 3 minutes total--adding more butter and olive oil to the skillet, as necessary.

Serve 3 black bean cakes over a tablespoon each of the fire roasted red pepper and jalapeno creams.

Recipe Notes: Both the roasted red pepper and jalapeño cream sauces may be made several hours to one day ahead. The black bean mixture may also be divided into six equal portions and formed into black bean burgers. Increase sauté time to between 3 to 4 minutes per side to brown the exterior. Serve the burgers on a toasted whole grain bun with the red pepper and jalapeño cream sauces spooned on top.