I do love me some Food Network. Even with all the meat (and sometimes there is a lot of meat!), there’s a lot to be inspired by. This weekend we saw an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay involving green chile cheeseburgers, and I felt that I had to give it a go.

I started with a veggie burger based on a recipe from Bittman’s How To Cook Everything Vegetarian, made with yams, black beans, broccoli rabe, and panko. I made the burgers right before cooking them, so they were soft and juicy. This was topped with some roasted hatch (or big jim) chiles, skinned, chopped and fried again, and some red pickled onions (courtesy of Terry Romero’s amazing Viva Vegan). I spread just a little Tofutti cream cheese on the top of my toasted bun to add another creamy element to the dish.