A Twist on a Family Favorite

Red white and blue salad -- red meat and radishes, (nearly white) romaine lettuce and beautiful blue cheese.

A Variation On Our Burger Bowl

Since he has been trying to eat less bread one of James' favorite dinners is our homemade burger bowl, based on the option of a patty on fresh greens (with a choice of toppings) offered at one of LA's premier burger chains, The Counter.
Tonight instead of a tossed salad I went for another of James' favorites -- sautéed greens (beet greens and chard) with pan crisped potato wedges. A take out favorite at home.

Our New Dinner Staple

Bean burgers. Easy to whip up and prepare in advance veggie bean burgers will be showing up at our table pretty often as we try to skinnying up our diet and cut down on meat.
To prepare this batter I tossed some cooked white beans, a couple cloves of garlic, shitake mushrooms (I like the "meaty" flavor they give a vegetarian dish), parsley, cumin, oregano, a couple carrots, oatmeal, an egg (or maybe it was two), and a handful of raw cashews in the food processor. Sorry I didn't keep track of amounts. I pulsed everything together into a thick paste which I refrigerated until very firm and formed into patties I rolled in gluten free bread crumbs for a bit of savory crunch.

Sunday Lazy Sunday

Simple Sunday burger, basted in butter with olive oil fries on the side.

Simple and Quick

A burger smothered in gruyere cheese, grilled onions and mushrooms on a oasty homemade biscuit. All courtesy of my hard working Le Creuset grill pan, a really great Christmas present a couple years back.

Something Simple

A burger (grass fed of course) with cheese (raclette) -- on the inside. Grilled with "smashed potatoes." Easy.

Football and Burgers

It's handy having ranchers for neighbors.
Not usually a big sports fan, nonetheless James has been having a great time having a football buddy down the road. Whenever he can our neighbor Mike comes over to watch the games. I usually am in charge of snacks but tonight Mike showed up with a package of his delicious grass fed ground beef, rolls, lettuce and tangy dubliner cheese. I whipped up some burgers (grilled with a pat of butter in the center to give the grass fed beef a little richness) and sweet potato fries.
Go Niners!

Starting The Weekend Right

Open-faced burgers with pan-fried smashed (homegrown) potatoes.

Back For A Birthday Burger

 After a week of computer crashes, genius bar appointments and general computing and electronic heartache I'm more than glad to be back at home and back on line.

A week like that called for comfort food. Old fashioned American. And since it just happened to be my birthday -- don't ask what number I can't believe it enough to say it out loud myself -- James thought lunch "out on the town" might be just the thing. With the choice completely up to me I opted for Marin Sun Farms in nearby Pt. Reyes Station. I've passed by many times but never managed to wander in before. This combination cafe and butcher shop specializes in burgers with local grass fed beef, pork, goat and lamb along with house cured ham and bacon.

I looked over the short menu and decided on the "black and blue" -- angus beef topped with Pt Reyes blue cheese and an arugula and red onion salad. Flavorful and juicy and the perfect birthday meal. Turns out MSF was out of lamb and goat today -- either if those would have been my choice if available. That just makes good reason for James to take me back for burgers again. A birthday lunch with a gift.

Something Simple

Burgers (organic grass fed meat of course) and oven roasted potatoes.

Welcome Home Sliders

The perfect American meal for a first night back in the US. Sliders and duck fat fries.

Superbowl Sliders

All American Dinner

Just For James

"You'd have to be an anaconda to get your mouth around that," james declared while surveying the thick burger on a toasty pretzel roll with griddled potatoes on his dinner plate. Lucky anaconda -- I'm still counting points.

America's Pastime

Games seven burgers and roasted potatoes.

James brought home a special treat. Ground beef from our new friends Mike and Sally Gale of the Chileno Valley Ranch. In addition to offering you-pick apples, running art workshops and hosting occasional weddings at the ranch, the Gales raise what we now know after tonight's burger is delicious natural grass fed beef. I treated it simply to make sure we got the true taste of the ranch's beef. Just a little salt, pepper, and butter as I formed the patties and a drizzle of worcestershire sauce. Underneath sat a crisped square of cornbread topped with peppered cheddar and a shower of sautéed mushrooms. On top rested a dollop of guacamole and thin slices of red onion.

A knife and fork burger from friends.

A Burger And Goodbye

I am off for ten days out of town and leaving James home with a very meager fridgeventory and 3 dogs. The least I could do is whip up some burgers (broiled burgers and then griddled in a pan on the bread for a homemade patty melt, grilled cheese style) and crispy roast mini potatoes.

Stay tuned for updates from Hungry in Hungary.

French Bread Burgers

Nothing special, broiled burger blend from nearby McCall's Butcher shop topped with salty peppered pecorino cheese.

Another Southern Specialty

I figured I'd follow up last night's low country treat with another Southern specialty, shrimp cakes. It's the kind of cozy, casual, hearty dish that just feels right on a lazy Sunday and I happened to have a fridge full of just the right ingredients left over from last night's dinner with friends.

I'm not sure why more of the country doesn't eat shrimp cakes on a regular basis. It's not like people aren't lining up at Red Lobster for shrimp in all forms, but these quickly pan fried burgers have seemed to stay local. Around Georgia and the Carolinas (and probably Louisiana too) -- almost anywhere with a tradition of shrimping boats gathering a wild harvest you'll find these tasty cakes on menus and in home kitchens. Not too different from crab cakes I make my shrimp burgers with chopped cooked shrimp (1 lb), breadcrumbs (1 cup -- I used last night's leftover cornbread -- cornbread adds a lot of flavor -- and biscuits as my crumbs), chopped scallion (3), minced bell pepper (2 TB), chopped parsley (3 TB), lemon zest (about 1 tsp), tabasco (a good shot), mayonnaise (just enough to hold the mixture together -- about 3 TB), 1 egg, and a good sprinkle of old bay seasoning. I had one ear of corn left in the fridge so I added in about half the fresh corn kernels and formed my shrimp mixture into patties that I let chill in the fridge for a couple hours before sautéing a pan with a shimmer of canola oil. I love the crispy edges doused with spicy cocktail sauce.

On the side a quick salad of steamed green beans, arugula, tomatoes and radishes dressed in a sherry vinegar mustard vinaigrette.

A little down home goodness for a late summer weekend.

Burgers

The last of our delicious Hearst Ranch ground beef. Simply prepared. Broiled burgers with Gruyere cheese, roasted potatoes (home grown) and carrots on the side. Perfect, simply perfect.

Bean Burgers

Not glamorous but ready in a hurry. I mixed garbanzo beans, zucchini, onion, garlic, spices and bread crumbs in the food processor and formed (okay a little loose) patties to bake in the oven -- 15 minutes on each side at 350º. I topped the warm burgers with a salad of backyard tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onion dressed simply in olive oil and lemon along with thick slices of avocado.