Taste & Create Seasonal: Grilling Cheese-Filled Goodness

And here I didn't think the typical made-at-home burger could get any better! For this round of Taste & Create (a special seasonal grilling version), I was paired with the event's creator and lovely hostess Nicole of For the Love of Food. I'm a big fan of Taste & Create, and I was tickled to try a grilling swap - even though I don't actually own a grill (grill pans and broiling were both allowed!)

Ultimately, I chose her Cheese-Stuffed Burgers. Why? Because I'd never stuffed a burger before, and I was intrigued by the inclusion of jam in the mix. You heard me. Jam. In. The. Mix. Now, hers specifically calls for apricot, but I didn't have any and couldn't rationalize buying a whole jar for a half-teaspoon. So I used what I had - peach - and I probably used a full teaspoon. I wasn't measuring, but it seemed like a bigger blob. My other modification was to use ground bison instead of beef - both leaner and more humanely raised, more often than not. I was at Wegmans for my shopping, and while I don't normally get my meats there, I also wasn't in the mood for a special trip to my butcher. Lazy, a little, but I tried to swap out smartly. These burgers are so tasty! I had a little bit of cheese seepage (now that's a sentence I bet you didn't expect), but overall, the cheese stayed where it was supposed to. The burgers were moist and flavorful (and not the least bit jammy.) I skipped a bun, but Dave doctored a sub roll, and he liked it a lot.

We didn't have dinner until close to 9:30 last night. We'd had a late, large breakfast and shared a pretzel at the mall after our movie (Wall-E - go see it!), so we just weren't hungry earlier. While Dave talked to his parents on the phone, I mixed and filled the patties. I also prepared this little salad of roasted beets, fennel and orange. I wasn't in my right mind, it seems, because it was a salad entirely composed of things Dave doesn't like. See, we received beets in our CSA last week... and we tried beets last summer and decided we didn't like them. I was determined to give them another go and found this recipe in Fresh Every Day. It looked good to me... I just wasn't thinking. In the end, it all worked out, because something about all of those ingredients really clicked, and Dave liked it. We even had the extra for lunch today. Whew, saved!

This was a lovely summer grilling dinner. A delicious, easily-prepared burger, alongside a salad that surprised us in its goodness.




Cheese-Stuffed Burgers
c/o Nicole at For the Love of Food
http://forfood.rezimo.com/?p=614

1/4 Cup finely shredded Cheddar Cheese
1/4 Cup fresh finely shredded Parmesan (originally calls for Gruyere)
1 lb. 90% lean Ground Beef (ground Sirloin)
*1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
*1/8 teaspoon Fructose (or Sugar)
*1/2 teaspoon Fructose-based Apricot preserves
1 1/2 teaspoons Paprika
1/4 teaspoon Pepper

*Soy Sauce, Fructose, and Apricot preserve can be substituted with 1 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce

Preheat your grill to medium-high or preheat your broiler.

Combine the cheeses in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl combine the remaining ingredients until the spices are evenly distributed. Separate the mixture into 8 same-size balls of meat. Flatten each into a nice round thin patty.

Place 2 tablespoons of the cheese mixture in the middle of 4 of the patties, leaving 1/2 an inch free from the edge. Top those 4 patties each with a cheese-less patty and press down the edges to seal in the cheese.

To Grill:
Grill over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes on each side. It is recommended not to press the burgers while they are cooking or the cheese will ooze out.

To Broil:
Place the patties on a rack in the oven and broil the patties as close to the top as possible without touching the heat source directly. Broil for 4 minutes on each side.


And:

Roasted Beet Salad with Oranges, Fennel, and Mint
c/o Fresh Every Day: More Great Recipes from Fosters Market, by Sara Foster
http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Every-Day-Recipes-Fosters/dp/1400052858

Serves 6 to 8

6 medium beets (red, golden or any other variety, or a combination), trimmed of greens and washed well
Juice of 1 orange
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 navel oranges, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
1 large fennel bulb, halved, cored and sliced into thin slivers
1 small red onion, sliced into very thin rounds
3 ounces crumbled goat cheese (about 3/4 cup)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Place the beets on a baking sheet with sides or in a large, glass baking dish. If you're using a combination of red and golden beets, separate them to prevent the red from bleeding onto the golden. Pour the orange juice, olive oil, vinegar, maple syrup and 1/4 cup of water over the beets and season with salt and pepper. Cover the baking sheet tightly with foil and roast the beets until they're tender when pierced with a knife, 40 to 45 minutes. Uncover and let the beets cool to room temperature. Reserve the cooking liquid.

