Mini nut burgers with courgette

More finger food - this time bite-sized nut burgers with a little courgette on top to make them look pretty. Plus some sesame seeds. The base for this burger is a nut roast recipe I've been using for at least 20 years.

Ingredients:

4 tbsp fresh herbs (I used parsley, thyme, sage and marjoram out of the garden)
400 g mixed nuts
50g wholemeal breadcrumbs
3 tsp marmite or other yeast extract
2 tsp agave syrup
3 tbsp vegan margarine
1 small onion
2 tbsp vegetable oil
I small courgette
Sesame seeds to garnish

Method:

Blend the nuts, herbs and breadcrumbs together until they make a fairly fine mix. Don't go all the way to milling them down to a flour though - it's nice to have a little bit of nut crunch in there still. If your mixer or blender is struggling, break the mix up into two batches and then mix them together in a mixing bowl. In the mixing bowl add the marmite, syrup and vegan margarine. As an alternative here you can use tomato puree if you want the thing to look bit more 'faux meat'. Finely chop the onion and then fry in the vegetable oil until softened and translucent. Mix the onion into the nut mix thoroughly.

Slice the courgette into rounds and then find yourself a cookie cutter with a diameter slightly larger than the courgette slices. Placing the cookie cutter on some baking paper, press the nut mixture into the centre of the cutter and press down firmly to create a round, mini-burger around 1-2 cm thick. Press down on the mixture as you pull the cookie cutter away and you should have a perfectly formed circle of yumminess. Now pop the courgette slice on top, brush with oil and repeat with more mixture to make your next burger. For my mini-burgers, which were about 6 cm in diameter, the mix above made 15 altogether.

Bake in the oven at 200 degrees centigrade, covered in foil, for 10 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until well browned. Before serving, sprinkle with some toasted sesame seeds to make them look pretty.