Cheap Red Wine!

You know that bottle of cheap red wine that's been collecting dust on your wine rack since your housewarming party? It's time to break it out for this Veg Times recipe. You will also need:

2 16 oz cans of chickpeas, rinsed (or 2 cups of cooked chickpeas)
1 cup uncooked couscous
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup tomato juice
2 Tbs dijon mustard
3 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs red wine vinegar
2 tsp thyme, finely chopped
2 tsp rosemary, finely chopped
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbs minced fresh parsley
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbs olive oil

Combine couscous, red wine and tomato juice in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer until the liquid absorbs. Let this about 5 minutes.

Combine the couscous mixture and all other ingredients but the oil in a food processor and blend until smooth. (If your food processor is fussy process half of the ingredients at a time.)

Oil your hands and oil a large baking sheet. Shape 3 Tbs of the processed mixture at a time into balls. Place these balls on the baking sheet. (You will get about 20 balls in total.) Flatten the balls to form patties that are about 2" wide and 1/2" thick.

Brush the patties with olive oil and bake for 15 minus, turn them over, brush with oil and bake another 10-12 minutes.

We served our chickpea patties with steamed broccoli but any sort of cooked greens or a leafy green salad is a great accompaniment. Makes for a very delicious and filling low calorie meal -- serves four.