food posts:

Friday, May 7th 2010
Homemade turkey burgers with spinach, mushrooms and brie.

To make the patties, I used a 1lb package Trader Joe’s ground turkey, 1/4 cup diced garlic, 1/4 cup diced white onion, 1/4 cup soft brie, and maybe a couple teaspoons of salt. I mixed all the ingredients together by hand, formed them into 4 patties and floured the outside to keep them from sticking to each other on the plate.

When the patties were almost done, I divided the remaining brie among them and let it melt slightly on top. Try to keep the brie from spilling over the edge of the patties! The mushrooms were sautéd separately in olive oil and laid atop the brie.

What would I do differently next time? Probably Worcestershire sauce in the patties.

As it was, they were very good.

Homemade turkey burgers with spinach, mushrooms and brie.

To make the patties, I used a 1lb package Trader Joe’s ground turkey, 1/4 cup diced garlic, 1/4 cup diced white onion, 1/4 cup soft brie, and maybe a couple teaspoons of salt. I mixed all the ingredients together by hand, formed them into 4 patties and floured the outside to keep them from sticking to each other on the plate.

When the patties were almost done, I divided the remaining brie among them and let it melt slightly on top. Try to keep the brie from spilling over the edge of the patties! The mushrooms were sautéd separately in olive oil and laid atop the brie.

What would I do differently next time? Probably Worcestershire sauce in the patties.

As it was, they were very good.

Wednesday, April 14th 2010
Caprese burgers, mashed red potatoes and green beans!

The burgers patties are made from about 2 lbs. of 90/10 lean ground beef, plus 1/4 large white onion (I might use red or sweet next time), 2 cloves of garlic, 4 oz. of mozzarella cheese (all diced) and a couple teaspoons of salt.

Atop the patties are slabs of soft mozzarella cheese (the kind you make caprese with) topped with balsamic vinegar while grilling. On top of that are slices of red bell pepper pressed into the cheese (totally cheated on the caprese here, they should be tomatoes) and basil leaves.

12 California Red potatoes (from a large bag at Costco) make up the potato salad, along with 1 stick of butter, 1/2 a cup half and half and salt—decadent, I know, but very tasty. We’ve been doing mashed potatoes in the pressure cooker. It’s faster at cooking the potatoes, and for added bonus, the steam relief valve popping cues you to turn the stove off (helpful for the multitasking-challenged).

I don’t normally have the energy to make three dishes on a weeknight, but tonight I felt up to the multitasking challenge. The results were happily nominated.






UPDATE: I made some more caprese burgers last night with the addition of ~1/4 cup balsamic vinegar to the patties. I highly recommend it!

Caprese burgers, mashed red potatoes and green beans!

The burgers patties are made from about 2 lbs. of 90/10 lean ground beef, plus 1/4 large white onion (I might use red or sweet next time), 2 cloves of garlic, 4 oz. of mozzarella cheese (all diced) and a couple teaspoons of salt.

Atop the patties are slabs of soft mozzarella cheese (the kind you make caprese with) topped with balsamic vinegar while grilling. On top of that are slices of red bell pepper pressed into the cheese (totally cheated on the caprese here, they should be tomatoes) and basil leaves.

12 California Red potatoes (from a large bag at Costco) make up the potato salad, along with 1 stick of butter, 1/2 a cup half and half and salt—decadent, I know, but very tasty. We’ve been doing mashed potatoes in the pressure cooker. It’s faster at cooking the potatoes, and for added bonus, the steam relief valve popping cues you to turn the stove off (helpful for the multitasking-challenged).

I don’t normally have the energy to make three dishes on a weeknight, but tonight I felt up to the multitasking challenge. The results were happily nominated.

UPDATE: I made some more caprese burgers last night with the addition of ~1/4 cup balsamic vinegar to the patties. I highly recommend it!
Thursday, April 8th 2010
In case you were wondering where all the leftover Easter lamb went: Gyros! Well, my take on them anyway.

I started with a good amount of minced garlic and chopped red onions sauteed in olive oil, then added the sliced lamb and cubed roma tomatoes (on the vine, from Costco), added some flake salt and ground peppercorns over the pan. The bread is nothing special, just from Trader Joe’s, but the green stuff is mâche or “lamb’s lettuce” (also from TJ’s) and is quite tasty, like a light, nutty spinach. Topping off the ensemble is some Greek yogurt.

They turned out quite well.

In case you were wondering where all the leftover Easter lamb went: Gyros! Well, my take on them anyway.

I started with a good amount of minced garlic and chopped red onions sauteed in olive oil, then added the sliced lamb and cubed roma tomatoes (on the vine, from Costco), added some flake salt and ground peppercorns over the pan. The bread is nothing special, just from Trader Joe’s, but the green stuff is mâche or “lamb’s lettuce” (also from TJ’s) and is quite tasty, like a light, nutty spinach. Topping off the ensemble is some Greek yogurt.

They turned out quite well.

Wednesday, April 7th 2010

Easter Dinner

Lamb by yours truly. Potatoes by @ErikDreyer and Diana. Salad by @jasonyo and SJ. Asparagus by steam pot.

The salad contained spinach, pears, medium-boiled eggs and from-scratch candied walnuts! It was quite a hit. The potatoes had tons of garlic, and complimented the lamb very nicely.

The lamb is from an epicurious recipie that I followed pretty closely. We started with two lamb legs from Costco totaling about 8 pounds of meat after trimming the excess fat. I tucked substantially more garlic into the meat than recommended—approximately 8 cloves cut into about 32 slices—and let the prepared meat marinate overnight.

Cooking was done on the propane grill, and turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the meal (at least to me) because although the flavor was great, the smaller pieces of lamb were overcooked. I had the thermometer in one of the larger pieces and cut the heat when the middle of the largest one reached 145°F. In hindsight, I should have measured each piece and pulled it from the heat when it reached 130°F, as recommended by the recipe. Oh well, one of the main reasons to write this down is so I can remember what I did wrong. Aren’t you glad we live in a world where we can google our past misteaks?

You may have noticed the topic of my site inching insidiously toward food. To tell you the truth, I’m just as surprised as you are. I mean, I’m supposed to be writing about programming, poetry and bad puns, but I end up taking pictures of dinner instead.

Well, them’s tough beans (fava maybe? Haven’t attempted those yet). The food posts will likely continue as I have no plans to imperil my excellent relationship with eaten things anytime soon.

Stay tuned for a large flickr set of food-themed photos! Also expect some posts about my new espresso machine as I continue my relentless pursuit of the god shot.

random photos