Peel the beets and slice them into 1/4-inch rounds. Arrange the beets, oranges, fennel and onion on a platter or on individual plates, placing contrasting colors and textures next to one another.

Pour the reserved beet liquid over the vegetables, season with salt and pepper, and top with the crumbled goat cheese, chives and mint. This is best served just after it's dressed.

Variation: Any pungent cheese, such as Stilton or blue, is delicious in place of goat cheese.

See the recipe...

Variation of a Favorite

Don't worry, I'm not in a ditch. :)

I've had a pretty distracting, tiring week. I wrapped up my old job and I start my new one tomorrow, and because they're letting me keep my anniversary week off at the end of August, I didn't take any time off between positions... so last week was full of errands... and at the end of the day, I didn't have the energy to sit in front of the computer. My apologies!

But enough of that!

My darling husband is something of a genius lately. Suggesting recipes or tweaks, and while he doesn't do any of the actual cooking, I've decided that he's onto something most of the time, so I go with it.

This is one of those occasions. We are big fans of Bobby Flay's black pepper crusted steak with goat cheese and chile sauce. The batch of sauce makes about five dinners worth, so we have little baggies of it in the freezer. And because we're on this Eat the Freezer kick, Dave wondered aloud to me if the goat cheese/sauce combo would work well on a burger... because we had a couple packages of ground beef... I thought it sounded worth trying!

I didn't do too much to the meat, just mixed in some Worcestershire sauce, made patties, then crusted it with the same black pepper/salt/cumin mix that the steak recipe calls for. I seared them on the stove and then finished them in the oven.

A few minutes before they were done, I spooned a little home made goat cheese (I got the kit from New England Cheese Making Supply Company) (which was really easy to make, btw) on top of each burger.

Burgers with cheese went back into the oven until the cheese got smooshy. Meanwhile, I toasted the buns in the broiler (and didn't burn any this time). To finish, we spooned some of the chile sauce (heated) onto the burger and bun. I served with some green beans (we'd gotten a ton from our CSA) and some oven fries.

Last thoughts: I married a wonderful man. This dinner was a lovely variation of a meal we adore, and its almost even nicer, because we didn't have to spend the money on actual steaks! I highly recommend making this chile sauce, because I'm sure we're going to try to find more ways to eat it.

See the recipe...

I love tortillas! + Big Burger Ballyhoo 2007

I'll admit it - in college, I used to eat spaghetti in tortillas. What happier way exists to eat leftovers? Got me!

So imagine my joy in finding a (decently) healthy hamburger dinner in a tortilla? Puh-lease. Super-joy!

As you can see from the picture, I didn't get shredded pepper-jack, I just used sliced... and.. I think I added too much refried beans... but it made the broiled burger crunchy on the outside, which was nice. O, and of course, I over cilantro-ed it. I say, add/delete what you like, make it your own. :)

PS: At Lis's suggestion in the comments below, I have submitted this lovely burger wrap to Freya and Paul's:

Southwestern Beef & Bean Burger Wraps
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/beef_bean_burger_wrap.html

12 ounces 93%-lean ground beef

1 cup refried beans

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon chopped pickled jalapenos

1 avocado, peeled and pitted

1/2 cup prepared salsa

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

4 whole-wheat tortillas, warmed (see Tip)

2 cups shredded romaine lettuce

1/2 cup shredded pepper Jack cheese
1 lime, cut into 4 wedges

Position oven rack in upper third of oven; preheat broiler. Coat a broiler pan with cooking spray.
Gently combine ground beef, beans, cilantro and jalapenos in a medium bowl (do not overmix). Shape into four 5-by-2-inch oblong patties and place on the prepared pan. Broil the patties until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center reads 165°F, 12 to 14 minutes.

Meanwhile, mash together avocado, salsa and garlic powder in a small bowl.
Place tortillas on a clean work surface. Spread each with the guacamole, then sprinkle with lettuce and cheese. Top each with a burger and roll into a wrap.

Serve immediately, with lime wedges.

TIP: To warm tortillas: Wrap in foil; bake at 300°F until steaming, about 5 minutes. Or wrap in barely damp paper towels and microwave on High for 30 to 45 seconds.

See the recipe...