summer comfort

It was a long day. It called for comfort food. Wild salmon burgers with feta and dill
Pulse the following in a food processor:

• 3/4 lb of wild salmon, skin and bones removed
• 1 tbs of chopped fresh dill
• 1tbs of honey or maple mustard
• 1 tbs of chopped shallot
• small handful of crumbled feta
• small handful of panko or bread crumbs
• 1 egg white
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• Form into patties and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes
• Grill or fry in a non-stick pan for about 5 minutes per side on medium heat (we fried tonight)

Easy "fancy" mayo for dipping

• Combine 2 tbs of low-fat mayo, 1 tbs of maple mustard, 1 finely chopped green onion and freshly ground pepper.

Roasted fingerling potatoes with dill

• Preheat oven to 350. Toss potatoes (sliced in half if necessary) with olive oil, kosher salt, freshly ground pepper and chopped fresh dill. Place on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 4o minutes, flipping once.

Have a glass of Chardonnay. It's comforting.

Healthy sesame salmon burgers

It's official -- burgers are a summer staple meal at my house. I recognize that this isn't the most novel discovery, but I honestly don't remember eating burgers as often last year.

Tonight I made Bonnie Stern's sesame salmon burgers topped with cucumber and Thai sweet-chili mayo. To make two large patties: put 1/2 pound of fresh, skinless salmon in your food processor. Pulse. Add 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs or panko, 1 egg white, 1 glug of thick teriyaki or hoison sauce. Pulse. Form into burgers and refridgerate for at least 10 minutes. While grilling the salmon patties, brush with a mixture of sesame seeds, a little toasted sesame oil and teriyaki sauce. Top burgers with slices of cucumber and an Asian-style mayo (mayo + Thai sweet-chili sauce, Sriracha or wasabi). For a side dish, try a green salad dressed with ginger dressing. Enjoy.

Violet: lamb's newest lover

Inspired by MenuManiac, my beautiful friend Violet decided to try lamb burgers. See her post below!

Violet's Open-Faced Lamb Burger

"I made the lamb burgers last night for dinner and they turned out beautifully! I loved how simple they were to prepare (Benn did the grilling), the flavour was outstanding and I love the unique ingredients, especially the pine nuts and the tapenade! The only thing I will do differently next time is use something other than pitas, as they became quite soggy. I must admit, before I tried these I fell into the "might be crazy because I don't like lamb" category, however, I am now a lamb lover and look forward to making these again in the very near future! Thanks JS!"

If you have a MenuManiac recipe photo or story that you'd like to share, please leave a comment on one of my posts. I read all comments! Enjoy the weekend!

i like lamb burgers

Lamb burger with roasted red pepper hummus

(Best to use homemade hummus, this got too runny with the heat)

Lamb burgers are a beautiful thing; unfortunately this picture is not. But trust me, you should add lamb to your burger repertoire. Not only do I just generally love lamb but it's also less likely to contain hormones or antibiotics.

What you need to make four burgers:

1. 1 lb of ground lamb
2. 1 chopped shallot or half a red onion
3. Handful of chopped parsley
4. Small handful of crumbled feta cheese
5. Small handful of pinenuts
6. Some breadcrumbs/panko
7. Some ketchup
8. Some olive tapenade (optional)
9. An egg or egg white (optional)
10. Thickly sliced eggplant
11. Some hummus
12. Whole-wheat pita pocket

What to do:

• Combine the first nine ingredients in a large bowl
• Form into four patties; smush the middle of the patties to prevent grilled softballs
• If you have time refrigerate the burgers for 30 minutes, it helps to bind the ingredients
• Grill burgers and eggplant on medium heat
• Put the burger in a whole wheat pita pocket, top with eggplant and hummus and maybe some more feta if you're in the mood

Listen if you don't like lamb (which means you might be crazy), feel free to substitute ground beef or turkey. Do you have any burger recipes that you'd like to share?

happy mother's day x 3

Tonight we celebrated Mother's Day with Jay's mom, his sister's family and my mom. To suit the nieces, we started at 5:30 p.m. and ended at 7:30 p.m. The evening required a kid-friendly meal but it still had some fun twists.

Menu

Pomegranate Sparkling Sangria

Blanched asparagus and green beans with homemade green goddess dressing

(courtesy of Bonnie Stern's Friday Night Dinner)

Roasted Potato Salad

(courtesy of Bonnie Stern's Friday Night Dinner)

Salmon Burgers with Lemon and Capers

Happy Mother's Day 2009!

first warm day = burgers on the grill

Last night when I hit our little grocery store after work, I remembered all of the ingredients that I had at home that were about to go bad...wild mushrooms, pita, cilantro, thyme, etc.



Menu:

• Guacamole and Pita Chips with Chili Powder
• Burgers topped with smoked provolone, sauteed wild mushrooms and onions with thyme
• Tossed Salad

To make the guacamole, just mash up two avocados, squeeze half a lime over top, mix in chopped cilantro and kosher salt, and top with chopped plum tomatoes (with the seeds removed) or whatever tomatoes you have on hand. I had grape tomatoes last night. For the pita chips, I brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled with kosher salt and chili powder. Simple but I was able to use up the cilantro and pita chips so they didn't end up in the trash (this is important because Windsor "sanitary engineers" are on strike!).
The sauteed onions and wild mushrooms, were cooked on medium-low in olive oil and sprinkled with kosher salt and fresh thyme.

Yummy burgers!

Enjoy the weekend! I'll be at school for most of it. :(