Black Bean Burgers with Mango Salsa

My husband and I got married young. I was barely 20 and still in art school. We had a teeny tiny apartment in downtown Savannah where the rent was raised every year. We paid a small fortune in parking permits, parking tickets and parking meters. Our budget was pretty tight.

For our first 5 years of marriage we were vegetarians, somewhat by choice, but mostly because our grocery budget didn’t leave much room for meat. We ate our fair share of soy burgers and veggie burgers, most of which were pretty forgettable.

So it was with some trepidation that I pulled this recipe from a recent Cooking Light magazine. But I’m so glad I did. This recipe really transcends the sum of its parts. And don’t even think about serving it without the salsa. Not that the burgers aren’t that good, it’s just that the salsa is that great.

I typically use dried beans in my recipes, being all economical and such. However, I find that the canned beans really make a difference here. The dried beans just make a drier burger, in my experience. So skip the soaking and blow a couple of bucks on the beans in the can.

Please overlook the gluten-filled burger bun in the photo. Somehow the head of lettuce I bought did not include one leaf that was suitable for use as a burger wrap. So for the sake of the photo I indulged in a bun. Please forgive me if it makes your taste buds long after forbidden things.