Burger Patty Melts & Special Sauce

Oh man, awesome. Definitely making again. Served this with my Cajun French Fries and some salad (would have been good with corn on the cob too). Burgers from here.  Sauce from here.

Burger Ingredients:

• 1 pound (~450 g) 85% lean ground beef
• 1 medium yellow onion grated
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• butter
• wholemeal bread
• slices of cheese

 What you do:

1. In a medium bowl, combine the meat, grated onion, egg, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Form into 6 thin patties.
2. Heat a bit of olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the patties for about 3 minutes per side, or until browned. Remove from the pan and place on paper towels to drain. Set aside. Drain the grease from the skillet.
3. Spread the butter on one side of each slice of bread. Place butter side down in the skillet. Top each with a slice of cheese and a burger patty. Top with the remaining cheese, if desired, and a final slice of bread, butter side up.
4. Cook for about 2 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Remove from the heat and serve with special sauce (recipe below).

Burger Sauce

• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• small squirt of mustard 
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet pickle relish
• 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

*Mix all sauce ingredients together. set aside.

 

Mongolian Beef

This was a pretty good asian dish.  I'm notoriously terrible at asian cooking, but this one was good enough to make again.  Next time I will use the veggies I listed below:

Ingredients:

• 500 g beef, thin sliced (I used sirloin, 4 steaks should be good)
• 2 tbsp sherry cooking wine
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 4 tbsp plus 2 tsp hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 red capsicum, sliced into strips
• 1 broccoli head
• 1 zucchini, in sticks
• 6 green onions, cut into 2" pieces

Place beef in a bowl and add sherry cooking wine and cornstarch. Mix together and marinate for 15 minutes. If you are making rice, start it now so that it's ready when your stir fry is finished. Meanwhile, mix together the 4 tablespoons of hoisin sauce and the soy sauce and set aside.

When beef is ready, add remaining 1 teaspoon of hoisin sauce and mix into beef. Heat a tablespoon of cooking oil in a wok on high heat. Add beef and stir fry for 2-3 minutes, or until no longer pink. Don't cook too long or it will get tough! If it's still a little pink it's ok. Remove the beef to a bowl and return wok to the stove. Add a little more oil to the wok and stir fry the garlic,veggies, and green onion for 2-3 minutes. 

Move the vegetables to one side of the wok, add beef to the other side. Pour the soy sauce mixture into the centre and stir a little then combine beef, vegetables and sauce. Stir just a minute or so to combine and serve immediately over rice. 

Enjoy!

Sloppy Joes

Another great recipe!  I tried another sloppy joes recipe a few weeks ago and it just wasn't quite right. This one is perfect.  I found it here.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter 
• 1 large yellow onion, finely diced 
• 4 garlic cloves, minced 
• 1 green capsicum, finely diced 
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided, plus more to taste 
• ~800 g ground beef chuck 
• 1 Tablespoon chili powder 
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin 
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika 
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste 
• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste 
• 1 (400 g) can crushed tomatoes 
• 1/2 cup dry red wine 
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons packed brown sugar 
• 2 teaspoon red wine vinegar

6 buns, sliced

mayonnaise (not the salad dressing stuff)

yellow mustard

bread and butter pickles

What you do:

1. In a large skillet ( bigger if you are doubling the recipe) over medium-high heat, melt the butter.  Add the onion and capsicum and sauté until it begins to brown, about 4-5 minutes.  Add the garlic and sauté for another minute.  Set aside.
2. Add the beef and cook until brown, breaking up any large clumps, about 5-7 minutes. Add the veggies back in.
3. Add the chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, remaining salt and black pepper and cook, stirring every few moments, for 2 minutes.  
4. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring for another minute.  Add the crushed tomatoes, wine, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar and boil, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened, about 6-8 minutes.  Stir in the vinegar and season to taste with additional salt and black pepper if needed.

To serve

Slather a bit of mayonnaise on each bun half.  Spoon some of the meat sauce on the bottom of each of the buns, top with a few onion slices, some bread and butter pickles, and a drizzle of yellow mustard.  Add the top half of the bun.  Smoosh together and take a big bite.  Enjoy!

Lasagna!

Yum, this recipe is way better than my other lasagna recipe! Here it is: http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-lasagna.html

Some tips/reminders:

• The order of layers is sauce, noodles, cheese mixture, sauce, noodles, cheese mixture, sauce, noodles, sauce, mozz & parmesan
• You can make this dish with or without beef and it will still be good
• It's best to soak the noodles first in warm water and use good mozzarella cheese cut in chunks (rather than shredded). 
• bake covered for 30 min and uncovered for 30 min in 190 C oven
• cheese mixture is:
• 2 egg, beaten
  2 lbs (1 kg) ricotta cheese
  8 oz (225 g) mozzarella cheese, cubed
  2/3 cup freshly grated Reggiano-Parmigiano
  1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Red wine sauce for steak

So, I used to be a vegetarian, then I was a vegan, then back to vegetarian for several years.  When I was pregnant with my first child I added organic chicken to my diet for the extra protein (I still only eat organic chicken.  No exceptions).  Now I am pregnant with child #2 and my iron is so low, despite taking multiple supplements, so my only hope at this point is eating red meat! Anyway, today I had steak and made the most beautiful red wine sauce for it.  It was to DIE for! The steak was only so-so, but when I figure out how to make it properly I will post a recipe.  Anyway, the sauce was so easy and it's Jamie Oliver: 

After removing your steak from the frying pan, all you do is add a couple of chopped shallots and fresh sprigs of thyme to the pan.  Cook for a few minutes and add about a glass of red wine and a couple of large pats of butter.  When the wine is reduced by half, add a couple of more pats of butter and the juices from your resting steak and remove from heat.  This sauce is seriously amazing!